# US 10,503,814 B1 · Click tracking using link styles > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,503,814 B1 - Document ID: US10503814B1 - Status: Granted - Kind: B1 - Application number: 16/016,873 - Filed: 2018-06-25 - Granted: 2019-12-10 - Earliest claimed: 2009-11-24 - Assignees: Google Inc. - Applicants: Google LLC - Inventors: Dustin Long - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10503814B1 ## CPC - G06F 40/134: Hyperlinking - G06F 16/951: Indexing; Web crawling techniques - G06F 16/958: Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract Methods, systems, and apparatus for tracking user clicks on result links in a search result webpage disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes generating one or more webpages each including a link to a destination document; specifying a style for the link in each webpage according to a style sheet language, the style including a behavior trigger indicating user selection of the link and a display property that causes retrieval of a resource from a remote server when the behavior trigger is activated; providing the webpages with the specified style to a plurality of clients; receiving at the remote server one or more requests from at least one of the plurality of clients for the resource; and in response to the receiving, recording a count for user selection of the destination document based on a number of received requests for the resource. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A system comprising: one or more computers; and a non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more computers having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising: receiving, from a search system, a style specification for a search results page, the style specification encoding, for an attribute of a reference to a resource identified in the search results page, a resource identifier for a tracking server; detecting user interaction with the reference to the resource identified in the search results page; and in response to detecting the user interaction with the reference to the resource identified in the search results page, applying the style specification to the reference to the resource by: determining the resource identifier for the tracking server; and requesting, from the tracking server, a second resource using the resource identifier for the tracking server. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, the operations comprising: receiving, from the search system, search results; and presenting the search results in the search results page using the style specification. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The system of claim 2, the operations comprising: sending a query to the search system, wherein receiving the style specification and the search results are each responsive to sending the query to the search system. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The system of claim 2, wherein data for the search results includes the style specification. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The system of claim 4, wherein: the search results comprise a plurality of references to resources; the style specification encodes a plurality of resource identifiers each of which is different than the other resource identifiers and associated with one of the plurality of references to resources; and determining the resource identifier for the tracking server comprises determining the resource identifier from the plurality of resource identifiers that is associated with the reference to a resource, from the plurality of references to resources, to which the user interaction corresponds. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein applying the style specification to the reference to the resource identified comprises: receiving, from the tracking server, a no content response; and applying a default style to the reference to the resource. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein: the user interaction with the reference to the resource comprises user input indicating selection of the reference to the resource identified in the search results page; and the tracking server comprises a click tracking server. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The system of claim 7, the operations comprising presenting the resource in response to detecting the user input indicating selection of the reference to the resource. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the reference to the resource identified in the search results page comprises a hyperlink to a web page. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the style specification is encoded according to a syntax of a style sheet language. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the tracking server is different than a server that hosts the resource. ### Claim 12 A non-transitory computer storage device encoded with a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising: receiving, from a search system, a style specification for a search results page, the style specification encoding, for an attribute of a reference to a resource identified in the search results page, a resource identifier for a tracking server; detecting user interaction with the reference to the resource identified in the search results page; and in response to detecting the user interaction with the reference to the resource identified in the search results page, applying the style specification to the reference to the resource by: determining the resource identifier for the tracking server; and requesting, from the tracking server, a second resource using the resource identifier for the tracking server. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The computer storage device of claim 12, the operations comprising: receiving, from the search system, search results; and presenting the search results in the search results page using the style specification. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The computer storage device of claim 13, the operations comprising: sending a query to the search system, wherein receiving the style specification and the search results are each responsive to sending the query to the search system. ### Claim 15 (depends on 13) The computer storage device of claim 13, wherein data for the search results includes the style specification. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The computer storage device of claim 15, wherein: the search results comprise a plurality of references to resources; the style specification encodes a plurality of resource identifiers each of which is different than the other resource identifiers and associated with one of the plurality of references to resources; and determining the resource identifier for the tracking server comprises determining the resource identifier from the plurality of resource identifiers that is associated with the reference to a resource, from the plurality of references to resources, to which the user interaction corresponds. ### Claim 17 (depends on 12) The computer storage device of claim 12, wherein applying the style specification to the reference to the resource identified comprises: receiving, from the tracking server, a no content response; and applying a default style to the reference to the resource. ### Claim 18 (depends on 12) The computer storage device of claim 12, wherein: the user interaction with the reference to the resource comprises user input indicating selection of the reference to the resource identified in the search results page; and the tracking server comprises a click tracking server. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The computer storage device of claim 18, the operations comprising presenting the resource identified in response to detecting the user input indicating selection of the reference to the resource. ### Claim 20 A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, from a search system, a style specification for a search results page, the style specification encoding, for an attribute of a reference to a resource identified in the search results page, a resource identifier for a tracking server; detecting user interaction with the reference to the resource identified in the search results page; and in response to detecting the user interaction with the reference to the resource identified in the search results page, applying the style specification to the reference to the resource by: determining the resource identifier for the tracking server; and requesting, from the tracking server, a second resource using the resource identifier for the tracking server.