SoFunction
Updated on 2025-03-03

How to predict click-through rate data in Python

Click-through Rate (CTR) prediction is a very important link in recommendation systems, advertising systems and search engines. In this scenario, we usually need to predict the probability that the user clicks on a specific item (such as advertisements, recommended products) based on factors such as the user's historical behavior, the characteristics of the item, and the context information.

1. Click-through rate data prediction

Here is a simplified example of click-through rate prediction using Python's machine learning library scikit-learn. Note that the click-through rate prediction model in actual production is often more complex and may involve deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow or PyTorch.

1.1 Data preparation

First, we need a dataset that contains user characteristics, item characteristics, and click situations. For simplicity, let's assume that there is a dataset that contains the user ID, the item ID, and whether to click (0 or 1).

import pandas as pd  
from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split  
from  import LabelEncoder, OneHotEncoder  
from  import ColumnTransformer  
from  import Pipeline  
from sklearn.linear_model import LogisticRegression  
from  import roc_auc_score  
# Assumption datadata = {  
    'user_id': ['A', 'B', 'C', 'A', 'B', 'C'],  
    'item_id': [1, 2, 3, 2, 3, 1],  
    'clicked': [1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1]  
}  
df = (data)  
# Split features and tagsX = df[['user_id', 'item_id']]  
y = df['clicked']  
# Divide the training set and the test setX_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(X, y, test_size=0.2, random_state=42)

1.2 Feature Engineering

Since the user ID and item ID are usually type variables, we need to convert it into a numerical variable. Here we useLabelEncoderandOneHotEncoder. But for simplicity, we assume that the number of user IDs and item IDs is not large, and one-hot encoding can be used directly.

# Feature Engineering: Convert category variables to single hot encodingcategorical_features = ['user_id', 'item_id']  
categorical_transformer = Pipeline(steps=[  
    ('onehot', OneHotEncoder(handle_unknown='ignore'))  
])  
# Define preprocessing stepspreprocessor = ColumnTransformer(  
    transformers=[  
        ('cat', categorical_transformer, categorical_features)  
    ])

1.3 Model training

We use logistic regression as a predictive model.

# Define the modelmodel = Pipeline(steps=[('preprocessor', preprocessor),  
                        ('classifier', LogisticRegression(solver='liblinear', max_iter=1000))])  
# Train the model(X_train, y_train)

1.4 Model evaluation

We use AUC-ROC as an evaluation indicator.

# predicty_pred_prob = model.predict_proba(X_test)[:, 1]  
# Calculate AUC-ROCauc = roc_auc_score(y_test, y_pred_prob)  
print(f'AUC-ROC: {auc}')

1.5 Notes and Extensions

(1) Feature Engineering: In practical applications, feature engineering is a crucial step, which involves how to effectively extract information useful for prediction from the original data.

(2) Model selection: Logistic regression is a simple and efficient model, but for more complex scenarios, it may be necessary to use more complex models, such as deep learning models.

(3) Hyperparameter optimization: When training the model, the selection of hyperparameters has a great impact on the performance of the model. Hyperparameters can be optimized using grid search, random search, etc.

(4) Real-time update: Click-through rate prediction models usually require real-time updates to reflect the latest user behavior and item characteristics.

(5) Evaluation indicators: In addition to AUC-ROC, other evaluation indicators can also be used, such as accuracy, recall, F1 score, etc., depending on business needs.

2. Detailed steps for training and prediction of click-through rate data prediction model

When it comes to more detailed code examples, we need to consider a slightly more complex scenario, which includes more feature processing steps and more specific model training and prediction processes. Here is a more complete example that shows how to process categorical features, numerical features (if any), and use logistic regression for click-through rate prediction.

2.1 Data preparation

First, we simulate a dataset containing both categorical and numerical features.

import pandas as pd  
from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split  
from  import LabelEncoder, OneHotEncoder, StandardScaler  
from  import ColumnTransformer  
from  import Pipeline  
from sklearn.linear_model import LogisticRegression  
from  import roc_auc_score  
# Assumption datadata = {  
    'user_id': ['A', 'B', 'C', 'A', 'B', 'C'],  
    'item_id': [1, 2, 3, 2, 3, 1],  
    'user_age': [25, 35, 22, 28, 32, 27],  # Hypothetical numerical characteristics    'clicked': [1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1]  
}  
df = (data)  
# Split features and tagsX = ('clicked', axis=1)  
y = df['clicked']  
# Divide the training set and the test setX_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(X, y, test_size=0.2, random_state=42)

2.2 Feature Engineering

We will useColumnTransformerto handle different feature types.

# Define classification and numerical featurescategorical_features = ['user_id', 'item_id']  
numeric_features = ['user_age']  
# Preprocessing classification featurescategorical_preprocessor = Pipeline(steps=[  
    ('labelencoder', LabelEncoder()),  # Convert string to integer    ('onehotencoder', OneHotEncoder(handle_unknown='ignore', sparse=False))  # Hot encoding])  
# Preprocessing numerical featuresnumeric_preprocessor = Pipeline(steps=[  
    ('scaler', StandardScaler())  # Standardized processing])  
# Merge preprocessing stepspreprocessor = ColumnTransformer(  
    transformers=[  
        ('cat', categorical_preprocessor, categorical_features),  
        ('num', numeric_preprocessor, numeric_features)  
    ]  
)

2.3 Model training and evaluation

# Define the modelmodel = Pipeline(steps=[  
    ('preprocessor', preprocessor),  
    ('classifier', LogisticRegression(solver='liblinear', max_iter=1000))  
])  
# Train the model(X_train, y_train)  
# Predict probabilityy_pred_prob = model.predict_proba(X_test)[:, 1]  
# Evaluate the modelauc = roc_auc_score(y_test, y_pred_prob)  
print(f'AUC-ROC: {auc}')  
# Predicted category (usually for binary classification problems, the threshold is set to 0.5)y_pred = (y_pred_prob >= 0.5).astype(int)  
# Evaluate accuracy (Note: Accuracy may not be the best evaluation metric, especially for unbalanced datasets)accuracy = (y_pred == y_test).mean()  
print(f'Accuracy: {accuracy}')

2.4 Predicting new data

Once the model is trained and the performance meets the requirements, we can use it to predict the click-through rate of new data.

# Suppose we have new datanew_data = ({  
    'user_id': ['D', 'E'],  
    'item_id': [2, 3],  
    'user_age': [30, 20]  
})  
# Predict the click probability of new datanew_data_pred_prob = model.predict_proba(new_data)[:, 1]  
print(f'Predicted click probabilities for new data: {new_data_pred_prob}')

Note that this example is simplified for teaching purposes. In practical applications, feature engineering may be more complex and may require consideration of more factors, such as time factors, context information, user behavior sequences, etc. In addition, the selection and tuning of the model are also very important steps to ensure the accuracy of the prediction.

3. Specific model training and prediction steps

When it comes to specific model training and prediction steps, the following is a more detailed process based on Python and scikit-learn. This process assumes that we already have a processed dataset that contains features (maybe classified, numerical, or a mixture of both) and target variables (i.e. click-through rate).

3.1 Import the required libraries and modules

First, we need to import all the necessary libraries and modules.

import pandas as pd  
from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split  
from  import LabelEncoder, OneHotEncoder, StandardScaler  
from  import ColumnTransformer  
from  import Pipeline  
from sklearn.linear_model import LogisticRegression  
from  import roc_auc_score  
# Assume you already have the processDataFrame 'df',Features and tags are included

3.2 Data preparation

Suppose you already have a namedfpandas DataFrame, which contains features and target variables.

# Assume df is your dataset and already contains features and tags# X is a feature, y is a tagX = ('clicked', axis=1)  # Assume 'clicked' is the target variable column namey = df['clicked']  
# Divide the training set and the test setX_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(X, y, test_size=0.2, random_state=42)

3.3 Feature Engineering

We need to process them separately depending on the type of features (categorized or numerical).

# Define classification and numerical featurescategorical_features = ['user_id', 'item_id']  # Assume these are categorical characteristicsnumeric_features = ['user_age', 'other_numeric_feature']  # Assume these are numerical features# Preprocessing classification featurescategorical_preprocessor = Pipeline(steps=[  
    ('labelencoder', LabelEncoder()),  # Convert string to integer    ('onehotencoder', OneHotEncoder(handle_unknown='ignore', sparse=False))  # Hot encoding])  
# Preprocessing numerical featuresnumeric_preprocessor = Pipeline(steps=[  
    ('scaler', StandardScaler())  # Standardized processing])  
# Merge preprocessing stepspreprocessor = ColumnTransformer(  
    transformers=[  
        ('cat', categorical_preprocessor, categorical_features),  
        ('num', numeric_preprocessor, numeric_features)  
    ]  
)

3.4 Model training

Now we can define and train the model.

# Define the modelmodel = Pipeline(steps=[  
    ('preprocessor', preprocessor),  
    ('classifier', LogisticRegression(solver='liblinear', max_iter=1000))  
])  
# Train the model(X_train, y_train)

3.5 Model evaluation

Use the test set to evaluate the performance of the model.

# Predict probabilityy_pred_prob = model.predict_proba(X_test)[:, 1]  
# Calculate AUC-ROCauc = roc_auc_score(y_test, y_pred_prob)  
print(f'AUC-ROC: {auc}')  
# Predicted category (usually for binary classification problems, the threshold is set to 0.5)y_pred = (y_pred_prob >= 0.5).astype(int)  
# Evaluate accuracy (Note: Accuracy may not be the best evaluation metric, especially for unbalanced datasets)accuracy = (y_pred == y_test).mean()  
print(f'Accuracy: {accuracy}')

3.6 Predicting new data

Once the model is trained and the performance meets the requirements, we can use it to predict the click-through rate of new data.

# Assume new_data is a new DataFrame that contains data that needs to be predictednew_data = ({  
    'user_id': ['D', 'E'],  
    'item_id': [2, 3],  
    'user_age': [30, 20],  
    'other_numeric_feature': [1.2, 2.3]  # Assume this is another numerical feature})  
# Predict the click probability of new datanew_data_pred_prob = model.predict_proba(new_data)[:, 1]  
print(f'Predicted click probabilities for new data: {new_data_pred_prob}')

This is a complete model training and prediction process. Note that this is just a basic example, practical applications may be more complex and may involve more complex feature engineering, model selection, hyperparameter tuning, and performance evaluation.

This is the end of this article about how Python can predict click-through rate data. For more related content on Python click-through rate data, please search for my previous articles or continue browsing the related articles below. I hope everyone will support me in the future!