Endorsing local search results

• US 8,880,516 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Issued: 11/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Korte, Thomas Christopher, Agarwal, Sumit, Saino, Celia Neuhoff
• Primary Examiner(s): REYES, MARIELA D
• Application Number:
  US13/618,042
• Publication Number:
  US 20130110805A1
• Time in Patent Office: 781 Days
• Field of Search: 707/724, 707/727, 707/731
• US Class Current: 707/724
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• 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 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search

Abstract

Methods and systems for improving user search experience with a search engine by providing a way for associated users to create and share personalized lists of local search results and/or advertisements through endorsements of such local search results and/or ads. Local search endorsements can be used to personalize the search engine'"'"'s ranking of local search results by offering a way for users to re-rank the results for themselves and for those who trust them.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a first search query from a first member of a member network;

responding to the first search query with a first result set that is based on the first search query and that comprises a plurality of electronic articles and, for one or more electronic articles of the plurality of electronic articles, rating information that corresponds to the one or more electronic articles, and a rating system control that corresponds to a particular one of the plurality of electronic articles, wherein the rating system control is a selectable item adapted to receive an endorsement rating regarding the corresponding particular one of the plurality of electronic articles, and wherein the rating information comprises text or indicia that indicates a prior selection by one or more members of the member network of rating system controls corresponding to the one or more electronic articles of the plurality of electronic articles;

receiving a selection, by the first member, of the rating system control that corresponds to the particular one of the plurality of electronic articles;

updating, based on the received selection of the rating system control that corresponds to the particular one of the plurality of electronic articles, the rating information that corresponds to the particular one of the plurality of electronic articles;

receiving a second search query from a second member of the member network; and

responding to the second search query with a second result set based on the second search query, wherein the second result set comprises the particular one of the plurality of electronic articles and, based on the second member'"'"'s membership in the member network, the second result set comprises the updated rating information that corresponds to the particular one of the plurality of electronic articles.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the first member and the second member have an association that is defined between them by the member network and that comprises a direct explicit association.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the first member and the second member have an association that is defined between them by the member network and that comprises an indirect explicit association.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the first member and the second member have no association defined between them by the member network.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining the updated rating information for the second local result set presentation using a correspondence between the particular electronic article and an attribute of the first member'"'"'s member network profile that is identified by the member network.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining the correspondence using a geographic locale aspect for the first member.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining the updated rating information for the second local result set presentation using a correspondence between one or more attributes of the first member'"'"'s member network profile and one or more attributes of the second member'"'"'s member network profile.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving the selection by the first member of the rating system control, providing one or more rating entry modes that comprise one or more of (i) a binary positive or negative rating, (ii) a scaled rating, or (iii) a textual comments field.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving textual comments for the particular one of the plurality of electronic articles in the textual comments field; and

providing, with the second local result set presentation for the updated rating information that corresponds to the particular one of the plurality of electronic articles, a selectable link arranged to provide a display, in response to a selection of the selectable link, that comprises the textual comments.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

ranking the second local result set presentation using a strength of relationship factor for an association between the first member and the second member in the member network.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, with the second local result set presentation for the updated rating information, an identifier that corresponds to the first member.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the identifier that corresponds to the first member comprises at least a portion of the first member'"'"'s name or a photo corresponding to the first member.

13. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, from one or more members of a member network that each have a member network profile comprising a geographic locale identifier, ratings of electronic articles that characterize the corresponding members'"'"' favorability assessments of the electronic articles;

receiving, from a user who is not a member of the member network, a search query that comprises a target geographic locale;

determining one or more electronic articles responsive to the search query;

identifying one or more particular members of the member network that have profiles with geographic locale identifiers that correlate to the target geographic locale;

identifying one or more rated electronic articles that have been rated by the particular members and that correspond to the one or more electronic articles;

ranking the identified rated electronic articles using the particular members'"'"' received ratings of the corresponding electronic articles; and

providing, for display to the user, references to each of the ranked electronic articles with text or indicia that represent the particular members'"'"' received ratings of the corresponding electronic articles.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the received ratings comprise one or more of (i) a binary positive or negative rating of the electronic articles, (ii) a scaled rating of the electronic articles, and (iii) a textual comments field corresponding to the electronic articles.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the received ratings comprise a scaled rating of the electronic articles and a textual comments field corresponding to the electronic articles.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing, for at least one of the references to a ranked electronic articles, a selectable link arranged to provide a display comprising textual rating comments in response to a selection of the selectable link.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the display comprises an identifier corresponding to a rating member who entered the textual rating comments.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the identifier comprises at least a portion of the rating member'"'"'s name.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the electronic articles comprise one or more unrated electronic articles that have not been rated by the members.

20. A system comprising:

a member network server implemented by one or more computer processors, the member network server comprising;

a member network database stored in machine-readable memory, the member network database storing profiles that represent members in a member network, the profiles comprising endorsements of electronic documents including web pages; and

a member network engine programmed to allow users to interact with and participate in the member network, including by classifying particular electronic documents as user endorsed electronic documents by inputting a favorable rating on a control that is displayed

simultaneously with an identifier for a corresponding electronic document; and

a search engine server implemented by one or more computer processors, the search engine server comprising;

an article index stored in machine-readable memory, the article index indexing electronic documents stored at other devices or systems; and

a search engine programmed to respond to receipt of a local query signal that embodies a local search query for a particular geographic locality made by a query-submitting member of the member network, by performing operations comprising;

performing a search of the article index to locate local information responsive to the local search query and for the particular geographic locality in the electronic documents indexed by the article index, and returning identifiers of the electronic documents in a first local search result set;

communicating with the member network engine to identify particular members in the member network who have provided endorsements;

accessing the member profiles of the particular members to identify the endorsements in the member profiles of the particular members and returning the identified endorsements in a second local search result set;

merging the first local search result set and the second local search result set to form a final local search result set, wherein a ranking of the identifiers for the electronic documents in the final local search result set differs from a ranking of the identifiers for the electronic documents in the first local search result set and a ranking of the identifiers for the electronic documents in the second local search result set; and

providing the final local search result set for presentation to the query-submitting member of the member network, wherein the presentation identifies, for particular ones of the final local search result set, the particular members in the member network identified as having provided endorsements for electronic documents that correspond to the particular ones of the final local search result set.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the operations performed by the search engine further comprise:

noting navigation by the query-submitting member to a first web page represented by an identifier in the final local search result set; and

transmitting information indicating the navigation by the query-submitting member to the first web page to the member network server for storage in a profile of the query-submitting member in the member network database.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein communicating with the member network engine to identify the particular members in the member network comprises identifying members in the member network that are explicitly associated with the query-submitting member.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein communicating with the member network engine to identify the particular members in the member network comprises identifying members in the member network that are associated with the particular geographic locality of the local search query submitted by the query-submitting member.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein communicating with the member network engine to identify the particular members in the member network comprises:

comparing a profile of the query-submitting member with profiles of other members of the member network; and

etermining that the particular members that have profiles similar to the profile of the query-submitting member.

25. The system of claim 20, wherein communicating with the member network engine to identify the particular members in the member network comprises:

comparing profiles of other members of the member network with the local search query submitted by the query-submitting member; and

determining that the particular members that have profiles related to the local search query.

26. The system of claim 20, wherein the member network database further comprises:

a look-up table listing a category classifying local search queries; and

an identifier for an endorsed electronic document in the category classifying local search queries.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the member network database further comprises an endorsement associated with the identifier for the endorsed electronic documents.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein accessing the member profiles of the particular members to identify the endorsements in the member profiles of the particular members comprises locating endorsements of electronic documents in a same category as a category of the local search query.

29. The system of claim 20, wherein the electronic document endorsements comprise endorsements of advertisements.

30. The system of claim 20, wherein the final local search result set comprises annotations indicative of the electronic document endorsements identified in the member profiles of the particular members.

31. The system of claim 20, wherein the member network database receives some of the endorsements of electronic documents independent of a search query.

32. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, from particular members of a network, endorsements of electronic articles that that are presented to members of the network, particular ones of the endorsements involving a member of the network affirmatively selecting an endorsement control that is displayed simultaneously with a reference to a corresponding electronic article being endorsed;

receiving a local search query from a first member that is for a particular geographic locality;

searching one or more article indexes to identify a plurality of local search results that are responsive to the received local search query and correspond to the particular geographic locality, the one or more indexes indexing the electronic articles that are presented to members of the network;

identifying, for particular ones of the local search results, corresponding endorsements received from particular members;

ranking the plurality of local search results based at least in part on the identified endorsements; and

providing references to the ranked local search results for presentation to the first member, wherein the presentation identifies, for particular ones of the references to the search results, particular ones of the members identified as having provided endorsements for the corresponding electronic articles.

33. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, further comprising providing the references to the local search results for display to the first member according to the ranking.

34. The computer-implemented method of claim 33, further comprising:

determining, for each of the references to the search results that corresponds to an electronic article for which an endorsement was identified, an identifier for the particular ones of the members that provided the corresponding endorsement; and

providing, for each of the identifiers for the particular ones of the members, the respective identifier for presentation with the corresponding reference to the ranked local search results.

35. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, wherein ranking the plurality of local search results comprises:

identifying one or more second members of the members who have created a defined relationship with the first member; and

ranking the plurality of local search results based on endorsements by the one or more second members without regard to other members of the members who do not have a defined relationship with the first member.

36. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, wherein identifying the corresponding endorsements received from particular members of the members comprises determining that the particular members as being associated with the particular geographic locality.

37. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, wherein identifying the corresponding endorsements received from particular members of the members comprises determining, for each of the particular members, that a profile of the first member is similar to a profile for the corresponding particular member.

38. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, wherein the endorsements comprise endorsements of advertisements.

39. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, further comprising providing a financial incentive to at least one of the particular members.

40. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, further comprising prompting one of the members for an endorsement for an electronic article the corresponding member previously visited.

41. The computer-implemented method of claim 40, wherein prompting the one of the members for the endorsement for the electronic article the corresponding member previously visited comprising:

determining whether the one of the members visited the electronic article a threshold quantity of times; and

prompting the one of the members for the endorsement for the electronic article the corresponding member previously visited upon determining that the one of the members visited the electronic article the threshold quantity of times.

42. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, from particular members of a network, endorsements of electronic articles that that are presented to members of the network, particular ones of the endorsements involving a member of the network affirmatively selecting an on-screen selection that does not cause a corresponding endorsed electronic document to be displayed;

receiving a local search query for a particular geographic locality from a first member of the members;

searching one or more article indexes to identify a plurality of local search results that are responsive to the received local search query and for the particular geographic locality, the one or more indexes indexing the electronic articles that are presented to members of the network;

identifying, for particular ones of the local search results, corresponding endorsements received from particular members of the members;

ranking the plurality of local search results based at least in part on the identified endorsements; and

providing references to the ranked local search results for presentation to the first member, wherein the presentation identifies, for particular ones of the local search results, particular ones of the members identified as having provided endorsements for the corresponding electronic articles.

43. The computer-implemented method of claim 42, further comprising:

determining, for each of the references to the local search results that corresponds to an electronic article for which an endorsement was identified, an identifier for the particular ones of the members that provided the corresponding endorsement; and

providing, to the first member for each of the identifiers for the particular ones of the members, the respective identifier for presentation with the corresponding reference to the ranked local search result.