Methods and systems for improving a search ranking using location awareness

• US 7,606,798 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2003
• Issued: 10/20/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Parmar, Abhishek, Hamon, Elizabeth, Ge, Xianping, Egnor, Daniel, Singhal, Amit, Smith, Adam
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong; Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lie; Angela M
• Application Number:
  US10/748,656
• Publication Number:
  US 20050065916A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,120 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/7, 707/1
• 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 method performed by a server device, comprising:

receiving, by a processor of the server device, a query;

determining, by the processor, a geographic location associated with the query;

determining, by the processor, a topic corresponding to the query;

determining, by the processor, a distance adjustment factor associated with the topic;

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

determining, by the processor, for each document in the set of documents, a topical score based, at least in part, on the query;

determining, by the processor, for each document in the set of documents, a measure of distance between a geographic location associated with the document and the geographic location associated with the query;

generating, by the processor, for each document in the set of documents, a distance score based, at least in part, on the measure of distance and the distance adjustment factor, where the distance adjustment factor controls an amount that the distance score changes as a function of the measure of distance; and

ordering, by the processor, the set of documents as a function of both the topical scores for the set of documents and the distance scores for the set of documents.

2. The method of claim 1, where the function depends on the topical score and the distance score of each document in the set of documents.

3. The method of claim 1, where the topical score is higher for a more relevant one of the documents than a less relevant one of the documents, and the distance score is higher for one of the documents with the geographic location nearer to the geographic location associated with the query than another one of the documents with the geographic location further from the geographic location associated with the query.

4. The method of claim 3, where the function is a monotonic function of the topical scores and a monotonic function of the distance scores.

5. The method of claim 1, where the distance score is a monotonic function of the distance.

6. The method of claim 1, where the ordering the set of documents further comprises weighting the topical scores and the distance scores differently.

7. The method of claim 6, where a topic weight is applied to the topical scores and a distance weight is applied to the distance scores.

8. The method of claim 7, where the topic weights vary for different ones of the topical scores and the distance weights vary for different ones of the distance scores.

9. The method of claim 8, where at least some of the weights vary based, at least in part, on the query.

10. The method of claim 8, where at least some of the weights vary based, at least in part, on one of the topic or a keyword associated with the query.

11. The method of claim 1, where a first document in the set of documents includes a corresponding first topical score and first distance score, a second document in the set of documents includes a corresponding second topical score higher than the first topical score and second distance score lower than the first distance score, a third document in the set of documents includes a corresponding third topical score higher than the first topical score and third distance score lower than the first distance score;

and

where the ordering the set of documents includes ordering the second document higher than the first document and the third document lower than the first document.

12. The method of claim 1, where a first document in the set of documents includes a corresponding first topical score and first distance score, a second document in the set of documents includes a corresponding second topical score lower than the first topical score and second distance score higher than the first distance score, a third document in the set of documents includes a corresponding third topical score lower than the first topical score and third distance score higher than the first distance score;

and

where the ordering the set of documents includes ordering the second document higher than the first document and the third document lower than the first document.

13. The method of claim 1, where the ordering the set of documents includes;

generating an overall score, for each of the documents in the set of documents, as a combination of the topical score and the distance score, and

ordering the set of documents based, at least in part, on the overall scores.

14. The method of claim 1, where the documents are web pages.

15. The method of claim 1, where the documents are advertisements.

16. A system, comprising:

one or more devices comprising;

means for determining a geographic location associated with a query;

means for determining a topic associated with the query;

means for determining a distance adjustment factor associated with the topic;

means for determining a distance score for each document of a plurality of documents based, at least in part, on the distance adjustment factor and a measure of distance between a geographic location, to which the document is geographically relevant, and the geographic location associated with the query, where the distance adjustment factor controls a rate at which the distance score changes as a function of the measure of distance;

means for determining a topical score for each document of the plurality of documents based, at least in part, on the query; and

means for ranking the plurality of documents based, at least in part, on the distance scores and the topical scores.

17. The system of claim 16, where the means for ranking the plurality of documents includes means for arranging the plurality of documents based, at least in part, on the distance scores and topical scores for the plurality of documents, where the topical score is higher for a more relevant one of the plurality of documents than a less relevant one of the plurality of documents, and the distance score is higher for one of the plurality of documents with the geographic location nearer to the geographic location associated with the query than another one of the plurality of documents with the geographic location further from the geographic location associated with the query.

18. A server, comprising:

one or more devices comprising;

a document locator configured to;

receive a search query, and

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

a location component configured to;

determine a geographic location associated with the search query,

determine a topic associated with the search query, and

determine a distance adjustment factor associated with the topic; and

a ranking component configured to;

determine topical scores for the set of documents based, at least in part, on the search query,

determine distance scores for the set of documents based, at least in part, on the distance adjustment factor and measures of distance between geographic locations associated with the set of documents and the geographic location associated with the search query, where the distance adjustment factor controls a rate at which the distance scores change as a function of the measures of distance, and

rank the set of documents based, at least in part, on the topical scores for the set of documents and the distance scores for the set of documents.

19. The server of claim 18, where the ranking component is further configured to order the set of documents based, at least in part, on the ranking of the set of documents.

20. 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;

determining a topical score for the at least one document based, at least in part, on the search query; and

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

21. The storage device of claim 20, where the distance adjustment factor is determined based, at least in part, on a user profile associated with a user.

22. The storage device of claim 20, where the distance adjustment factor is determined based, at least in part, on user behavior with regard to prior search results.

23. The storage device of claim 21, where the distance score and the topical score are weighted differently.

24. 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 set of documents based, at least in part, on the search query;

determining, for each document in the set of documents, a topical score based, at least in part, on a relevance of the document to the search query;

determining, for each document in the set of documents, a distance score based, at least in part, on a measure of distance between a geographic location associated with the document and the geographic location associated with the search query;

determining a distance weight based, at least in part, on a topic or keyword associated with the search query;

applying the distance weight to the distance score to generate a weighted distance score;

generating, for each document in the set of documents, a total score based, at least in part, on the topical score and the weighted distance score;

ordering the set of documents based, at least in part, on the total scores;

generating a search result document that includes information regarding the ordered set of documents; and

presenting the search result document.

25. The storage device of claim 24, where the method further comprises:

selecting a topical weight based, at least in part, on the topic keyword associated with the search query; and

applying the topical weight to the topical score to generate a weight topical score;

where generating, the total score includes;

generating, for each document in the set of document, a total score based, at least in part, on the weighted topical score and the weighted distance score.