DOCUMENT SCORING BASED ON LINK-BASED CRITERIA

• US 20070094255A1
• Filed: 11/30/2006
• Published: 04/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Henzinger, Monika, Lawrence, Steve, Pfleger, Karl, Acharya, Anurag, Tong, Simon, Cutts, Matt, Haahr, Paul, Dean, Jeffrey
• Application Number:
  US11/565,004
• Publication Number:
  US 20070094255A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A system may determine time-varying behavior of links pointing to a document, generate a score for the document based, at least in part, on the time-varying behavior of the links pointing to the document, and rank the document with regard to at least one other document based, at least in part, on the score.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining time-varying behavior of links pointing to a document;

generating a score for the document based, at least in part, on the time-varying behavior of the links pointing to the document; and

ranking the document with regard to at least one other document based, at least in part, on the score.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining time-varying behavior of links includes:

determining an extent to which the links pointing to the document appear or disappear.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining an extent to which the links pointing to the document appear or disappear includes:

determining a rate at which the links appear or disappear over time.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining an extent to which the links pointing to the document appear or disappear includes:

determining a number of the links that appear or disappear during a time period.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein determining an extent to which the links pointing to the document appear or disappear includes:

determining whether there is an increase in appearance of new links or disappearance of existing links to the document.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining time-varying behavior of links pointing to a document includes:

determining a freshness of the document based, at least in part, on the time-varying behavior of the links pointing to the document; and

wherein generating a score for the document includes;

scoring the document based, at least in part, on the freshness of the document.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining a freshness of the document includes:

determining that the document is fresh when there is an increase in a rate or number of new links of the links pointing to the document over time.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein determining a freshness of the document includes:

determining that the document is stale when there is a decrease in a rate or number of new links of the links pointing to the document over time.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein determining a freshness of the document includes:

determining the freshness of the document as a function of a freshness of the links.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein determining a freshness of the document includes:

determining the freshness of the document as a function of a freshness of linking documents containing the links.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining time-varying behavior of links pointing to a document includes:

determining freshness of the links, and

assigning weights to the links based, at least in part, on the freshness of the links; and

wherein generating a score for the document includes;

scoring the document based, at least in part, on the weights assigned to the links pointing to the document.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining freshness of the links includes:

determining the freshness of one of the links based, at least in part, on at least one of a date of appearance of the one of the links, a date of a change associated with the one of the links, a date of appearance of anchor text associated with the one of the links, a date of a change associated with the anchor text, a date of appearance of a linking document containing the one of the links, or a date of a change associated with the linking document.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein assigning weights to the links includes:

assigning a weight to one of the links based, at least in part, on the freshness of the one of the links and at least one of a trust measure associated with a linking document that contains the link, an authoritative measure associated with the linking document, or an update frequency measure associated with the linking document.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein scoring the document based, at least in part, on the weights assigned to the links includes:

assigning a score to the document based, at least in part, on a sum of the weights assigned to the links.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein determining time-varying behavior of links pointing to a document includes:

determining freshness of the links; and

wherein generating a score for the document includes;

scoring the document based, at least in part, on the freshness of the links.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein determining time-varying behavior of links pointing to a document includes:

determining an age distribution associated with the links; and

wherein generating a score for the document includes;

scoring the document based, at least in part, on the age distribution associated with the links.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein determining time-varying behavior of links pointing to a document includes:

determining whether there is a growth in links from a number of independent peer documents that point to the document that exceeds a threshold; and

wherein generating a score for the document includes;

scoring the document based, at least in part, on whether there is a growth in the links from the number of independent peer documents that exceeds the threshold.

18. A system, comprising:

means for determining whether there is a growth in links from a number of independent peer documents that point to a document that exceeds a threshold;

means for generating a score for the document based, at least in part, on whether there is a growth in the links from the number of independent peer documents that exceeds the threshold; and

means for ranking the document with regard to at least one other document based, at least in part, on the score.

19. A method, comprising:

determining a freshness of a document based, at least in part, on a group of links that point to the document;

generating a score for the document based, at least in part, on the freshness of the document; and

ranking the document with regard to at least one other document based, at least in part, on the score.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein determining a freshness of a document includes:

determining that the document is fresh when there is an increase in a rate or number of new links of the group of links pointing to the document over time.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein determining a freshness of a document includes:

determining that the document is stale when there is a decrease in a rate or number of new links of the group of links pointing to the document over time.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein determining a freshness of a document includes:

determining the freshness of the document as a function of a freshness of the links.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein determining a freshness of a document includes:

determining the freshness of the document as a function of a freshness of linking documents containing the links.

24. A method, comprising:

determining freshness of links that point to a document;

generating a score for the document based, at least in part, on the freshness of the links; and

ranking the document with regard to at least one other document based, at least in part, on the score.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein determining freshness of links includes:

determining the freshness of one of the links based, at least in part, on at least one of a date of appearance of the one of the links, a date of a change associated with the one of the links, a date of appearance of anchor text associated with the one of the links, a date of a change associated with the anchor text, a date of appearance of a linking document containing the one of the links, or a date of a change associated with the linking document.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

assigning weights to the links based, at least in part, on the freshness of the links; and

wherein generating a score for the document includes;

scoring the document based, at least in part, on the weights assigned to the links.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein scoring the document includes:

assigning a score to the document based, at least in part, on a sum of the weights assigned to the links.

28. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

assigning weights to the links based, at least in part, on at least one of a trust measure associated with linking documents that contain the links, an authoritative measure associated with the linking documents, or an update frequency measure associated with the linking documents; and

wherein generating a score for the document includes;

scoring the document based, at least in part, on the weights assigned to the links.

29. A method, comprising:

determining an age distribution associated with links pointing to a document;

generating a score for the document based, at least in part, on the age distribution associated with the links; and

ranking the document with regard to at least one other document based, at least in part, on the score.

30. A system, comprising:

means for identifying a group of first documents that each contains a link to a second document;

means for determining a freshness associated with each of the first documents;

means for determining a freshness associated with the second document based, at least in part, on the freshness associated with each of the first documents; and

means for ranking the second document with regard to at least one other document based, at least in part, on the freshness associated with the second document.

31. A system, comprising:

means for identifying a group of links that each points to a document;

means for determining a freshness associated with each of the links;

means for determining a freshness associated with the document based, at least in part, on the freshness associated with each of the links; and

means for ranking the document with regard to at least one other document based, at least in part, on the freshness associated with the document.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the means for determining a freshness associated with each of the links includes:

means for determining the freshness associated with one of the links based, at least in part, on at least one of a date of appearance of the one of the links, a date of a change associated with the one of the links, a date of appearance of anchor text associated with the one of the links, a date of a change associated with the anchor text, a date of appearance of a linking document containing the one of the links, or a date of a change associated with the linking document.