Alternative search query processing in a term bidding system

• US 20070038602A1
• Filed: 08/10/2005
• Published: 02/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jones, Rosie, Rey, Benjamin, Weyand, Tina
• Granted Patent: US 7,752,220 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3331 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A system and method for receiving a query and determining candidate alternate queries. A query may be parsed into concepts and then candidates for alternate terms may be determined for either the whole query or the determined concepts. Candidates are scored for their respective similarity to the original query. After scoring, at least one candidate is chosen and may be used as a possible alternate query choice for a user or used to serve bidded advertisements to the user.

Claims

1. A method for building a database of alternative search terms, the method comprising:

receiving from an advertiser a first bid for one or more first search terms, wherein the first bid represents an amount paid or to be paid in exchange for a particular position in a first set of search results generated in response to receiving from a user the one or more first search terms;

receiving from the advertiser a second bid for one or more second search terms, wherein the second bid comprises an amount paid or to be paid in exchange for a particular position in a second set of search results generated in response to receiving from a user the one or more second search terms;

relating the one or more first search terms and the one or more second search terms to provide that the one or more second search terms can be substituted as alternative search terms to the one or more first search terms when appearing in a search query; and

storing the one or more first and second search terms in a database.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein relating comprises relating the one or more first and second search terms as being are received from one advertiser.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein relating comprises relating the one or more first and second search terms as being in bids received within a defined period of time from one another.

4. A method for processing a search query in a document search engine, the search query comprising one or more first search terms for searching for documents, the search query being processed by a system configured to receive bids for search terms, the bids representing amounts paid or to be paid by a sponsor in exchange for a particular position in a set of search results that is generated in response to receiving from a user specific search terms in a query, the method comprising:

identifying candidate terms for alternative search terms to the one or more first search terms;

identifying bids associated with the candidate terms;

scoring each of the candidate terms based at least in part on the bids associated with the candidate terms; and

selecting, based on the scores, one or more of the candidate terms to be alternative search terms.

5. The method of claim 4, comprising performing a search for documents based on the alternative search terms.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein performing a search comprises searching an index.

7. The method of claim 4, comprising searching for advertisements associated with each of the candidate terms.

8. The method of claim 7, comprising selecting an advertisement associated with a candidate term for display to a user from whom the search query is received.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein selecting comprises selecting a candidate term to be an alternative search term if the candidate term has a bid associated therewith.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein selecting comprises selecting the candidate term to be an alternative search term if the score for the candidate term exceeds a defined threshold score.

11. The method of claim 10, comprising receiving the defined threshold score from the sponsor of the bid associated with the candidate term.

12. The method of claim 4, wherein scoring comprises increasing the score for a candidate term associated with a higher bid than the bid associated with another candidate term.

13. The method of claim 4, wherein scoring further comprises computing a probability score for each candidate alternative search term to define a probability that the candidate alternative search term will find documents intended to be found by the received search terms.

14. The method of claim 4, comprising ranking the alternative search terms based on the scores.

15. The method of claim 4, comprising determining whether the one or more search terms are associated with a bid.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein identifying candidate terms for alternative search terms is performed when the one or more search terms are not associated with a bid.