SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IMPROVING ACCESS TO SEARCH RESULTS

• US 20130191360A1
• Filed: 01/19/2012
• Published: 07/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Burkard, Timo, Mahkovec, Ziga, Bentzel, Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 8,793,235 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90324 using system suggestions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure provide a system and method for prerendering of search result pages. A search engine may process search queries received from a client. The search engine may determine one or more search results in response to the search query. One or more of the search results may be associated with prerender instructions, such that when the search results are received by the client, the client prerenders the search results associated with the prerender instructions. Prerender instructions may be associated with the search results in various manners, including ranking the search results based on relevance, or ranking the search results based on the likelihood of selection. Metrics and analytical data may be collected from the client to improve the search result prerendering process.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for prerendering using a search result page, the method comprising:

determining, using a processor, at least one search result responsive to a search query;

generating a search result page comprising the at least one search result;

identifying at least one prerender candidate among the at least one search result, the at least one prerender candidate indicating a search result that is likely to be selected, wherein the at least one prerender candidate is identified using a signal, the signal comprising at least one of;

an amount of traffic flowing from the search engine to the search result, a location of a client device that provided the search query, or a size of one or more resources associated with the search result;

embedding prerender instructions for the at least one prerender candidate in the search result page, the prerender instructions include instructions for loading the prerender candidate into a hidden browser instance; and

providing the search result page to a client device that provided the search query.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the prerender instructions are embedded within a hypertext markup language tag associated with the at least one search result.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the prerender instructions are provided to the client device via client side scripting.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving metrics from the client device indicating whether the prerender candidate was selected when displayed; and

using the metrics to identify future prerender candidates in response to subsequent search queries.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the metrics are at least one of whether a selected link was prerendered or a load time of the selected link.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

embedding an experiment identifier in the search result page, the experiment identifier corresponding to a particular method used to identify the at least one prerender candidate; and

using one or more redirection operations associated with the search result page to identify the experiment identifier associated with a selection operation and whether the at least one prerender candidate was selected.

2. (canceled)

8. A computer-implemented method for prerendering using a search result page, the method comprising:

sending a search query to a search engine;

receiving a set of search results responsive to the search query, the set of search results comprising at least one prerender instruction indicating at least one of the search results is a candidate for prerendering;

identifying the at least one prerender instruction, wherein the at least one prerender instruction is identified using a signal, the signal comprising at least one of;

an amount of traffic flowing from the search engine to the at least one search result, a location of a client device that provided the search query, or a size of one or more resources associated with the at least one search result; and

prerendering the at least one search result associated with the at least one prerender instruction for loading the search result into a hidden browser instance.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

monitoring for a selection operation performed on a selected search result from the set of search results; and

swapping the at least one search result into an active browser instance if the selected search result is the at least one search result.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

storing metrics associated with a selection of a selected search result from the set of search result; and

transmitting the metrics to provide statistical data to improve selection of prerendering candidates in response to subsequent search queries.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the metrics are at least one of the selected search result, whether the selected search result is the at least one search result, and a page load time to access the selected search result.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

executing the prerender instruction to insert a prerender tag into a hyperlink associated with at least one search result.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the metrics further comprise an experiment identifier embedded in the set of search results, the experiment identifier indicating a methodology for choosing the at least one of the search results as a candidate for prerendering.

14. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform a method comprising:

sending a search query to a search engine;

receiving a set of search results responsive to the search query, the set of search results comprising at least one prerender instruction indicating at least one of the search results is a candidate for prerendering;

identifying the at least one prerender instruction, wherein the at least one prerender instruction is identified using a signal, the signal comprising at least one of;

an amount of traffic flowing from the search engine to the at least one search result, a location of a client device that provided the search query, or a size of one or more resources associated with the at least one search result; and

prerendering the at least one search result associated with the at least one prerender instruction for loading the search result into a hidden browser instance.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further comprise:

monitoring for a selection operation performed on a selected search result from the set of search results; and

swapping the at least one search result into an active browser instance if the selected search result is the at least one search result.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further comprise:

storing metrics associated with a selection of a selected search result from the set of search result; and

transmitting the metrics to provide statistical data to improve selection of prerendering candidates in response to subsequent search queries.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the metrics are at least one of the selected search result, whether the selected search result is the at least one search result, and a page load time to access the selected search result.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the metrics further comprise an experiment identifier embedded in the set of search results, the experiment identifier indicating a methodology for choosing the at least one of the search results as a candidate for prerendering.

19. A processing system for prerendering using a search result page, the processing system comprising:

a memory coupled to at least one processor; and

the at least one processor configured to;

determine at least one search result responsive to a search query;

generate the search result page, the search result page comprising the at least one search result;

identify at least one prerender candidate among the at least one search result, the at least one prerender candidate indicating a search result that is likely to be selected, wherein the at least one prerender candidate is identified using a signal, the signal comprising at least one of;

an amount of traffic flowing from the search engine to the search result, a location of a client device that provided the search query, or a size of one or more resources associated with the search result;

embed prerender instructions for the at least one prerender candidate in the search result page, the prerender instructions include instructions for loading the prerender candidate into a hidden browser instance; and

provide the search result page to a client device that provided the search query.

21. The processing system of claim 19, wherein the prerender instructions are embedded within a hypertext markup language tag associated with the at least one search result.

22. The processing system of claim 19, wherein the prerender instructions are provided to the client device via client side scripting.

23. The processing system of claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive metrics from the client device indicating whether the prerender candidate was selected when displayed; and

use the metrics to identify future prerender candidates in response to subsequent search queries.

24. The processing system of claim 23, wherein the metrics are at least one of whether a selected link was prerendered or a load time of the selected link.

25. The processing system of claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to:

embed an experiment identifier in the search result page, the experiment identifier corresponding to a particular method used to identify the at least one prerender candidate; and

use one or more redirection operations associated with the search result page to identify the experiment identifier associated with a selection operation and whether the at least one prerender candidate was selected.

20. (canceled)