Location-specific advertising

• US 9,501,784 B2
• Filed: 07/01/2014
• Issued: 11/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2003
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Johnson, Leslie Yeh, Ramaswamy, Sridhar, Qian, Zhe, Rose, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Greta
• Application Number:
  US14/321,758
• Publication Number:
  US 20140316893A1
• Time in Patent Office: 875 Days
• Field of Search: 707/769, 707/771, 707/912, 707/944, 705/7.11, 705/7.29, 705/7.35, 705/14.4, 705/14.49, 705/14.55, 705/14.72, 705/14.73
• 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 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. Tools, such as user interfaces, may be provided to allow a business to enter and/or modify location information. The location information used to target and/or score ads may be, include, or define an area.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, using one or more processors, geolocation information associated with an end user request;

determining, using the one or more processors, whether an ad has geolocation-specific information corresponding to the received geolocation information; and

responsive to a determination that the ad has geolocation-specific information corresponding to the received geolocation information,

modifying, using the one or more processors, an ad creative based at least in part on one or more of (A) the geolocation information associated with the end user request, and (B) the geolocation-specific information of the ad, wherein modifying the ad creative includes selecting one of one or more candidate ad creatives,

selecting, using the one or more processors, one of a plurality of candidate ad landing pages based at least in part on the geolocation information, and

providing, using the one or more processors, the modified ad creative on a client device,

otherwise, responsive to a determination, using the one or more processors, that the ad does not have geolocation-specific information corresponding to the geolocation information, providing the ad creative to the client device.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein modifying the ad creative comprises modifying a content of the creative.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein modifying the ad creative comprises inserting geolocation-specific content into the ad creative.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the geolocation-specific information corresponds to a circular area having a radius about a specified geographic reference point.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the geolocation-specific information corresponds to an area defined by at least three geographic reference points.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the geolocation information associated with the end user request and the geolocation-specific information each include 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, or (g) at least one telephone area code.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

responsive to a determination that the ad has geolocation-specific information corresponding to the geolocation information, serving a first ad creative, the first ad creative including a link to the selected one of the plurality of candidate ad landing pages, to provide the first ad creative to the client device.

8. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more non-transient computer readable storage device storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processor, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving, using one or more computers, geolocation information associated with an end user request;

determining, whether an ad has geolocation-specific information corresponding to the geolocation information; and

responsive to a determination that the ad has geolocation-specific information corresponding to the geolocation information,

modifying an ad creative based at least in part on one or more of (A) the geolocation information associated with the end user request, and (B) the geolocation-specific information of the ad, wherein modifying the ad creative includes selecting one of one or more candidate ad creatives,

selecting one of a plurality of candidate ad landing pages based at least in part on the geolocation information, and

providing the modified ad creative on a client device,

otherwise, responsive to a determination that the ad does not have geolocation-specific information corresponding to the geolocation information, providing the ad creative to the client device.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein modifying the ad creative comprises modifying a content of the creative.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein modifying the ad creative comprises inserting geolocation-specific content into the ad creative.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the geolocation-specific information corresponds to a circular area having a radius about a specified geographic reference point.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the geolocation-specific information corresponds to one of (A) a circular area having a radius about a specified geographic reference point, or (B) an area defined by at least three geographic reference points.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the geolocation information associated with the end user request and the geolocation-specific information each include 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, or (g) at least one telephone area code.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein responsive to the determination that the ad has the geolocation-specific information corresponding to the geolocation information, further comprises:

serving a first ad creative, the first ad creative including a link to the selected one of the plurality of candidate ad landing pages, to provide the first ad creative to the client device.

15. A non-transitory storage medium storing processor-executable instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving geolocation information associated with an end user request;

determining whether an ad has geolocation-specific information corresponding to the geolocation information; and

responsive to a determination that the ad has geolocation-specific information corresponding to the geolocation information,

modifying an ad creative based at least in part on one or more of (A) the geolocation information associated with the end user request, and (B) the geolocation-specific information of the ad, wherein modifying the ad creative includes selecting one of one or more candidate ad creatives,

selecting one of a plurality of candidate ad landing pages based at least in part on the geolocation information, and

providing the modified ad creative on a client device,

otherwise, responsive to a determination that the ad does not have geolocation-specific information corresponding to the geolocation information, providing the ad creative to the client device.

16. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 15, storing processor-executable instructions wherein modifying the ad creative comprises modifying a content of the creative.

17. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 15, storing processor-executable instructions wherein modifying the ad creative comprises inserting geolocation-specific content into the ad creative.

18. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 15, storing processor-executable instructions wherein the geolocation-specific information corresponds to a circular area having a radius about a specified geographic reference point.

19. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 15, storing processor-executable instructions wherein the geolocation-specific information corresponds to an area defined by at least three geographic reference points.

20. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 15, storing processor-executable instructions wherein the geolocation information associated with the end user request and the geolocation-specific information each include 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, or (g) at least one telephone area code.