Method for removing network effects from search engine results

• US 20090138464A1
• Filed: 11/28/2007
• Published: 05/28/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Schneider, James Paul
• Granted Patent: US 8,078,613 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A method and apparatus for ranking results from a search engine query is described. In one embodiment, the search engine provides results from a search query. The results contain a list of web pages where each web page has one or more inbound links. The search engine computes the growth of the number of inbound links of each web page over a predefined period of time. The search engine ranks each web page based on a function of its respective computed growth of the number of inbound links.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for ranking results from a search engine comprising:

providing the results from a search query of the search engine, the results comprising a plurality of web pages, each web page having one or more inbound links;

computing a growth of the number of inbound links of each web page; and

ranking each web page based a function of its respective computed growth of the number of inbound links.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein computing the growth of the number of inbound links of a web page further comprises:

determining the number of new inbound links to the web page over a predefined period of time; and

dividing the number of new inbound links to the web page by the number of current inbound links to the web page.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein determining the number of new inbound links to the web page over the predefined period of time, the predefined period of time defined between a first point in time and a second point in time, further comprises:

determining the number of inbound links to the web page at the first point in time;

determining the number of inbound links to the web page at the second point in time;

subtracting the number of inbound links to the web page at the first point in time from the number of inbound links to the web page at the first point in time

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

adjusting the growth of the number of inbound links to the web page based on an absolute number of inbound links to the web page at the first point in time with respect to a predetermined threshold.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

discounting the growth of the number of inbound links to the web page when the absolute number of inbound links to the web page at the first point in time is less than the predetermined threshold.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein ranking further comprises:

ranking the results based on the growth of the number of inbound links of each web page from the highest growth to the lowest growth.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing a link to the web page with the highest growth of the number of inbound links based on the ranking in response to the search query.

8. An article of manufacture comprising:

a machine-accessible storage medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method comprising;

providing the results from a search query of the search engine, the results comprising a plurality of web pages, each web page having one or more inbound links;

computing a growth of the number of inbound links of each web page; and

ranking each web page based on a function of its respective computed growth of the number of inbound links.

9. The article of manufacture of claim 8 wherein computing the growth of the number of inbound links of a web page further comprises:

determining the number of new inbound links to the web page over a predefined period of time; and

dividing the number of new inbound links to the web page by the number of current inbound links to the web page.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 9 wherein determining the number of new inbound links to the web page over the predefined period of time, the predefined period of time defined between a first point in time and a second point in time, further comprises:

determining the number of inbound links to the web page at the first point in time;

determining the number of inbound links to the web page at the second point in time;

subtracting the number of inbound links to the web page at the first point in time from the number of inbound links to the web page at the first point in time

11. The article of manufacture of claim 10 wherein the method further comprises:

adjusting the growth of the number of inbound links to the web page based on an absolute number of inbound links to the web page at the first point in time with respect to a predetermined threshold.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 11 wherein the method further comprises:

discounting the growth of the number of inbound links to the web page when the absolute number of inbound links to the web page at the first point in time is less than the predetermined threshold.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 8 wherein ranking further comprises:

ranking the results based on the growth of the number of inbound links of each web page from the highest growth to the lowest growth.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 8 wherein the method further comprises:

providing a link to the web page with the highest growth of the number of inbound links based on the ranking in response to the search query.

15. A computing system comprising:

a search engine configured to provide the results from a search query of the search engine, the results comprising a plurality of web pages, each web page having one or more inbound links, to compute a growth of the number of inbound links of each web page, and to rank each web page based on a function of its respective computed growth of the number of inbound links.

16. The computing system of claim 15 wherein the search engine is configured determine the number of new inbound links to the web page over a predefined period of time, and divide the number of new inbound links to the web page by the number of current inbound links to the web page.

17. The computing system of claim 16 wherein the search engine is configured to determine the number of inbound links to the web page at a first point in time, to determine the number of inbound links to the web page at a second point in time, and to subtract the number of inbound links to the web page at the first point in time from the number of inbound links to the web page at the first point in time, the predefined period of time defined between a first point in time and a second point in time

18. The computing system of claim 17 wherein the search engine is configured to adjust the growth of the number of inbound links to the web page based on an absolute number of inbound links to the web page at the first point in time with respect to a predetermined threshold.

19. The computing system of claim 18 wherein the search engine is configured to discount the growth of the number of inbound links to the web page when the absolute number of inbound links to the web page at the first point in time is less than the predetermined threshold.

20. The computing system of claim 15 wherein the search engine is configured to rank the results based on the growth of the number of inbound links of each web page from the highest growth to the lowest growth.

21. The computing system of claim 15 wherein the search engine is configured to further provide a link to the web page with the highest growth of the number of inbound links based on the ranking in response to the search query.