Online Measurement of User Satisfaction Using Long Duration Clicks

• US 20100306224A1
• Filed: 06/02/2009
• Published: 12/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Oath Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stone, Maria, Lakshminarayanan, Arun, Ciemiewicz, David, Kanungo, Tapas
• Application Number:
  US12/476,554
• Publication Number:
  US 20100306224A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/759
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9532 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Determine a plurality of first dwell durations for a plurality of first web pages, each first dwell duration indicating a time period a user has spent with a first web page. Access a plurality of first quality ratings for the first web pages, each first quality rating indicating a quality of a first web page as a part of a search result generated for a first search query. Access a predefined quality rating threshold. Correlate the first dwell durations and the first quality ratings. And, determine a dwell duration threshold, such that a second user spending a second dwell duration greater than or equal to the dwell duration threshold with a second web page indicates that the second user is satisfied with the second web page identified in a second search result generated by a search engine in response to a second search query requested by the second user.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining by one or more computer systems a plurality of first dwell durations for a plurality of first web pages, each of the first dwell durations indicating one of a plurality of first time periods one of a plurality of first users has spent with a different one of the first web pages, each of the first web pages identified in one or more of a plurality of first search results, each of the first search results generated by a search engine in response to a different one of a plurality of first search queries;

accessing a plurality of first quality ratings for the first web pages, each of the first quality ratings assigned to a different one of the first web pages by one of one or more human quality raters and indicating a quality of the first web page as a result for the first search query corresponding to the first search result that includes the first web page;

accessing a quality rating threshold that is predefined;

correlating the first dwell durations and the first quality ratings of the first web pages; and

determining a dwell duration threshold by balancing a percentage of the first web pages having first quality ratings greater than or equal to the quality rating threshold and a percentage of the first web pages having first dwell durations greater than or equal to the dwell duration threshold, such that a second user spending a second dwell duration greater than or equal to the dwell duration threshold with a second web page indicates that the second user is satisfied with the second web page being included in a second search result generated by the search engine in response to a second search query requested by the second user.

2. The method recited in claim 1, wherein each of the dwell durations for the corresponding one of the web pages is measured from a first time that the corresponding one of the users clicks on a link to the web page to a second time that the corresponding user performs a subsequent action with the search engine.

3. The method recited in claim 1, wherein:

the quality ratings are based on a numerical rating system with a relatively higher number indicating a relatively higher quality and a relatively lower number indicating a relatively lower quality, and

the quality rating threshold is a medium number within the numerical rating system.

4. The method recited in claim 1, wherein determining the dwell duration threshold comprises:

selecting all of the first web pages having first quality ratings greater than or equal to the quality rating threshold to obtain a first subset of the first web pages;

determining a first percentage of the first web pages from the first subset of the first web pages having first dwell durations greater than or equal to the dwell duration threshold;

selecting all of the first web pages having first dwell durations greater than or equal to the dwell duration threshold to obtain a second subset of the first web pages;

determining a second percentage of the first web pages from the second subset of the first web pages having first quality ratings greater than or equal to the quality rating threshold; and

adjusting the dwell duration threshold to maximize a combination of the first percentage and the second percentage.

5. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

improving the second search result generated by the search engine in response to the second search query using the dwell duration threshold.

6. The method recited in claim 5, further comprising:

improving a summarization algorithm employed by the search engine to summarize each of a plurality of second web pages included in the second search result using the dwell duration threshold.

7. The method recited in claim 5, further comprising:

improving an order algorithm employed by the search engine to present a plurality of second web pages included in the second search result using the dwell duration threshold.

8. A method, comprising:

accessing by one or more computer systems a dwell duration threshold, such that a first web page having a first dwell duration greater than or equal to the dwell duration threshold indicates that a first user is satisfied with the first web page identified in a first search result generated by a search engine in response to a first search query requested by the first user, the first dwell duration indicating a first time period the first user has spent with the first web page;

accessing a plurality of web sessions comprising interactions between a plurality of second users and a plurality of second web pages, each of the second web pages identified in one or more of a plurality of second search results and having a different one of a plurality of second dwell durations, each of the second dwell durations indicating a second time period the corresponding one of the second users having spent with the corresponding one of the second web pages, each of the second search results generated by the search engine in response to a different one of a plurality of second search queries requested by the corresponding one of the second users and including one or more of the second web pages;

selecting all of the web sessions during which one or more of the second web pages having second dwell durations greater than or equal to the dwell duration threshold to obtain a first subset of the web sessions; and

improving a third search result generated by the search engine in response to a third search query requested by a third user based on the first subset of the web sessions.

9. The method recited in claim 8, further comprising:

selecting all of the web sessions during which no second web page having second dwell duration greater than or equal to the dwell duration threshold to obtain a second subset of the web sessions; and

improving the third search result generated by the search engine in response to the third search query further based on the second subset of the web sessions.

10. The method recited in claim 9, further comprising:

selecting all of the web sessions during which all web second pages having second dwell durations greater than or equal to the dwell duration threshold to obtain a third subset of the web sessions; and

improving the third search result generated by the search engine in response to the third search query further based on the second subset of the web sessions.

11. The method recited in claim 8, further comprising:

adjusting a summarization algorithm employed by the search engine to increase a number of the web sessions included in the first subset of the web sessions; and

summarizing each of a plurality of third web pages included in the third search result using the adjusted summarization algorithm.

12. The method recited in claim 8, further comprising:

adjusting an order algorithm employed by the search engine to increase a number of the web sessions included in the first subset of the web sessions; and

ordering a plurality of third web pages included in the third search result for presentation to the third user using the adjusted order algorithm.

13. A computer program product comprising a plurality of computer program instructions physically stored in a computer-readable medium, wherein the plurality of computer program instructions are operable to cause at least one computing device to:

determine a plurality of first dwell durations for a plurality of first web pages, each of the first dwell durations indicating one of a plurality of first time periods one of a plurality of first users has spent with a different one of the first web pages, each of the first web pages is included in one or more of a plurality of first search results, each of the first search results is generated by a search engine in response to a different one of a plurality of first search queries;

access a plurality of first quality ratings for the first web pages, each of the first quality ratings assigned to a different one of the first web pages by one of one or more human quality raters and indicating a quality of the first web page as a result for the first search query corresponding to the first search result that includes the first web page;

access a quality rating threshold that is predefined;

correlate the first dwell durations and the first quality ratings of the first web pages; and

determine a dwell duration threshold by balancing a percentage of the first web pages having first quality ratings greater than or equal to the quality rating threshold and a percentage of the first web pages having first dwell durations greater than or equal to the dwell duration threshold, such that a second user spending a second dwell duration greater than or equal to the dwell duration threshold with a second web page indicates that the second user is satisfied with the second web page identified in a second search result generated by the search engine in response to a second search query requested by the second user.

14. The computer program product recited in claim 13, wherein each of the dwell durations for the corresponding one of the web pages is measured from a first time that the corresponding one of the users clicks on a link to the web page to a second time that the corresponding user performs a subsequent action with the search engine.

15. The computer program product recited in claim 13, wherein:

the quality ratings are based on a numerical rating system with a relatively higher number indicating a relatively higher quality and a relatively lower number indicating a relatively lower quality, and

the quality rating threshold is a medium number within the numerical rating system.

16. The computer program product recited in claim 13, wherein to determine the dwell duration threshold comprises:

select all of the first web pages having first quality ratings greater than or equal to the quality rating threshold to obtain a first subset of the first web pages;

determine a first percentage of the first web pages from the first subset of the first web pages having first dwell durations greater than or equal to the dwell duration threshold;

select all of the first web pages having first dwell durations greater than or equal to the dwell duration threshold to obtain a second subset of the first web pages;

determine a second percentage of the first web pages from the second subset of the first web pages having first quality ratings greater than or equal to the quality rating threshold; and

adjust the dwell duration threshold to maximize a combination of the first percentage and the second percentage.

17. The computer program product recited in claim 13, wherein the plurality of computer program instructions are further operable to cause the at least one computing device to:

improve the second search result generated by the search engine in response to the second search query using the dwell duration threshold.

18. The computer program product recited in claim 17, wherein the plurality of computer program instructions are further operable to cause the at least one computing device to:

improve a summarization algorithm employed by the search engine to summarize each of the plurality of second web pages included in the second search result using the dwell duration threshold.

19. The computer program product recited in claim 17, wherein the plurality of computer program instructions are further operable to cause the at least one computing device to:

improve an order algorithm employed by the search engine to present the plurality of second web pages included in the second search result using the dwell duration threshold.