Ranking content using location-based query log analysis

• US 9,129,029 B1
• Filed: 05/19/2011
• Issued: 09/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Seth, Rohan, Sacks, Joshua J., Covell, Michele, Chu, Michael, Baluja, Shumeet, Marwood, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Boccio, Vincent F
• Application Number:
  US13/111,485
• Time in Patent Office: 1,573 Days
• Field of Search: 707/736, 707/707, 707/723, 707/724, 707/725, 707/748, 707/754, 707/728, 701/209, 715/788
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer-readable storage medium, including a method for ranking content using location-based query log analysis. The method comprises: identifying a region defining an area of interest including identifying a plurality of content items that are associated with the region; evaluating query logs associated with users that submitted queries associated with the region to determine a ranking associated with the plurality of content items; receiving a request for content associated with the region; and providing one or more of the content items based at least in part on the ranking.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying a region defining an area of interest in response to receiving a viewport from a client device corresponding to the region including identifying a plurality of content items that are associated with the region;

evaluating query logs associated with users that submitted queries associated with the region to determine a ranking associated with the plurality of content items, wherein each content item is ranked based on a number of queries in the query logs for which each content item is responsive and a time of occurrence of the number of queries, wherein each content item is ranked higher if the number of queries occurred more recently on average than other queries in the query logs and ranked lower if the number of queries occurred less recently on average than other queries in the query logs;

receiving a geographic search query associated with the region; and

providing one or more of the content items in response to the geographic search query to be displayed on the viewport of the client device, based at least in part on the ranking associated with each of the one or more contents items, wherein each of the one or more displayed content items are ranked above a predetermined threshold ranking, and wherein the predetermined threshold ranking is based on the viewport.

2. The method of claim 1 where the content items include one or more advertisements.

3. The method of claim 1 where evaluating query log includes evaluating query log data, where each entry in a query log includes query terms submitted, a region as defined by a bounding region that was displayed in a viewport to the user prior to receipt of the query, and where evaluating query log data includes evaluating one or more business listings associated with the bounding region shown in the viewport.

4. The method of claim 1 where the plurality of content items comprise business listings.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising determining a number of business listings associated with the region, and where evaluating query logs includes evaluating the business listings using the query terms from the query log to rank the business listings.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein evaluating the query logs comprises:

determining which queries in the query logs are associated with a geographic location in the region and which queries in the query logs are not associated with a geographic location in the region;

for each query in the query logs associated with the region, retrieving from the query logs content items sent to the user who submitted the respective query; and

for each retrieved content item, updating a region-specific measure of a number of times the respective content item was responsive to a query associated with the region and ranking the respective content item based on the region-specific measure of a number of times the respective content item was responsive to a query associated with the region.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the query logs comprise information about past queries, including for each of at least a plurality of entries in the query logs:

search terms submitted with the respective query;

a respective geographic area associated with the respective query, the respective geographic area being identified based on a map viewport displayed by the device of the user submitting the respective query; and

respective search results sent to the device of the user submitting the respective query, the respective search results being content items; and

wherein evaluating the query logs comprises;

determining which entries in the query logs include a respective geographic area in the region;

measuring an amount of times at least some of the respective search results appear within entries in the query logs determined to include a respective geographic area in the region; and

ranking the content items based on the measurements.

8. A method comprising:

receiving a request from a user to display a region of interest in a viewport on a display of a client device;

receiving a first query from the user while the region is displayed in the viewport including receiving one or more query terms;

determining one or more first content items associated with the region and the query terms and ranking the first content items based at least in part on the received query terms;

providing first query results to the user based at least in part on the ranking of the one or more first content items to be displayed on the viewport of the client device, wherein each of the first query results are ranked above a predetermined threshold ranking, and wherein the predetermined threshold ranking is based on the viewport;

storing, in a query log, an entry that includes the query terms and information describing the region displayed in the viewport;

subsequently, receiving a second query from or about the region;

identifying one or more second content items associated with the region;

evaluating the query log including using the query terms included in the query log to rank the one or more second content items, wherein each of the one or more second content items is ranked based on a number of queries in the query log for which each content item is responsive; and

responsive to the subsequently received second query, providing second query results based at least in part on the ranking of the one or more second content items to be displayed on the viewport of the client device, wherein each of the second query results are ranked above a predetermined threshold ranking, and wherein the predetermined threshold ranking is based on the viewport.

9. The method of claim 8 where the one or more first content items and the one or more second content items include one or more advertisements.

10. The method of claim 8 where the one or more first content items and the one or more second content items are business listings.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein evaluating the query log comprises:

determining which queries in the query log are associated with a geographic location in the region of interest and which queries in the query log are not associated with a geographic location in the region of interest;

for each query in the query log associated with the region of interest, retrieving from the query log content items sent to the user who submitted the respective query; and

for each retrieved content item, updating a measure of a number of times the respective content item was responsive to a query associated with the region and ranking the respective content item based measure of a number of times the respective content item was responsive to a query associated with the region of interest.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the query log comprises information about past queries, including for each of at least a plurality of entries in the query logs:

search terms submitted with the respective query;

a respective geographic area associated with the respective query, the respective geographic area being identified based on a map viewport displayed by the device of the user submitting the respective query; and

respective search results sent to the device of the user submitting the respective query, the respective search results being content items; and

wherein evaluating the query log comprises;

determining which entries in the query log include a respective geographic area in the region of interest;

measuring an amount of times at least some of the respective search results appear within entries in the query logs determined to include a respective geographic area in the region of interest; and

ranking the content items based on the measurements such that search results that are frequently responsive to queries associated with the region of interest are ranked higher than search results that are less frequently responsive to queries associated with the region of interest.

13. A method comprising:

receiving a request from a user to display a region of interest in a viewport on a display of a client device;

receiving a first query from the user while the region is displayed in the viewport including receiving one or more query terms;

determining one or more first content items associated with the region and the first query and ranking the first content items based at least in part on the received query terms;

providing first query results to the user based at least in part on the ranking of the one or more first content items to be displayed on the viewport of the client device, wherein each of the first query results are ranked above a predetermined threshold ranking, and wherein the predetermined threshold ranking is based on the viewport, where providing the first query results includes providing one or more pushpin features as additions to the region of interest shown in the viewport;

storing, in a query log, an entry that includes the query terms, and information describing the region displayed in the viewport;

subsequently, receiving a second query from or about the region;

identifying one or more second content items associated with the region;

evaluating the query log including using the query terms included in the query log to rank the one or more second content items, wherein each of the one or more second content items is ranked based on a number of queries in the query log for which each content item is responsive; and

responsive to the subsequently received second query, providing second query results based at least in part on the ranking of the one or more second content items to be displayed on the viewport of the client device, wherein each of the second query results are ranked above a predetermined threshold ranking, and wherein the predetermined threshold ranking is based on the viewport.

14. The method of claim 13 where the one or more first content items and the one or more second content items include one or more advertisements.

15. The method of claim 13 where providing first query results further includes:

providing a viewport displaying the region; and

providing one or more pushpin features as additions to the region shown on the viewport based at least in part on the ranking of the one or more first content items.

16. A method comprising:

providing a viewport displaying a region;

providing one or more pushpin features as additions to the region shown on the viewport;

receiving a first query from the user while the region is displayed in the viewport including receiving one or more query terms;

determining one or more first content items associated with the region and the first query and ranking the first content items based at least in part on the received query terms and the one or more pushpin features;

providing first query results to the user based at least in part on the ranking of the one or more first content items to be displayed on the viewport, wherein each of the first query results are ranked above a predetermined threshold ranking, and wherein the predetermined threshold ranking is based on the viewport;

storing, in a query log, an entry that includes the query terms, and information describing the region displayed in the viewport and the one or more pushpin features;

subsequently, receiving a second query from or about the region;

identifying one or more second content items associated with the region using the entry including ranking the one or more second content items, wherein each of the one or more second content items is ranked based on a number of queries in the query log for which each content item is responsive; and

responsive to the subsequently received second query, providing second query results based on the ranking of the one or more second content items to be displayed on the viewport of the client device, wherein each of the second query results are ranked above a predetermined threshold ranking, and wherein the predetermined threshold ranking is based on the viewport.

17. The method of claim 16 where the one or more first content items and the one or more second content items include one or more advertisements.

18. A method comprising:

identifying a region defining an area of interest in response to receiving a viewport from a client device corresponding to the region including identifying a plurality of queries that are associated with the region, the queries being queries previously received and processed for delivery of content items to users in or having expressed an interest in the region;

evaluating query logs associated with users that submitted the queries associated with the region to determine a ranking associated with the queries;

receiving a geographic search query associated with the region;

identifying one or more content items responsive to the geographic search query;

ranking the identified one or more content items based at least in part on the ranking associated with the queries and based in part on a number of the queries in the query logs for which each content item is responsive and a time of occurrence of the number of queries, wherein each content item is ranked higher if the number of queries occurred more recently on average than other queries in the query logs and ranked lower if the number of queries occurred less recently on average than other queries in the query logs; and

providing one or more of the identified content items based at least in part on the ranking to be displayed on the viewport of the client device, wherein each of the one or more displayed content items are ranked above a predetermined threshold ranking, and wherein the predetermined threshold ranking is based on the viewport.

19. A system comprising:

a computer program product stored on a tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and comprising instructions that when executed by a processor comprise;

a content management system that provides content items responsive to received requests, the content management system including a query handler and a location based ranking module, wherein the received requests include a viewport from a client device, and wherein the content items are provided to be displayed on the viewport of the client device, wherein each of the content items are ranked above a predetermined threshold ranking, and wherein the predetermined threshold ranking is based on the viewport;

where the query handler is enabled to receive queries and location information and store the queries in association with the location information; and

where the location based ranking module is enabled to rank content items that are responsive to receive requests based at least in part on a number of the stored queries for which each content item is responsive and a time of occurrence of the number of queries, wherein each content item is ranked higher if the number of queries occurred more recently on average than other queries in the query logs and ranked lower if the number of queries occurred less recently on average than other queries in the query logs.

20. A computer program product tangibly embodied in a nontransitory computer-readable storage medium and comprising instructions that when executed by a processor perform steps comprising:

identifying a region defining an area of interest in response to receiving a viewport from a client device corresponding to the region including identifying a plurality of content items that are associated with the region;

evaluating query logs associated with users that submitted queries associated with the region to determine a ranking associated with the plurality of content items, wherein each content item is ranked based on a number of queries in the query logs for which each content item is responsive and a time of occurrence of the number of queries, wherein each content item is ranked higher if the number of queries occurred more recently on average than other queries in the query logs and ranked lower if the number of queries occurred less recently on average than other queries in the query logs;

receiving a geographic search query associated with the region; and

providing one or more of the content items in response to the geographic search query to be displayed on the viewport of the client device based at least in part on the ranking associated with each of the one or more content items, wherein each of the one or more displayed content items are ranked above a predetermined threshold ranking, and wherein the predetermined threshold ranking is based on the viewport.