Selection of sponsored content using multiple sets of query terms

Abstract

Multiple sets of words and phrases can be used as query terms for accessing sponsored content. Sponsored content is associated with item terms. The query terms are matched with the item terms. The result of the matching operation is a numerical score for each item of sponsored content that can be used to select sponsored content. Conditions present across the set of matched terms are detected. Such conditions can include the occurrence of a matched query term in multiple sets of query terms. This condition can be addressed by determining a number of unique matching query terms across all sets of query terms. The score given to an item of sponsored content can be adjusted if such a condition occurs. For example, the score could be adjusted according to a function of the number of unique matching query terms across all sets of query terms. If the number of matching query terms across all sets of query terms is low, such as one or two, then the function can define a penalty to be applied to the score given to the item of sponsored content. If the number of matching query terms across all sets of query terms is higher, such as three or more, then the function can define an adjustment to be applied to the score given to the item of sponsored content.