Dynamic search engine results employing user behavior

Abstract

A method and apparatus for dynamically modifying search results “on the fly” based on the behavior of the user currently conducting a search. In one embodiment, data regarding user behavior is gathered from virtually any activity, including clicks on links, dwell times, downloads, transactions and cursor movements. Subordinate keywords are generated to reflect the intent of the user as inferred from the user's behavior. Subordinate keywords, as opposed to traditional primary keywords, are keywords that are identified as important to the search, but are not necessarily essential for a matched document. They are automatically generated by the system from a variety of places, such as documents clicked on by the user as well as documents that are skipped. The system uses the subordinate keywords to dynamically re-rank matched documents and advertisements to best reflect the inferred intent of the user in order to continuously provide the most relevant results.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 796,624, filed May 2, 2006, entitled “Dynamic Search Engine Results Using User Behavior”, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to search engines which generate results with improved relevance by monitoring user actions.[0003]Search engines are designed to explore data communications networks for documents of interest to a given user and then generate listings of results based on those documents identified in that search. The user specifies this interest by inputting a query, expressed as a “keyword” or set of “keywords,” into the search engine. The keywords are then compared with terms from documents previously indexed by the search engine in order to produce a set of matched documents. Finally, before being presented, the matched documents are ranked by employing any number...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014]In one embodiment, the system will then use the subordinate keywords to dynamically re-rank the matched documents “on the fly” to continuously provide the user with the most relevant results possible. The system will additionally use the subordinate keywords to dynamically alter any sponsored links in order to best reflect the intent and interests of the user and, as such, provide the most relevant advertisements and as a resu...

Problems solved by technology

As a result, the ability of internet search engines to help users identify documents of particular interest to a given query is being hampered.

In other words, while internet users have access to an increasing quantity of potentially relevant information, using keyword queries on search engines to identify those documents that produce satisfaction has become more difficult.

While all of these strategies, used either singularly or in combination, provide some benefit, they are incomplete for the simple reason that they do not take into account the behavior of the specific user conducting the search at the moment the search is actually being conducted.

By using only information available prior to the ...

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