Determining and/or using location information in an ad system

• US 20050050097A1
• Filed: 09/03/2003
• Published: 03/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Technology Incorporated (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Ramaswamy, Sridhar, Yeh, Leslie, Qian, Zhe
• Granted Patent: US 7,680,796 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, such as country, region, metro area, city or town, postal zip code, telephone area code, etc. 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.

Claims

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

a) accepting inter-country geolocation information associated with the request;

b) comparing the accepted inter-country 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.

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 inter-country geolocation information includes at least one of (a) at least one region, (b) at least one state, (c) at least one metro area, (d) at least one city, (e) at least one town, (f) at least one postal zip code, and (g) at least one telephone area code.

5. 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.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the geolocation information includes at least one of (a) at least one country, (b) at least one region, (c) at least one state, (d) at least one metro area, (e) at least one city, (f) at least one town, (g) at least one postal zip code, and (h) at least one telephone area code.

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 performance information corresponding to the geolocation information accepted; and

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

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the geolocation information includes at least one of (a) at least one country, (b) at least one region, (c) at least one state, (d) at least one metro area, (e) at least one city, (f) at least one town, (g) at least one postal zip code, and (h) at least one telephone area code.

9. A method for serving an ad, the method comprising:

a) accepting geolocation information associated with a request;

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

c) if it is determined that the ad has geolocation creative information corresponding to the geolocation information accepted, then serving the ad with the geolocation creative information.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the geolocation information includes at least one of (a) at least one country, (b) at least one region, (c) at least one state, (d) at least one metro area, (e) at least one city, (f) at least one town, (g) at least one postal zip code, and (h) at least one telephone area code.

11. A method for serving an ad, the method comprising:

a) accepting geolocation information associated with a request;

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

c) if it is determined that the ad has geolocation landing page information corresponding to the geolocation information accepted, then serving the ad with a link to the geolocation landing page.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the geolocation information includes at least one of (a) at least one country, (b) at least one region, (c) at least one state, (d) at least one metro area, (e) at least one city, (f) at least one town, (g) at least one postal zip code, and (h) at least one telephone area code.

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

a) an input for accepting inter-country geolocation information associated with the request;

b) means for comparing the accepted inter-country 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.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the request further includes search terms, and

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

15. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the request further includes document relevance information, and

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

16. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the inter-country geolocation information includes at least one of (a) at least one region, (b) at least one state, (c) at least one metro area, (d) at least one city, (e) at least one town, (f) at least one postal zip code, and (g) at least one telephone area code.

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

a) an input 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.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the geolocation information includes at least one of (a) at least one country, (b) at least one region, (c) at least one state, (d) at least one metro area, (e) at least one city, (f) at least one town, (g) at least one postal zip code, and (h) at least one telephone area code.

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

a) an input for accepting geolocation information associated with a request;

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

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

20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the geolocation information includes at least one of (a) at least one country, (b) at least one region, (c) at least one state, (d) at least one metro area, (e) at least one city, (f) at least one town, (g) at least one postal zip code, and (h) at least one telephone area code.

21. Apparatus for serving an ad, the apparatus comprising:

a) an input for accepting geolocation information associated with a request;

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

c) means for serving the ad with the geolocation creative information if it is determined that the ad has geolocation creative information corresponding to the geolocation information accepted.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the geolocation information includes at least one of (a) at least one country, (b) at least one region, (c) at least one state, (d) at least one metro area, (e) at least one city, (f) at least one town, (g) at least one postal zip code, and (h) at least one telephone area code.

23. Apparatus for serving an ad, the apparatus comprising:

a) an input for accepting geolocation information associated with a request;

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

c) means for serving the ad with a link to the geolocation landing page if it is determined that the ad has geolocation landing page information corresponding to the geolocation information accepted.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the geolocation information includes at least one of (a) at least one country, (b) at least one region, (c) at least one state, (d) at least one metro area, (e) at least one city, (f) at least one town, (g) at least one postal zip code, and (h) at least one telephone area code.