System and method for application programming interfaces for keyword extraction and contextual advertisement generation

1. A method comprising:

receiving from a consumer application a request for activation of a keyword extraction service via an application programming interface, the request for processing by a processor of a computer system, the request including an identity of a content source, the request further including an identification of a particular extraction process of a plurality of selectable extraction processes selected for use by the keyword extraction service on the identified content source, the request further including an identity of a host site;

determining whether the keyword extraction service has already processed the identified content source and retained extracted keywords in a data store;

extracting keywords from the identified content source based on content at the identified host site using the particular extraction process identified in the request, the keywords being extracted from the identified content source based on aggregate user interaction with the content on the identified host site;

ranking the extracted keywords according to measures of popularity and performance measures obtained from tracking aggregate user behavior on the identified host site; and

making the extracted keywords accessible to the consumer application.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the identity of a content source is a uniform reference locator (URL).

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the identification of a particular extraction process includes an identification of a plurality of extraction processes, the method further including determining which of a plurality of extraction processes is most efficient for the identified content source.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the request further including a fetch interval indicating an amount of time after which the particular extraction process is repeatedly used by the keyword extraction service on the identified content source.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the request further including a category identifier hint indicating a starting category for the particular extraction process.

6. An article of manufacture comprising a data storage device having machine executable instructions embedded thereon, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

receive from a consumer application a request for activation of a keyword extraction service via an application programming interface, the request including an identity of a content source, the request further including an identification of a particular extraction process of a plurality of selectable extraction processes selected for use by the keyword extraction service on the identified content source, the request further including an identity of a host site;

determine whether the keyword extraction service has already processed the identified content source and retained extracted keywords in a data store;

extract keywords from the identified content source based on content at the identified host site using the particular extraction process identified in the request, the keywords being extracted from the identified content source based on aggregate user interaction with the content on the identified host site;

rank the extracted keywords according to measures of popularity and performance measures obtained from tracking aggregate user behavior on the identified host site; and

make the extracted keywords accessible to the consumer application.

7. The article of manufacture as claimed in claim 6 wherein the identity of a content source is a uniform reference locator (URL).

8. The article of manufacture as claimed in claim 6 wherein the identification of a particular extraction process includes an identification of a plurality of extraction processes, the article of manufacture being further operable to determine which of a plurality of extraction processes is most efficient for the identified content source.

9. The article of manufacture as claimed in claim 6 wherein the request further including a fetch interval indicating an amount of time after which the particular extraction process is repeatedly used by the keyword extraction service on the identified content source.

10. The article of manufacture as claimed in claim 6 wherein the request further including a category identifier hint indicating a starting category for the particular extraction process.

11. A system comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor to store information related to keyword extraction; and

a keyword extraction service to receive from a consumer application a request for activation of a keyword extraction service via an application programming interface, the request including an identity of a content source, the request further including an identification of a particular extraction process of a plurality of selectable extraction processes selected for use by the keyword extraction service on the identified content source, the request further including an identity of a host site; determine whether the keyword extraction service has already processed the identified content source and retained extracted keywords in a data store; extract keywords from the identified content source based on content at the identified host site using the particular extraction process identified in the request, the keywords being extracted from the identified content source based on aggregate user interaction with the content on the identified host site; rank the extracted keywords according to measures of popularity and performance measures obtained from tracking aggregate user behavior on the identified host site; and make the extracted keywords accessible to the consumer application.

12. The system as claimed in claim 11 wherein the identity of a content source is a uniform reference locator (URL).

13. The system as claimed in claim 11 wherein the identification of a particular extraction process includes an identification of a plurality of extraction processes, the article of manufacture being further operable to determine which of a plurality of extraction processes is most efficient for the identified content source.

14. The system as claimed in claim 11 wherein the request further including a fetch interval indicating an amount of time after which the particular extraction process is repeatedly used by the keyword extraction service on the identified content source.

15. The system as claimed in claim 11 wherein the request further including a category identifier hint indicating a starting category for the particular extraction process.