Analysis of search activities of users to identify related network sites

• US 7,165,069 B1
• Filed: 06/28/1999
• Issued: 01/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Alexa Internet Inc (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Alexa Internet Inc (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kahle, Brewster, Sauer, Paul van der Merwe
• Primary Examiner(s): Mizrahi; Diane
• Application Number:
  US09/345,611
• Time in Patent Office: 2,759 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 10, 707100-1041, 707200-206, 715/501.1, 715/512, 715/530, 709/200
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A meta-data generator is described for generating meta-data relating to at least one Web site, the meta-data identifying, for a Web site providing at least one Web page, identification of, for other Web sites, at least one Web page associated therewith having a selected relationship with the at least one Web site. The meta-data generator includes an information accumulation module, a meta-data generation module and a meta-data storage module. The information accumulation module accumulates Web page information associated with respective Web sites. The meta-data generation module uses the accumulated Web page information according to a selected meta-data generation methodology to generate said meta-data, and the meta-data storage module stores the meta-data generated by the meta-data generation module. Several meta-data generation methodologies are described, including a link (Web page identifier) analysis methodology, two Web page usage analysis methodologies; and a search results analysis methodology. In the link analysis methodology, meta-data is generated associated with Web pages based on the proximity of links to Web pages in each of a plurality of Web pages. In the Web page usage analysis methodologies, the meta-data generator 25 generates meta-data based on the sequence of Web sites which operators enable their computers to request Web pages during a session. In the search results analysis methodology, the meta-data generator generates meta-data based on activities of an operator after he or she receives results generated by a search engine in response to a search query.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system for identifying related network sites, the system comprising:

an information accumulation module configured to accumulate search activity data reflective of search activities of each of a plurality of search engine users, said search activity data identifying particular network sites selected by users from results of search requests;

a meta-data generation module configured to analyze at least the search activity data accumulated by the information accumulation module to generate meta-data reflective of search-activity-based relationships between particular network sites, said meta-data identifying particular network sites that are related to each other, wherein the meta-data generation module is configured to identify, for a first network site, a set of related network sites that, based at least in part on search activities of multiple users, are related to the first network site, and is configured to identify, for a particular search term submitted in a plurality of search requests, a set of network sites most frequently selected by users who submitted the search term; and

a storage module configured to store the meta-data generated by the meta-data generation module.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the meta-data generation module is configured to aggregate network site selection data by at least one common search term.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the meta-data generation module takes into consideration amounts of time spent by particular users accessing particular network sites selected from search results.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the search activity data accumulated by the information accumulation module identifies, for a particular search request submitted to a search engine by a particular user, at least one network site selected by the particular user from search results of said search request.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the network sites are web sites.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a meta-data server that serves the meta-data stored by the storage module over a network in response to requests from clients.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising a meta-data client that runs on a computer in conjunction with a web browser, wherein the meta-data client is configured to cause the computer to (a) retrieve, from the meta-data server, meta-data associated with a web page requested by the web browser, and (b) display the retrieved meta-data to enable an operator of the computer to identify network sites that are related to said web page.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the meta-data client causes the requested meta-data to be displayed in a window that is separate from a browser window in which the web page is displayed.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a client component that is responsive to an operator-initiated access to a particular network site by retrieving and displaying the meta-data associated with the particular network site, to thereby enable the operator to identify one or more other network sites that are related to the particular network site.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a computer configured to retrieve and display the meta-data stored by the storage module to assist a user in locating network sites of interest.

11. A computer-implemented method of identifying related network sites, the method comprising:

accumulating search activity data reflective of search activities of each of a plurality of users, said search activity data identifying particular search terms used by said users in particular search requests, and identifying network sites selected by the users from search results of said search requests;

analyzing the accumulated search activity data of said plurality of users on an aggregated basis to identify search-activity-based associations between particular network sites, wherein the step of analyzing the accumulated search activity data comprises identifying, for a first network site, a set of related network sites that, based on search activities of multiple users, are related to the first network site, and further comprises identifying, for a selected search term, a plurality of network sites frequently selected by users who submitted the search term; and

storing, in computer storage, data reflective of said search-activity-based associations between particular network sites.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of analyzing the accumulated search activity data comprises aggregating network-site-selection events by common search term.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of analyzing the accumulated search activity data comprises taking into consideration amounts of time spent by particular users accessing particular network sites selected from search results.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the search activity data identifies, for a particular search request submitted to a search engine by a particular user, at least one network site selected by the particular user from search results of said search request.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the data reflective of said search-activity-based associations identifies, for each of a plurality of network sites, a respective set of related network sites.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the network sites are web sites.