Patent ID: 7444327
Filing Date: 2008-10-28
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A method for automating the optimization of search results displayed in a search Web page, the method comprising: receiving search results provided from a search engine to a user according to a search term, wherein the search results are selected and ranked by a relevance schema; collecting data that represents a performance of each of the received search results, the collected data quantifying interactions of various users with the search results, the collected data originating from at least one of a plurality of various sources having various types of valuations, the search results and collected data being initially incomparable against each other absent normalization, wherein the various sources reflect data of quantified interactions of the various users with the search results; combining the collected data by a normalization procedure that generates performance data for each of the search results, wherein the performance data reflects behavior of the various users, and wherein the normalization procedure comprises: determining whether the expected performance data is below the normalized performance data by comparing the normalized performance data to the expected performance data for each of the search results; when the normalized performance data of a search result of the search results is below the expected performance data associated therewith, identifying the search result as underperforming and diagnosing the underperforming search result based on results of the comparison between the normalized performance data and the expected performance data; and updating the relevance schema based on the diagnosis such that operation of a search engine that provided the search results is adjusted to improve relevance of subsequent search results.