1. In a computer readable storage medium having stored therein data representing instructions executable by a programmed processor for selecting relevant advertisements in response to a query, the instructions operative for: receiving a location and a geographic range associated with a query; assigning a location identifier for the query location; generating an expansion list of locations based on the location identifier and the geographic range for the query location, wherein the expansion list comprises expanding the geographic range from the location identifier to include a parent location and an adjacent location; identifying a candidate set of advertisements that correspond to the expansion list of locations; ranking advertisements from the candidate set of advertisements; and selecting at least one advertisement from the candidate set of advertisements based on the ranking.