Patent ID: 8886644

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for providing user-controlled search personalization, the method comprising: receiving a search query from a user via a web interface provided to the user via a web browser executable at a computing device of the user; responsive to receiving the search query, identifying user-selected options for limiting personalization of search results for the search query based on at least one excluded search category selected from a plurality of predetermined search categories, each search category including one or more of a plurality of query signals and page signals used by a search engine to execute search queries, the query signals corresponding to user-specific attributes including an IP address associated with the web browser, and the page signals corresponding to attributes of potential search results of the search query, and wherein the at least one excluded search category includes a query signal corresponding to the IP address associated with the web browser; obtaining search results for the search query based on the user-selected options and a computed score associated with each potential search result obtained for the search query; and providing the obtained search results for display to a user at the user's computing device.