Patent ID: 9043351
Filing Date: 2015-05-26
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method of tailoring search results from a search query submitted by users, the method comprising: obtaining clickstream data associated with the search query, the clickstream data including a list of items resulting from the search query and, for each item, a number of times a first-click was received for a respective item, the first-click for the respective item occurring when a user clicks, previews, hovers, or otherwise interacts with the respective item first in time before other items in the list; calculating, for each item, a ratio of the number of times a first-click was received for the respective item to a total number of times first-clicks were received for the items in the list; determining a specificity score for the search query based at least in part on a type of distribution of the ratios calculated for the items, wherein a uniform distribution results in a lower specificity score than for a skewed distribution, the uniform distribution indicating that the search query is associated with general searching and the skewed distribution indicating that the search query is associated with specific searching; and updating the list of items for the search query based at least in part on the specificity score, the updating the list comprising choosing which items are to be included in the updated list based on how evenly distributed the first-clicks were.