METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR IMPROVING A SEARCH RANKING USING LOCATION AWARENESS

• US 20090327286A1
• Filed: 08/31/2009
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Egnor, Daniel, Singhal, Amit, Smith, Adam, Parmar, Abhishek, Hamon, Elizabeth, Ge, Xianping
• Granted Patent: US 8,171,048 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 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting

Abstract

Systems and methods improve search rankings for a search query by using location data associated with queries and documents related to the search query. In one aspect, a search query is received, a location score is determined, a topical score is determined, and an ordering of documents related to the search query is determined based, at least in part, on the location score and the topical score.

Claims

1. A storage device containing instructions executable by at least one processor to perform a method that comprises:

receiving a search query;

identifying a geographic location associated with the search query;

identifying a topic relating to the search query;

determining a distance adjustment factor relating to the identified topic;

identifying a set of documents based, at least in part, on the search query;

determining a geographic location associated with at least one document in the set of documents;

calculating a distance score based, at least in part, on the distance adjustment factor and a measure of distance between the geographic location associated with the search query and the geographic location associated with the at least one document, where the distance adjustment factor controls an amount that the distance score changes as a function of the measure of distance; and

ranking the at least one document in the set of documents based, at least in part, on the distance score.

2. The storage device of claim 1, where the distance adjustment factor is determined based, at least in part, on a user profile associated with a user.

3. The storage device of claim 1, where the distance adjustment factor is determined based, at least in part, on user behavior with regard to prior search results.

4. The storage device of claim 1, where the ranking at least one document in the set of documents is based, at least in part, on the distance score and a topical score relating to a relevance of the at least one document to the search query, where the distance score and the topical score are weighted differently.

5. A method performed by a server device, comprising:

analyzing, by a processor of the server device, a target document to identify a topic for the target document and a geographic location associated with the target document;

identifying, by a processor of the server device, targeting information for a plurality of advertisements;

comparing, by a processor of the server device, the targeting information to the topic to identify a set of potential advertisements;

determining, by a processor of the server device, a distance score for at least one advertisement in the set of potential advertisements using a geographic location of an advertiser location associated with the one advertisement and the geographic location associated with the target document;

ordering, by a processor of the server device, the set of potential advertisements based, at least in part, on the distance score of the at least one advertisement; and

presenting, by a processor of the server device, at least some of the ordered set of potential advertisements within the target document.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

ranking the set of potential advertisements based, at least in part, on the comparing; and

where the ordering the set of potential advertisements includes re-ranking at least some of the set of potential advertisements.

7. The method of claim 5, where the geographic location associated with the target document is based, at least in part, on a location associated with a user that accesses the target document.

8. A system, comprising:

one or more devices comprising;

means for identifying a topic for a target document;

means for identifying a location associated with the target document;

means for identifying targeting information for a plurality of advertisements;

means for identifying a set of potential advertisements based, at least in part, on the targeting information and the topic for the target document;

means for determining a distance score for at least one advertisement in the set of potential advertisements using an advertiser location associated with the at least one advertisement and the location associated with the target document;

means for ranking the set of potential advertisements based, at least in part, on the distance score of the at least one advertisement; and

means for presenting at least one of the ranked set of potential advertisements within the target document.

9. The system of claim 8, where the means for identifying the topic for the target document includes means for analyzing a content of the target document to identify the topic for the target document.