Automatically Creating a Custom Search Engine for a Web Site Based on Social Input

• US 20140129535A1
• Filed: 11/02/2012
• Published: 05/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elasticsearch Global B.V. (Elastic N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Swiftype, Inc. (Elastic N.V.)
• Inventors: Riley, Matthew T., Hoxie, Quinlan J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,619,528 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/338 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Automatically creating and modifying a search engine for a website. User input may be received specifying an address of a website. A search engine may be automatically created for the website based on the user input. Webpages of the website may specify a plurality of tags specifying custom attributes of the webpages. During creation of the search engine, these custom attributes may be incorporated into the search engine index. Additional user input may be received customizing the search engine for various search engine contexts, e.g., based on the custom attributes of the webpages. Search engine results for the website may be based on various ranking functions, potentially including social impact of webpages of the website.

Claims

1. A method for automatically creating a custom search engine for a website, comprising:

a computer server receiving user input specifying a website;

the computer server automatically creating a search engine for the website in response to the user input, wherein automatic creation of the search engine comprises determining social impact of each webpage of the website by accessing a plurality of social network websites; and

the computer server automatically generating and providing code for inclusion on the website, wherein the code specifies an input for receiving search queries on the website.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a search query from the website using the code; and

providing a plurality of search results, wherein the plurality of search results are provided based on the social impact determined in said automatically creating the search engine.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the order of the plurality of search results is based on a ranking function, wherein the ranking function assigns a higher ranking score for webpages with more social impact than webpages with less social impact.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the ranking function is also based on one or more other ranking factors.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the search query specifies use of a ranking function that is based on the social impact of webpages of the website.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining the social impact of each webpage comprises determining a number of social endorsements of the respective webpage on a social network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining the social impact of each webpage comprises determining a number of social endorsements of the respective webpage on a plurality of different social networks.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving user input modifying weight given to the social impact of webpages for search results; and

automatically modifying the search engine to use the modified weight.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the social impact of webpages has a higher influence for a first search context than for a second search context.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the higher influence for the first search context than for the second search context is based on user input.

11. A non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium storing program instructions for automatically creating a custom search engine for a website, wherein the program instructions are executable by one or more processors to:

receive user input specifying a website;

automatically create a search engine for the website in response to the user input, wherein automatic creation of the search engine comprises determining social impact of each webpage of the website by accessing a plurality of social network websites; and

automatically generate and provide code for inclusion on the website, wherein the code specifies an input for receiving search queries on the website.

12. The non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium of claim 11, wherein the program instructions are further executable to:

receive a search query from the website using the code; and

provide a plurality of search results, wherein the plurality of search results are provided based on the social impact determined in said automatically creating the search engine.

13. The non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium of claim 12, wherein the order of the plurality of search results is based on a ranking function, wherein the ranking function assigns a higher ranking score for webpages with more social impact than webpages with less social impact.

14. The non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium of claim 13, wherein the ranking function is also based on one or more other ranking factors.

15. The non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium of claim 12, wherein the search query specifies use of a ranking function that is based on the social impact of webpages of the website.

16. The non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium of claim 11, wherein said determining the social impact of each webpage comprises determining a number of social endorsements of the respective webpage on a social network.

17. The non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium of claim 11, wherein said determining the social impact of each webpage comprises determining a number of social endorsements of the respective webpage on a plurality of different social networks.

18. The non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium of claim 11, wherein the program instructions are further executable to:

receive user input modifying weight given to the social impact of webpages for search results; and

automatically modify the search engine to use the modified weight.

19. The non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium of claim 11, wherein the social impact of webpages has a higher influence for a first search context than for a second search context.

20. The non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium of claim 11, wherein the higher influence for the first search context than for the second search context is based on user input.