Patent ID: 7725449

Claim:
A method for customizing a search-result description that is returned by a search engine and that describes an identified document, wherein the method is implemented with one or more of a processor and a computer storage medium and the method comprises: using the processor to receive an input, which indicates information that is related to the identified document and that is retrieved by the search engine when responding to a search query, wherein the input is received using a search-result-description request component of a customizable-search application programming interface and wherein the information includes: (a) attributes of the identified document, the attributes comprising at least one of document size, document creation date, document latest-change date, and a domain on which the identified document is hosted; (b) structured data within the identified document, the structured data comprising at least one of Meta-tags, XML, or RDF; (c) excerpts of text with specifiable features within the identified document, the specifiable features comprising at least one of excerpt length, excerpt location within the result returned by a search engine, and proximity of the excerpt to other text within a search-engine result; and (d) anchor text of hyperliniks that are in other documents and that point to the identified document; in response to receiving the search query, using the processor to encode the search query to include a search-result-description request, which requests that the information be retrieved; sending the search query together with the search-result description request to the search engine; upon identification of the identified document, retrieving portions of the identified document that are specified by the information, wherein the identified document is identified from a plurality of documents and wherein the portions include at least one of: (e) specified attributes of the identified document; (f) specified structured data within the identified document; (g) excerpts of text having specified features within the identified document; and (h) text of hyperlinks that are on other documents and that point to the identified document; in response to receiving from the search engine the search-result description, using a search-result-description API to enable both viewing of the search-result description as a programmatic attribute and specifying elements of a user interface for displaying the search-result description; and causing display of the search-result description to an end user, wherein the search-result description is displayed in a specified format.