Personalized search result ranking

• US 9,037,581 B1
• Filed: 09/29/2006
• Issued: 05/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Zamir, Oren, Korn, Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): Burke, Jeffrey A
• Application Number:
  US11/536,901
• Time in Patent Office: 3,154 Days
• Field of Search: 707/5, 707/732, 707/751
• US Class Current: 707/732
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

A system determines a user'"'"'s past search result selection activity. The system adjusts the ranking of current search results provided to the user based on the user'"'"'s past search result selection activity.

Claims

1. A method performed by a server device, the method comprising:

supplying, by the server device, a first set of search results to a user,

where a rank position of a particular one of the first set of search results is based on a rank score computed by a search engine;

tracking, by the server device, a quantity of accesses, by the user, of a first document,

the first document being associated with a web site, and

the first document being associated with a search result from the first set of search results;

obtaining, by the server device, a second set of search results, where

the second set of search results is different from the first set of search results,

the second set of search results includes at least one search result corresponding to a second document associated with the web site, and

the second set of search results is in a ranked list;

adjusting, by the server device, a rank position of the at least one search result in the ranked list to form adjusted search results based on;

the quantity of accesses satisfying a threshold quantity of accesses;

another quantity of accesses, by the user, associated with the first set of search results,

the other quantity of accesses being unassociated with the first document; and

at least one of;

an order in which the other quantity of accesses occurred relative to the quantity of accesses of the first document, or

a comparison of a first amount of time, spent by the user, when accessing the first document, and a second amount of time, spent by the user, when accessing documents associated with the other quantity of accesses; and

providing, by the server device and for presentation, the adjusted search results.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

supplying a plurality of sets of search results to the user; and

identifying how often the at least one search result was included in the plurality of sets of search results but was not selected by the user; and

when adjusting the rank position of the at least one search result, the method further includes;

adjusting the rank position of the at least one search result based on how often the at least one search result was included in the plurality of sets of search results but was not selected by the user.

3. The method of claim 1, where adjusting the rank position of the at least one search result further comprises:

boosting selected search results of the second set of search results in the ranked list based on the quantity of accesses.

4. The method of claim 1, where adjusting the rank position of the at least one search result further comprises:

ranking the second set of search results in a first rank position order; and

re-ranking the second set of search results in a second rank position order based on the quantity of accesses.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

tracking a period of time over which the quantity of accesses occur,

where, when adjusting the rank position of the at least one search result, the method further includes;

adjusting the rank position of the at least one search result based on the period of time.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a first search query from the user; and

searching a corpus of documents, based on the first search query, to obtain the first set of search results.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving a second search query from the user,

where obtaining the second set of search results comprises;

searching the corpus of documents, based on the second search query, to obtain the second set of search results.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

tracking a duration of time of each access of the quantity of accesses,

where, when adjusting the rank position of the at least one search result, the method further includes;

adjusting the rank position of the at least one search result based on the duration of time.

9. One or more server devices comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions to;

provide a first set of search results to a user,

where a rank position of a particular one of the first set of search results is based on a rank score computed by a search engine;

track a quantity of accesses, by the user, of a first document,

the first document being associated with a web site, and

the first document being associated with a search result from the first set of search results;

provide a second set of search results to the user, where

the second set of search results is different from the first set of search results,

the second set of search results includes at least one search result corresponding to a second document associated with the web site, and

the second set of search results is in a ranked list; and

adjust a rank position of the at least one search result in the ranked list to form adjusted search results based on;

the quantity of accesses;

another quantity of accesses, by the user, associated with the first set of search results,

the other quantity of accesses being unassociated with the first document; and

at least one of;

an order in which the other quantity of accesses occurred relative to the quantity of accesses of the first document, or

a comparison of a first amount of time, spent by the user, when accessing the first document, and a second amount of time, spent by the user, when accessing documents associated with the other quantity of accesses; and

provide, for presentation, the adjusted search results.

10. The one or more server devices of claim 9, where the processor, when adjusting the rank position of the at least one search result, is further to:

adjust the rank position of the at least one search result based on a period of time that has elapsed from a particular access, of the quantity of accesses, of the first document to a current time.

11. The one or more server devices of claim 9, where the processor, when adjusting the rank position of the at least one search result, is further to:

adjust the rank position of the at least one search result based on how long the user accessed the at least one search result.

12. The one or more server devices of claim 9, where the processor is further to:

receive a first search query from the user;

search a corpus of documents, based on the first search query, to obtain the first set of search results; and

receive a second search query from the user,

where the processor, when providing the second set of search results, is further to;

search the corpus of documents, based on the second search query, to provide the second set of search results.

13. A system comprising:

one or more devices to;

provide a first set of search results to a user,

where a rank position of a particular one of the first set of search results is based on a rank score computed by a search engine;

store information

identifying a quantity of accesses, by the user, of a first document, the first document being associated with a web site, and the first document being associated with a search result from the first set of search results;

provide, to the user, a second set of search results, where

the second set of search results is different from the first set of search results,

the second set of search results includes at least one search result corresponding to a second document associated with the web site, and

the second set of search results is arranged in a ranked list;

adjust a rank position of the at least one search result in the ranked list to form adjusted search results based on;

the quantity of accesses;

another quantity of accesses, by the user, associated with the first set of search results,

the other quantity of accesses being unassociated with the first document; and

at least one of;

an order in which the other quantity of accesses occurred relative to the quantity of accesses of the first document, or

a comparison of a first amount of time, spent by the user, when accessing the first document, and a second amount of time, spent by the user, when accessing documents associated with the other quantity of accesses; and

provide, for presentation, the adjusted search results.

14. The system of claim 13, where the one or more devices, when adjusting the rank position of the at least one search result, are further to:

adjust the rank position of the at least one search result in the ranked list based on an order in which the first document was selected, among other selections, by the user in the first set of search results.

15. The system of claim 13, where the one or more devices, when adjusting the rank position of the at least one search result, are further to:

adjust the rank position of the at least one search result in the ranked list based on a period of time from a time a particular access, of the quantity of accesses, of the first document to a current time.

16. The system of claim 13, where the one or more devices are further to:

receive a first search query from the user;

search a corpus of documents, based on the first search query, to obtain the first set of search results; and

receive a second search query from the user,

where the one or more devices, when providing the second set of search results, are further to;

search the corpus of documents, based on the second search query, to provide the second set of search results.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to;

provide a first set of search results to a user

information identifying a quantity of accesses, by the user, of a first document,

the first document being associated with a web site, and

the first document being associated with a search result from the first set of search results;

obtain a second set of search results, where the second set of search results is different from the first set of search results,

the second set of search results includes at least one search result corresponding to a second document associated with the web site, and

the second set of search results is arranged in a ranked list; and

adjust a rank position of the at least one search result in the ranked list to form adjusted search results based on;

the quantity of accesses;

another quantity of accesses, by the user, associated with the first set of search results,

the other quantity of accesses being unassociated with the first document; and

at least one of;

an order in which the other quantity of accesses occurred relative to the quantity of accesses of the first document, or

a comparison of a first amount of time, spent by the user, when accessing the first document, and a second amount of time, spent by the user, when accessing documents associated with the other quantity of accesses; and

provide, for presentation, the adjusted search results.

18. The medium of claim 17, where the instructions further include:

one or more instructions to provide the first set of search results based on a first search query and

one or more instructions to provide the second set of search results based on a second query,

where the second query is not the same as the first query.

19. The medium of claim 18, where the one or more instructions to adjust the rank position of the at least one search result further include:

one or more instructions to adjust the rank position of the at least one search result only if the second query is related to the first query.

20. The medium of claim 17, where the instructions further include:

one or more instructions to receive a first search query from the user;

one or more instructions to search a corpus of documents, based on the first search query, to obtain the first set of search results; and

one or more instructions to receive a second search query from the user,

where the one or more instructions to obtain the second set of search results include;

one or more instructions to search the corpus of documents, based on the second search query, to obtain the second set of search results.