PAGE RANKING SYSTEM EMPLOYING USER SHARING DATA

• US 20090125511A1
• Filed: 12/31/2008
• Published: 05/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Kumar, Ankesh
• Granted Patent: US 8,626,823 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

Standard web content search result relevance and ranking is improved by considering certain social reference data, such as the number of times an item of content is shared, normalized for the number of times it is viewed. A system and method for improving the relevance and ranking includes a system and method for tracking the social references and a system and method for operating on search engine results to either re-order the results based on social reference data, re-order the search results based on a combination of the social reference data and the web search engine'"'"'s ordering, and/or display the social reference data either with the search results reordered or in the order provided by the web search engine. Many different forms of data constitute social reference, including sharing content or a link thereto by email, SMS, posting to a link-sharing site, blog, and bookmarking in a web browser.

Claims

1. A system for producing web content keyword search results having associated rank scores based on external, social reference data, comprising:

a web server on which is operating a web content keyword search engine;

a reference counter for maintaining a count of the number of social references made to an item of content;

a user interface to said search engine for receiving a web keyword search request;

a processor programmed to;

receive said request and in response thereto access said web server to execute said search request;

receive in response to said search request an identification of one or more items of content, at least one of said items of content being the subject of a count of the number of social references to said item of content as maintained by said reference counter;

determine, for each said item of content which is the subject of a count of the number of social references, a social reference ranking factor at least in part as a function of the count of social references to said content;

associate said items of content with the corresponding said social reference ranking factor; and

provide said items of content with an associated social reference ranking factor for display as the results of said web content keyword search.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said items of content are provided for display in descending order from highest to lowest social reference ranking factor.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said social reference is a sharing of an item of content by a user, and said social reference ranking factor is a count of the number of times said item of content has been shared by said user.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein said items of content are provided for display in descending order from highest to lowest count of the number of times said items of content have been shared.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said social reference is a sharing of an item of content by a user, and said count of the number of social references is a count of the number of times said item of content has been shared by said user with a unique third party.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein said items of content are provided for display in descending order from highest to lowest count of the number of times said items of content have been shared with a unique third party.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said processor forms a part of said web server.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said reference counter forms a part of said web server.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said social reference is a sharing of an item of content by a user, and said social reference ranking factor is a count of the number of times said item of content has been shared by said user normalized for one element of the group consisting of:

number of times said item of content is viewed, number of times said item of content is shared by a plurality of users, number of times said item of content is shared by email, number of times said item of content is shared by SMS messaging, number of times elements of a type similar to said item of content are viewed, number of times elements of a type similar to said item of content are shared, number of times other items of content are shared from a website on which said item of content is located, number of times said item of content is added to a web page, number of subsequent shares of said item of content, and number of times said item of content is added to a bookmark list.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein a weighting factor for an item of content, determined as a function of the method of social reference to said item of content, is applied as part of determining a social reference ranking factor.

11. The system of claim 3, further including a user computing device in communication with said user interface, wherein said user computing device issues said search request, and said items of content with an associated count of the number of times each said item of content has been shared by said user are provided to said user computing device for display.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein said items of content are provided for display on said user computing device in descending order from highest to lowest count of the number of times said items of content have been shared.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein said user computing device includes a software component for monitoring and maintaining a count of said number of times each said item of content has been shared by said user and for providing said count to said reference counter, whereby said reference counter may maintain said count of the number of social references made to an item of content for a number of user computing devices.

14. A method for generating results from a web content keyword search having an associated social reference ranking, comprising:

receiving a web content keyword search request;

performing a web content keyword search in response to said search request;

receiving an identification of at least one item of content in response to said web content keyword search;

obtaining, from a reference counter, a count of the number of social references made to each item of content received in response to said web content keyword search;

determining a social reference ranking factor at least in part as a function of the count of social references to said content;

associating, for each received item of content, said social reference ranking factor to said content; and

delivering said items of content with the associated social reference ranking factor for display as the results of said web content keyword search.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said social reference is a sharing of an item of content by a user, and said social reference ranking factor is a count of the number of times said item of content has been shared by said user.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said social reference ranking factor is a count of the number of time said item of content has been shared by a plurality of users, and said count counts sharing by any one user only once for each unique item of content.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein said social reference is a sharing of an item of content by a user, and said social reference ranking factor is a count of the number of times said item of content has been shared by said user normalized for one element of the group consisting of:

number of times said item of content is viewed, number of times said item of content is shared by a plurality of users, number of times said item of content is shared by email, number of times said item of content is shared by SMS messaging, number of times elements of a type similar to said item of content are viewed, number of times elements of a type similar to said item of content are shared, number of times other items of content are shared from a website on which said item of content is located, number of times said item of content is added to a web page, number of subsequent shares of said item of content, and number of times said item of content is added to a bookmark list.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein said social reference is a sharing of the source of an item of content by a user, and said count of the number of social references is a count of the number of times said source of said item of content has been shared by said user.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein said items of content are provided for display in descending order from highest to lowest number of said social references to said items of content.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein said web content keyword search includes a search ranking factor, and further comprising the step of creating a composite ranking factor based at least on said social reference ranking factor and said search ranking factor.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein a weighting factor for an item of content, determined as a function of the method of social reference to said item of content, is applied as part of determining a social reference ranking factor.

22. A computer-readable memory device having stored thereon computer implemented instructions for generating results from a web content keyword search having an associated social reference ranking, the instructions stored thereon comprising:

instructions for receiving a web content keyword search request;

instructions for performing a web content keyword search in response to said search request;

instructions for receiving an identification of at least one item of content in response to said web content keyword search;

instructions for obtaining, from a reference counter, a count of the number of social references made to each item of content received in response to said web content keyword search;

instructions for determining a social reference ranking factor at least in part as a function of the count of social references to said content;

instructions for associating, for each received item of content, said social reference ranking factor to said content; and

instructions for delivering said items of content with the associated social reference ranking factor for display as the results of said web content keyword search.