Scoring local search results based on location prominence

• US 20060271531A1
• Filed: 05/27/2005
• Published: 11/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Greenfield, Lawrence E., O'Clair, Brian, Egnor, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 7,822,751 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 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration

Abstract

A system may identify a first document associated with a geographic location within a geographical area and identify a second document associated with a geographic location outside the geographical area. The system may also assign a first score to the first document based on a first scoring function and assign a second score to the second document based on a second scoring function.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

identifying a first set of documents associated with geographic locations within a geographical area;

identifying a second set of documents associated with geographic locations outside the geographical area;

assigning first scores to the first set of documents based on a first scoring function; and

assigning second scores to the second set of documents based on a second scoring function, where the first and second scoring functions are different.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first scoring function is based on a factor unrelated to the geographical area and the second scoring function is based on a factor related to the geographical area.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the geographical area.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein identifying the geographical area includes:

receiving a search query that includes information regarding the geographical area, and identifying the geographical area based on the information in the search query.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein identifying the geographical area further includes:

representing the geographical area by a set of postal codes associated with the geographical area.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein identifying a first set of documents associated with geographic locations within a geographical area includes:

determining a postal code associated with one of the documents in the first set of documents, and

determining whether the postal code is included in the set of postal codes associated with the geographical area.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein identifying the geographical area includes:

receiving input regarding a map, and

providing the map within a map window, where the geographical area represents a visible part of the map in the map window.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein identifying the geographical area further includes:

identifying a set of latitude and longitude coordinates associated with the visible part of the map, and

representing the geographical area by the set of latitude and longitude coordinates.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein identifying a first set of documents associated with geographic locations within a geographical area includes:

determining a latitude and longitude coordinate associated with one of the documents in the first set of documents, and

determining whether the latitude and longitude coordinate is included in the set of latitude and longitude coordinates representing the geographical area.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a location within the geographical area;

determining a search area with a predetermined radius centered on the identified location; and

identifying a plurality of documents associated with geographic locations within the search area.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a search query; and

filtering the plurality of documents based on the search query.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein filtering the plurality of documents includes:

identifying ones of the plurality of documents that contain a term of the search query in their title, content, or category string.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the identified ones of the plurality of documents include the first set of documents and the second set of documents.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning first scores to the first set of documents based on a first scoring function includes:

determining a score for one of the documents in the first set of documents based on a score associated with another document that is identified as authoritative for the one of the documents.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning first scores to the first set of documents based on a first scoring function includes:

determining a score for one of the documents in the first set of documents based on a total number of documents referring to a business associated with the one of the documents.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning first scores to the first set of documents based on a first scoring function includes:

determining a score for one of the documents in the first set of documents based on a highest score associated with documents referring to a business associated with the one of the documents.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning first scores to the first set of documents based on a first scoring function includes:

determining a score for one of the documents in the first set of documents based on a total number of documents with reviews of a business associated with the one of the documents.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning first scores to the first set of documents based on a first scoring function includes:

determining a score for one of the documents in the first set of documents based on a number of information documents that mention a business associated with the one of the documents.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning first scores to the first set of documents based on a first scoring function includes:

determining a score for one of the documents in the first set of documents based on a combination of two or more of a score associated with another document that is identified as authoritative for the one of the documents, a total number of documents referring to a business associated with the one of the documents, a highest score associated with the documents referring to the business, a total number of documents with reviews of the business, or a number of information documents that mention the business.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning first scores to the first set of documents based on a first scoring function includes:

determining a score for one of the documents in the first set of documents based on a combination of a factor unrelated to the geographical area and a factor related to the geographical area.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning first scores to the first set of documents based on a first scoring function includes:

determining a score for one of the documents in the first set of documents based on at least one of a factor relating to a numeric score of a review of a business associated with the one of the documents, a factor associated with a function of a plurality of scores of reviews of the business, a factor relating to a type of document containing a review of the business, or a factor relating to a type of language used in a review of the business.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning first scores to the first set of documents based on a first scoring function includes:

determining a score for one of the documents in the first set of documents based on a factor derived from user logs relating to user interactions with the documents in the first set of documents.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning first scores to the first set of documents based on a first scoring function includes:

determining a score for one of the documents in the first set of documents based on at least one of a factor relating to financial data associated with a business associated with the one of the documents, or a factor relating to a number of years the business has been operational.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning second scores to the second set of documents based on a second scoring function includes:

determining a score for one of the documents in the second set of documents based on a distance between a first geographic location associated with the one of the documents and a second geographic location within the geographical area.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an input; and

scoring the first set of documents based on the second scoring function in response to receiving the input.

26. A system, comprising:

means for identifying a first document associated with a geographic location within an area;

means for identifying a second document associated with a geographic location outside the area;

means for assigning a first score to the first document based on a first scoring function; and

means for assigning a second score to the second document based on a second scoring function.

27. A method, comprising:

receiving a search query;

identifying a geographical area;

identifying a document associated with a geographic location within the geographical area that is related to the search query; and

assigning a score to the document based on a factor unrelated to the search query and unrelated to the geographical area.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the search query includes information regarding the geographical area;

and

wherein identifying a geographical area includes;

identifying the geographical area based on the information in the search query.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein identifying a geographical area further includes:

representing the geographical area by a set of postal codes associated with the geographical area.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein identifying a document associated with a geographic location within the geographical area includes:

determining a postal code associated with the document, and

determining whether the postal code is included in the set of postal codes associated with the geographical area.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein identifying a geographical area includes:

receiving input regarding a map, and

providing the map within a map window, where the geographical area represents a visible part of the map in the map window.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein identifying a geographical area further includes:

identifying a set of latitude and longitude coordinates associated with the visible part of the map, and

representing the geographical area by the set of latitude and longitude coordinates.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein identifying a document associated with a geographic location within the geographical area includes:

determining a latitude and longitude coordinate associated with the document, and

determining whether the latitude and longitude coordinate is included in the set of latitude and longitude coordinates representing the geographical area.

34. The method of claim 27, wherein assigning a score includes:

determining a score for the document based on a score associated with another document that is identified as authoritative for the document.

35. The method of claim 27, wherein assigning a score includes:

determining a score for the document based on a total number of documents referring to a business associated with the document.

36. The method of claim 27, wherein assigning a score includes:

determining a score for the document based on a highest score associated with documents referring to a business associated with the document.

37. The method of claim 27, wherein assigning a score includes:

determining a score for the document based on a total number of documents with reviews of a business associated with the document.

38. The method of claim 27, wherein assigning a score includes:

determining a score for the document based on a number of information documents that mention a business associated with the document.

39. The method of claim 27, wherein assigning a score includes:

determining a score for the document based on a combination of two or more of a score associated with another document that is identified as authoritative for the document, a total number of documents referring to a business associated with the document, a highest score associated with the documents referring to the business, a total number of documents with reviews of the business, or a number of information documents that mention the business.

40. The method of claim 27, wherein assigning a score includes:

determining a score for the document based on a combination of the factor unrelated to the search query and unrelated to the geographical area and a factor related to the geographical area.

41. A system, comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions to;

represent a geographical area by a set of postal codes allocated to the geographical area,

determine a postal code associated with a document,

determine whether the postal code is included in the set of postal codes associated with the geographical area,

score the document based on a first scoring function when the postal code is included in the set of postal codes associated with the geographical area, and

score the document based on a second scoring function when the postal code is not included in the set of postal codes allocated to the geographical area.

42. A system, comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions to;

represent a geographical area by a set of latitude and longitude coordinates associated with the geographical area,

determine a latitude and longitude coordinate associated with a document,

determine whether the latitude and longitude coordinate is included in the set of latitude and longitude coordinates associated with the geographical area,

score the document based on a first scoring function when the latitude and longitude coordinate is included in the set of latitude and longitude coordinates associated with the geographical area, and

score the document based on a second scoring function when the latitude and longitude coordinate is not included in the set of latitude and longitude coordinates associated with the geographical area.

43. A method, comprising:

assigning a score to a document based on a combination of two or more of a score associated with another document that is identified as authoritative for the document, a total number of documents referring to a business associated with the document, a highest score associated with the documents referring to the business, a total number of documents with reviews of the business, or a number of information documents that mention the business; and

using the score to rank the document.

44. The method of claim 43, further comprising:

receiving a search query relating to a local search; and

presenting the document based on the score assigned to the document in response to receiving the search query.

45. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions executable by at least one processor, comprising:

instructions for assigning a score to a document based on a combination of two or more of a score associated with another document that is identified as authoritative for the document, a total number of documents referring to a business associated with the document, a highest score associated with the documents referring to the business, a total number of documents with reviews of the business, a number of information documents that mention the business, a numeric score of a review of the business, a function of a plurality of scores of reviews of the business, a type of document containing a review of the business, a type of language used in a review of the business, user logs relating to user interactions with the document, financial data associated with the business, or a number of years that the business has been operational; and

instructions for using the score to rank the document.