Determining and/or using location information in an ad system

• US 20050050027A1
• Filed: 04/12/2004
• Published: 03/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Rose, Mark, Ramaswamy, Sridhar, Yeh, Leslie, Qian, Zhe
• Granted Patent: US 7,668,832 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location

Abstract

The usefulness, and consequently the performance, of advertisements are improved by allowing businesses to better target their ads to a responsive audience. Location information is determined (or simply accepted) and used. For example, location information may be used in a relevancy determination of an ad. As another example, location information may be used in an attribute (e.g., position) arbitration. Such location information may be associated with price information, such as a maximum price bid. Such location information may be associated with ad performance information. Ad performance information may be tracked on the basis of location information. The content of an ad creative, and/or of a landing page may be selected and/or modified using location information. Finally, tools, such as user interfaces, may be provided to allow a business to enter and/or modify location information, such as location information used for targeting and location-dependent price information. The location information used to target and/or score ads may be, include, or define an area. The area may be defined by at least one geographic reference point (e.g., defined by latitude and longitude coordinates) and perhaps additional information. Thus, the area may be a circle defined by a geographic reference point and a radius, an ellipse defined by two geographic reference points and a distance sum, or a polygon defined by three or more geographic reference points, for example.

Claims

1. A method for determining a relevancy of an ad to a request, the method comprising:

a) accepting geolocation information associated with the request;

b) comparing the accepted geolocation information associated with the request with geolocation targeting information associated with the ad to generate a comparison; and

c) determining the relevancy of the ad using at least the comparison,

wherein the geolocation targeting information associated with the ad is defined by at least one geographic reference point.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the request further includes search terms, and

wherein the act of determining the relevancy of the ad further uses a comparison of keyword targeting associated with the ad and the search terms.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the request further includes document relevance information, and

wherein the act of determining the relevancy of the ad further uses a comparison of ad relevance information and the document relevance information.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the geolocation targeting information corresponds to a circular area having a radius about a specified geographic reference point.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the geolocation targeting information corresponds to an area defined by at least three geographic reference points.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the area defined by at least three geographic reference points is a polygon.

7. A method for determining a score of an ad, the method comprising:

a) accepting geolocation information associated with a request;

b) determining whether the ad has geolocation price information corresponding to the geolocation information accepted; and

c) if it is determined that the ad has geolocation price information corresponding to the geolocation information accepted, then determining the score using at least the geolocation price information,

wherein the geolocation price information associated with the ad corresponds to an area defined by at least one geographic reference point.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the area includes a circular area having a radius about a specified geographic reference point.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the area includes an area defined by at least three geographic reference points.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the area defined by at least three geographic reference points is a polygon.

11. A method for determining a score of an ad with respect to a request, the method comprising:

a) accepting geolocation information associated with the request;

b) comparing the accepted geolocation information associated with the request with geolocation targeting information associated with the ad to generate a comparison; and

c) determining the score of the ad using at least the comparison,

wherein the geolocation information is a zip code included in the request.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the request is a search query.

13. A method for determining a score of an ad with respect to a request, the method comprising:

a) accepting geolocation information associated with the request;

b) comparing the accepted geolocation information associated with the request with geolocation targeting information associated with the ad to generate a comparison; and

c) determining the score of the ad using at least the comparison,

wherein the geolocation information is at least one of a city name, a state name, a region name, and a country name, included in the request.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the request is a search query.

15. Apparatus for determining a relevancy of an ad to a request, the apparatus comprising:

a) means for accepting geolocation information associated with the request;

b) means for comparing the accepted geolocation information associated with the request with geolocation targeting information associated with the ad to generate a comparison; and

c) means for determining the relevancy of the ad using at least the comparison,

wherein the geolocation targeting information associated with the ad is defined by at least one geographic reference point.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the request further includes search terms, and

wherein the means for determining the relevancy of the ad further use a comparison of keyword targeting associated with the ad and the search terms.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the request further includes document relevance information, and

wherein the means for determining the relevancy of the ad further use a comparison of ad relevance information and the document relevance information.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the geolocation targeting information corresponds to a circular area having a radius about a specified geographic reference point.

19. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the geolocation targeting information corresponds to an area defined by at least three geographic reference points.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the area defined by at least three geographic reference points is a polygon.

21. Apparatus for determining a score of an ad, the apparatus comprising:

a) means for accepting geolocation information associated with a request;

b) means for determining whether the ad has geolocation price information corresponding to the geolocation information accepted; and

c) means for determining the score using at least the geolocation price information if it is determined that the ad has geolocation price information corresponding to the geolocation information accepted,

wherein the geolocation price information associated with the ad corresponds to an area defined by at least one geographic reference point.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the area includes a circular area having a radius about a specified geographic reference point.

23. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the area includes an area defined by at least three geographic reference points.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the area defined by at least three geographic reference points is a polygon.

25. Apparatus for determining a score of an ad with respect to a request, the apparatus comprising:

a) means for accepting geolocation information associated with the request;

b) means for comparing the accepted geolocation information associated with the request with geolocation targeting information associated with the ad to generate a comparison; and

c) means for determining the score of the ad using at least the comparison,

wherein the geolocation information is a zip code included in the request.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the request is a search query.

27. Apparatus for determining a score of an ad with respect to a request, the apparatus comprising:

a) means for accepting geolocation information associated with the request;

b) means for comparing the accepted geolocation information associated with the request with geolocation targeting information associated with the ad to generate a comparison; and

c) means for determining the score of the ad using at least the comparison,

wherein the geolocation information is at least one of a city name, a state name, a region name, and a country name, included in the request.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein the request is a search query.