Patent ID: 7523099

Claim:
A method performed by a server device, comprising: receiving, by a processor of the server device and from a client device, a search query associated with a geographic area; performing, by the processor, a search based on the search query to identify a set of documents that are associated with businesses located in or near the geographic area; scoring, by the processor, the documents in the set of documents; identifying, by the processor, categories for documents in the set of documents; assigning, by the processor, scores to the categories, based on the scores of corresponding documents in the set of documents, by: assigning initial scores to the categories based on the scores of corresponding ones of the documents, and combining one or more of the initial scores assigned to one of the categories to generate the score for the one of the categories; and providing, by the processor and to the client device, information associated with one or more of the categories, as one or more category suggestions, based on the assigned scores.