Displaying social content in search results

• US 8,799,276 B1
• Filed: 05/30/2012
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Kamdar, Sagar, Bursey, Adam D., Hyatt, Andrew S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kerzhner, Aleksandr
• Application Number:
  US13/483,222
• Time in Patent Office: 797 Days
• Field of Search: 707/723, 707/999.003
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

Systems for displaying social content in search results may include receiving an input query for a subject; determining that the input query is a navigational query; identifying a first page on a social network for the subject; obtaining content from the first page; obtaining search results corresponding to the input query; identifying a second page for the subject from among the search results, where the second page is represented in the search results by a snippet of content associated with the second page; combining the content from the first page with the snippet to thereby produce combined content; and outputting data corresponding to the combined content.

Claims

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

receiving an input query for a subject having a web site;

determining that the input query is a navigational query, the navigational query comprising a query to locate the web site of the subject; and

in response to determining that the input query is a navigational query;

identifying a first page on a social network, the first page being a page specific to the subject within the social network;

obtaining content from the first page;

obtaining search results corresponding to the input query;

identifying a second page for the subject from among the search results, the second page comprising a page of the web site and being represented in the search results by a snippet of content associated with the second page;

combining the content from the first page with the snippet to thereby produce combined content; and

outputting data corresponding to the combined content to display the combined content in search results.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the input query is a navigational query comprises identifying a correlation between the input query and a navigational query among a set of navigational queries.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying the first page comprises:

identifying a correlation between an address of the second page to a social network identifier for a user who provided the input query; and

searching the social network for the first page using the social network identifier.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining content from the first page comprises searching the first page using a search query to obtain the content from the first page.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the search query obtains a predefined number of posts from the first page returned in date-sorted order.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein a relevance score associated with content obtained by the search query is influenced by a social connection of the content to a user who provided the input query.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least part of a first process that comprises determining that the input query is a navigational query, identifying the first page on the social network for the subject, and obtaining content from the first page is performed in parallel with at least part of a second process that comprises obtaining the search results corresponding to the input query.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the second page comprises determining how the second page is ranked among the search results.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising filtering the content to remove at least a portion thereof prior to combining the content from the first page with the snippet.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining content from the first page comprises obtaining the content based on popularity of the content.

11. One or more non-transitory machine-readable media storing instructions that are executable by one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:

receiving an input query for a subject having a web site;

determining that the input query is a navigational query, the navigational query comprising a query to locate the web site of the subject; and

in response to determining that the input query is a navigational query;

identifying a first page on a social network, the first page being a page specific to the subject within the social network;

obtaining content from the first page;

obtaining search results corresponding to the input query;

identifying a second page for the subject from among the search results, the second page comprising a page of the web site and being represented in the search results by a snippet of content associated with the second page;

combining the content from the first page with the snippet to thereby produce combined content; and

outputting data corresponding to the combined content to display the combined content in search results.

12. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 11, wherein determining that the input query is a navigational query comprises identifying a correlation between the input query and a navigational query among a set of navigational queries.

13. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 12, wherein identifying the first page comprises:

identifying a correlation between an address of the second page to a social network identifier for a user who provided the input query; and

searching the social network for the first page using the social network identifier.

14. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 11, wherein obtaining content from the first page comprises searching the first page using a search query to obtain the content from the first page.

15. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 14, wherein the search query obtains a predefined number of posts from the first page returned in date-sorted order.

16. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 14, wherein a relevance score associated with content obtained by the search query is influenced by a social connection of the content to a user who provided the input query.

17. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 11, wherein at least part of a first process that comprises determining that the input query is a navigational query, identifying the first page on the social network for the subject, and obtaining content from the first page is performed in parallel with at least part of a second process that comprises obtaining the search results corresponding to the input query.

18. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 11, wherein identifying the second page comprises determining how the second page is ranked among the search results.

19. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 11, further comprising filtering the content to remove at least a portion thereof prior to combining the content from the first page with the snippet.

20. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 11, wherein obtaining content from the first page comprises obtaining the content based on popularity of the content.

21. A system comprising:

memory storing instructions for implementing a search engine; and

one or more processing devices to execute the instructions to perform operations comprising;

receiving an input query for a subject having a web site;

determining that the input query is a navigational query, the navigational query comprising a query to locate the web site of the subject; and

in response to determining that the input query is a navigational query;

identifying a first page on a social network, the first page being a page specific to the subject within the social network;

obtaining content from the first page;

obtaining search results corresponding to the input query;

identifying a second page for the subject from among the search results, the second page comprising a page of the web site and being represented in the search results by a snippet of content associated with the second page;

combining the content from the first page with the snippet to thereby produce combined content; and

outputting data corresponding to the combined content to display the combined content in search results.