Patent ID: 7647242

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: a) accepting, by a computer system including at least one computer, search query information including a word; b) determining, by the computer system, one or more words related to the word included in the accepted search query; c) generating, by the computer system, an item request including i) the word included in the accepted search query, and ii) the one or more words determined to be related to the word included in the accepted search query; d) retrieving, by the computer system, items using the item request; e) determining, by the computer system, a score for each of the retrieved items; f) adjusting, by the computer system, the scores of any items retrieved on the basis of the one or more words determined to be related to the word included in the accepted search query relative to any items retrieved on the basis of the word included in the accepted search query to generate adjusted scores, wherein the act of adjusting the scores includes multiplying each of the scores by a multiplier that is less than one; g) serving, by the computer system, at least some of the items to a client device for rendering to a user, wherein the serving is controlled, at least in part, using the adjusted scores; and h) updating, by the computer system, the multiplier using performance information, wherein the retrieved items are advertisements, wherein the act of determining a score for each of the retrieved items uses at least one of ad performance information and ad price information, and wherein the act of updating the multiplier is performed using the formula: updated_multiplier = N ⁢ ⁢ • ⁢ ⁢ initial ⁢ ⁢ multiplier + observed_user ⁢ _behavior N + naively_predicted ⁢ _user ⁢ _behavior wherein N is a number.