1. A computer-implemented method for associating categories with business names for generalizing search queries, the method comprising: identifying, using one or more computing devices, one or more businesses within a first geographic region; determining, using the one or more computing devices, a business name and one or more categories associated with each of the one or more businesses; generating, using the one or more computing devices, one or more name components for each of the one or more businesses, each name component comprising a subset of the business name of the business; generating, using the one or more computing devices, one or more name component groups from the name components of the one or more businesses, wherein each name component group comprises one or more identical name components; determining, using the one or more computing devices, for each name component group, if the one or more name components within the name component group are associated with businesses that share one or more common categories; and associating, using the one or more computing devices, the one or more common categories with the name component of the name component group, when the one or more name components within the name component group share one or more common categories.
1. A computer-implemented method for associating categories with business names for generalizing search queries, the method comprising: identifying, using one or more computing devices, one or more businesses within a first geographic region; determining, using the one or more computing devices, a business name and one or more categories associated with each of the one or more businesses; generating, using the one or more computing devices, one or more name components for each of the one or more businesses, each name component comprising a subset of the business name of the business; generating, using the one or more computing devices, one or more name component groups from the name components of the one or more businesses, wherein each name component group comprises one or more identical name components; determining, using the one or more computing devices, for each name component group, if the one or more name components within the name component group are associated with businesses that share one or more common categories; and associating, using the one or more computing devices, the one or more common categories with the name component of the name component group, when the one or more name components within the name component group share one or more common categories. 8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining if all name components within the name component group share one or more common categories comprises: determining if a name component group includes more than one name component; identifying the one or more categories for the name component as the one or more common categories if the name component group does not include more than one component; comparing one or more categories associated with each of the name components to the one or more categories associated with other name components of the name component group if the name component group includes more than one name component.