Propagating information among web pages

• US 8,990,210 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2013
• Issued: 03/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Haahr, Paul, Lacker, Kevin D., Lamping, John Ogden, Singhal, Amitabh K., Yang, Ke, Egnor, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel, Jr., Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALLEN, NICHOLAS E
• Application Number:
  US13/968,339
• Publication Number:
  US 20140052735A1
• Time in Patent Office: 586 Days
• US Class Current: 707/737
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2228 Indexing structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking

Abstract

Web pages of a Website may be processed to improve search results. For example, information likely to pertain to more than just the Web page it is directly associated with may be identified. One or more other, related, Web pages that such information is likely to pertain to is also identified. The identified information is associated with the identified other Web page(s) and this association is saved in a way to affect a search result score of the Web page(s).

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying a home or root web page of a web site;

receiving a plurality of other pages of the web site;

determining that a product category term occurs on a first web page of the web site, wherein the first web page is not the home or root web page of the web site;

determining from an index of web pages whether the product category term is associated with the home or root web page in the index, wherein the index of web pages identifies terms and, for each term, identifies one or more web pages that are associated with the term;

adding to the index an association of the product category term with the home or root web page of the web site when the product category term is not associated with the home or root web page in the index of web pages; and

updating in the index an association of the product category term with the home or root web page of the web site when the product category term is associated with the home or root web page in the index of web pages.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the home or root web page is above the first web page in a URL hierarchy of the web site.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein updating in the index the association of the product category term with the home or root web page of the web site comprises increasing a weight of an association of the product category term with the home or root web page of the web site in the index of web pages.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein updating in the index the association of the product category term with the home or root web page of the web site in the index of web pages comprises updating a boost value associated with the association of the product category term with the home or root of web page in the index of web pages.

5. A system comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

identifying a home or root web page of a web site;

receiving a plurality of other pages of the web site;

determining that a product category term occurs on a first web page of the web site, wherein the first web page is not the home or root web page of the web site;

determining from an index of web pages whether the product category term is associated with the home or root web page in the index, wherein the index of web pages identifies terms and, for each term, identifies one or more web pages that are associated with the term;

adding to the index an association of the product category term with the home or root web page of the web site when the product category term is not associated with the home or root web page in the index of web pages; and

updating in the index an association of the product category term with the home or root web page of the web site when the product category term is associated with the home or root web page in the index of web pages.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the home or root web page is above the first web page in a URL hierarchy of the web site.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein updating in the index the association of the product category term with the home or root web page of the web site comprises increasing a weight of an association of the product category term with the home or root web page of the web site in the index of web pages.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein updating in the index the association of the product category term with the home or root web page of the web site in the index of web pages comprises updating a boost value associated with the association of the product category term with the home or root of web page in the index of web pages.

9. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a plurality of web pages of a web site, wherein the plurality of web pages includes a home or root web page of the web site and a first web page that is not a home or root web page of the web site;

generating an association, in an index of web pages, between the first web page of the web site and a first term occurring on the first web page of the web site, wherein the index of web pages identifies terms and, for each term, identifies one or more web pages that are associated with the term;

determining that the first term is a product category term and that the first term does not occur on the home or root web page of the web site; and

in response to determining that the first term is a product category term and that the first term does not occur on the home or root web page of the web site, generating an association, in the index of web pages, between the home or root web page of the web site and the first term that does not occur on the home or root web page of the web site.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a search query including the product category term; and

determining that the home or root web page satisfies the query due to the association in the index of web pages between the home or root web page of the web site and the first term that does not occur on the home or root web page of the web site.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the home or root web page is above the first web page in a hierarchy of the web site.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the hierarchy of the web site is a web site topology.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the hierarchy of the web site is a URL hierarchy.

14. A system comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

receiving a plurality of web pages of a web site, wherein the plurality of web pages includes a home or root web page of the web site and a first web page that is not a home or root web page of the web site;

generating an association, in an index of web pages, between the first web page of the web site and a first term occurring on the first web page of the web site, wherein the index of web pages identifies terms and, for each term, identifies one or more web pages that are associated with the term;

determining that the first term is a product category term and that the first term does not occur on the home or root web page of the web site; and

in response to determining that the first term is a product category term and that the first term does not occur on the home or root web page of the web site, generating an association, in the index of web pages, between the home or root web page of the web site and the first term that does not occur on the home or root web page of the web site.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a search query including the product category term; and

determining that the home or root web page satisfies the query due to the association in the index of web pages between the home or root web page of the web site and the first term that does not occur on the home or root web page of the web site.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the home or root web page is above the first web page in a hierarchy of the web site.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the hierarchy of the web site is a web site topology.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the hierarchy of the web site is a URL hierarchy.