Micorosft Experiments with More Local in Search

Microsoft has a lab just for advertising. Each year for the last four it’s shown off the latest research geared to help it gain ground on rivals in the advertising space. Among the four goodies shown off this year was one aimed at a better algorithm for determining when a local result was appropriate.

Microsoft also showed off technology aimed at determining if someone is searching for localised results in order to display targeted advertising. Researchers have developed an algorithm that aims to know if a word that a person is searching for should return local results. The word “dentist,” for example, should offer nearby dentists while a search for “Simpsons episodes” shouldn’t look for local results. The technology is shared between adCenter and Live Search, since it can be used to both deliver better search results and offer better advertisements.

Best Location-based Advertising I’ve Seen in Some Time

I’m not running the Boston Marathon (April 20) this year, but this weekend I joined some friends to run on the course (MIT out to Comm Ave to the Fire Station and back for those who care, about 18 miles). The big challenge of training on the course is once you get out of the city into the residential parts of Newton there are few places for pit stops. But, the folks at Saucony solved that problem with a logo-ed port-o-potty just where you might want one. It’ll be up for the month before the Marathon, until April 13. Well done!

- Boston Globe write up

Podcast: Using Location as a Weapon against Online Fraud

More than likely, if you’ve made a purchase online, your current location has been cross checked against that of your credit card to determine if there’s a liklihood of fraud. In today’s podcast Sonja Schindeler, Vice President of Business Development, Quova, Inc. explains how five specific location-based best practices help limit the risk of fraud. This a very different way of performing location intelligence.

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