Document scoring based on query analysis

• US 8,239,378 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2011
• Issued: 08/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2003
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Dean, Jeffrey, Haahr, Paul, Henzinger, Monika, Lawrence, Steve, Pfleger, Karl, Sercinoglu, Olcan, Tong, Simon
• Primary Examiner(s): Vy, Hung T
• Application Number:
  US13/244,848
• Publication Number:
  US 20120016870A1
• Time in Patent Office: 316 Days
• Field of Search: 707/705, 707/706, 707/722, 707/723, 707/725, 707/731, 707/758, 704/270.1
• US Class Current: 707/722
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A system may determine an extent to which a document is selected when the document is included in a set of search results, generate a score for the document based, at least in part, on the extent to which the document is selected when the document is included in a set of search results; and rank the document with regard to at least one other document based, at least in part, on the score.

Claims

1. A method performed by one or more devices, the method comprising:

determining, by the one or more devices, that a document is a search result that is responsive to a plurality of different search queries;

negatively adjusting, by the one or more devices, a score for the document based on determining that the document is a search result that is responsive to the plurality of different search queries;

ranking the document with regard to at least one other document based on the negatively-adjusted score;

determining that another particular document is presented as a search result for another plurality of different search queries;

determining that the other particular document is an authoritative document; and

bypassing negatively adjusting a score, for the other particular document, based on determining that the other particular document is an authoritative document.

2. The method of claim 1, where determining whether the other particular document is an authoritative document includes determining whether the other particular document is at least one of:

a government document,

a document associated with a web directory, or

a document that has maintained at least a threshold rank over time.

3. The method of claim 1, where the generated score is a first score, the method further comprising:

generating a second score, for the document, that is based on a relevance of the document to a particular search query; and

combining the first and second scores to generate an overall score,

where ranking the document includes ranking the document with regard to the at least one other document based on the overall score.

4. The method of claim 3, where combining the first and second scores includes:

adjusting the second score by an amount that is based on the first score.

5. The method of claim 1, where ranking the document includes ranking the document with regard to the at least one other document based on the generated score, independent of a relevance of the document to a search query.

6. A system, comprising:

one or more devices to;

determine that a document is a search result that is responsive to a plurality of different search queries;

negatively adjust a score for the document based on determining that the document is a search result that is responsive to the plurality of different search queries;

rank the document with regard to at least one other document based on the negatively-adjusted score;

determine that another particular document is presented as a search result for another plurality of different search queries;

determine that the other particular document is an authoritative document; and

bypass negatively adjusting a score, for the other particular document, based on determining that the other particular document is an authoritative document.

7. The system of claim 6, where when determining whether the other particular document is an authoritative document, the one or more devices are to determine on whether the other particular document is at least one of:

a government document,

a document associated with a web directory, or

a document that has maintained at least a threshold rank over time.

8. The system of claim 6, where the generated score is a first score, where the one or more devices are further to:

generate a second score, for the document, that is based on a relevance of the document to the search query; and

combine the first and second score to generate an overall score,

where when ranking the document, the one or more devices are to rank the document with regard to the at least one other document based on the overall score.

9. The system of claim 8, where when combining the first and second scores, the one or more devices are to:

adjust the second score by an amount that is based on the first score.

10. The system of claim 6, where when ranking the document, the one or more devices are to rank the document with regard to the at least one other document based on the generated score, independent of a relevance of the document to a search query.

11. A computer-readable memory device storing programming instructions that are executable by one or more processors of one or more devices, the programming instructions comprising:

one or more instructions to determine that a document is a search result that is responsive to a plurality of different search queries;

one or more instructions to negatively adjust a score for the document based on determining that the document is a search result that is responsive to the plurality of different search queries;

one or more instructions to rank the document with regard to at least one other document based on the negatively-adjusted score;

one or more instructions to determine that the other particular document is an authoritative document; and

one or more instructions to bypass negatively adjusting a score, for the other particular document, based on determining that the other particular document is an authoritative document.

12. The computer-readable memory device of claim 11, where the one or more instructions to determine whether the other particular document is an authoritative document include one or more instructions to determine whether the other particular document is at least one of:

a government document,

a document associated with a web directory, or

a document that has maintained at least a threshold rank over time.

13. The computer-readable memory device of claim 11, where the generated score is a first score, where the programming instructions further comprise:

one or more instructions to generate a second score, for the document, that is based on a relevance of the document to the search query; and

one or more instructions to combine the first and second score to generate an overall score,

where the one or more instructions to rank the document include one or more instructions to rank the document with regard to the at least one other document based on the overall score.

14. The computer-readable memory device of claim 13, where the one or more instructions to combine the first and second scores include:

one or more instructions to adjust the second score by an amount that is based on the first score.

15. The computer-readable memory device of claim 11, where the one or more instructions to rank the document include one or more instructions to rank the document with regard to the at least one other document based on the generated score, independent of a relevance of the document to a search query.