Patent ID: 7822751

Claim:
A method performed by one or more server devices, comprising: receiving, by a processor associated with the one or more server devices, a search query; identifying, using a processor associated with the one or more server devices, a geographical area; identifying, using a processor associated with the one or more server devices, a first document that is associated with a first geographic location within the geographical area and that is related to the search query; identifying, using a processor associated with the one or more server devices, a second document that is associated with a second geographical location outside of the geographical area and that is related to the search query; assigning, using a processor associated with the one or more server devices, a first score to the first document based on a location prominence factor that is independent of the search query and independent of a measure of distance, where the location prominence factor is based on a combination of two or more of: a score associated with another document that is identified as authoritative for a business associated with the first document, a total number of documents referring to the business, a highest score associated with the documents referring to the business, a total number of documents with reviews of the business, or a quantity of documents that mention the business; assigning, using a processor associated with the one or more server devices, a second score to the second document based on a distance factor that is related to a measure of distance to or from a third geographic location within the geographical area and not based on the location prominence factor; and presenting, by a processor associated with the one or more server devices, information associated with the first and second documents, in a sorted list, based on the first and second scores, respectively.