Patent ID: 8086622

Claim:
A search engine server that facilitates searching for content on the Internet, the search engine server comprising: a search criteria input to receive a search criteria from a client communicatively coupled to the search engine server; a reverse index database that facilitates identification of search results based on the search criteria received, wherein the search results comprise entries that are each associated with a business or an organization; organization contact information supplied by a Whois database server communicatively coupled to the search engine server, wherein the organization contact information provides contact information for the business or the organization associated with at least one of the entries of the search results; a geographical proximity identifier computed for a user providing the search criteria; and wherein the search engine server includes a contact address correlator module to determine correlation data indicating whether a contact address indicated in a webpage identified in the search results is local to a geographic proximity indicated by the user, by comparing the organization contact information supplied by the Whois database server with the contact address indicated in the webpage; wherein the search engine server determines whether the correlation data meets a confidence level factor; and wherein, subject to the correlation data meeting the confidence level factor, the search engine server restricts the search results to those entries whose associated business or organization location is in geographical proximity to the user conducting the search based on both the geographical proximity identifier that was computed, and the organization contact information supplied by the Whois database server.