Google wins location-based ad patent

Tue Mar 2 2010, 18:12 PM

Google has won a patent that may give it unprecedented control over the emerging location-based ad sector. The patent means Google owns ad technology that will allow it to detect specific locations – such as cities, post-codes or phone area codes – and offer targeted ads based on that information.

The wide-ranging patent was originally filed in April 2004, pre-empting the recent boom in location-based services and apps that has seen the growth of startups such as Foursquare and Gowalla. The patent credits four Google execs as the inventors of the technology, including Google engineering VP and AdWords boss Sridhar Ramaswamy.

The patent covers a computer-implemented method for making ads more relevant. According to the patent, Google will intelligently employ geolocation information to match and tailor requests to targeted information contained in an ad. Although the patent refers to IP detection, it does not specify exactly how Google will obtain the location data, opening up the possibility of geo-targeting mobile phone users with GPS or other methods.

The six-year-old patent filing shows Google had an early interest in the location-based ad space. It now has mobile ambitions with its Android mobile OS and recently acquired mobile ad network AdMob. This means the location ad patent could strike a blow to other players in the emerging geo-targeted ad space. In January Apple paid a reported USD275m for mobile ad firm Quattro, suggesting it will be a competitor to Google.

Though owning the intellectual property to location-based ads could, in theory, allow Google to sue anyone it believes is infringing its patent, it is yet to be seen whether Google will actively seek to defend its technology in this way. The new patent is just one of several patents won by the firm in the last week, including a patent for retrieving information from documents. It comes a week after Facebook successfully patented its 'news feed', another development that could have significant repercussions on the social networking space.

"The present invention improves the usefulness, and consequently the performance, of advertisements," claims the patent. It will allow businesses to "better target their ads to a responsive audience" and "use location information when determining a relevancy score of an ad". Google will also be able to "track ad performance information on the basis of location information", the patent adds.

The patent approval comes as Google rolls out a new 'nearby' search feature to its search options bar. This feature uses the computer's IP address to restrict search results to pages related to the nearby area and is another indication of Google's focus on location-based services.