Predicting CTR with Machine Learning in Python

Chances are you’re on this page because you clicked a link. In this chapter, you’ll learn why click-through-rates (CTR) are integral to targeted advertising, how to perform basic DataFrame manipulation, and how you can use machine learning models to predict CTR.

This chapter provides the foundations for exploratory data analysis (EDA). Using sample data you’ll use the pandas library to look at columns and data types, explore missing data, and use hashing to perform feature engineering on categorical features. All of which are important when exploring features for more accurate CTR prediction.

It’s time to dive deeper. Find out how you can use measures of model performance including precision and recall to answer real-world questions, such as evaluating ROI on ad spend. You’ll also learn ways to improve upon those evaluation metrics, such as ensemble methods and hyperparameter tuning.

Profits can be heavily impacted by your campaign’s CTR. In this chapter, you’ll learn how deep learning can be used to reduce that risk. You’ll focus on multi-layer perceptron (MLP) and neural network models, and learn how these can be used to capture the complex relationship between variables to more accurately predict CTR. Lastly, you’ll explore how to apply the basics of hyperparameter tuning and regularization to classification models.