Dynamic search engine results employing user behavior

Abstract

A method and apparatus for dynamically modifying search results “on the fly” based on the behavior of the user currently conducting a search. In one embodiment, data regarding user behavior is gathered from virtually any activity, including clicks on links, dwell times, downloads, transactions and cursor movements. Subordinate keywords are generated to reflect the intent of the user as inferred from the user's behavior. Subordinate keywords, as opposed to traditional primary keywords, are keywords that are identified as important to the search, but are not necessarily essential for a matched document. They are automatically generated by the system from a variety of places, such as documents clicked on by the user as well as documents that are skipped. The system uses the subordinate keywords to dynamically re-rank matched documents and advertisements to best reflect the inferred intent of the user in order to continuously provide the most relevant results.

1 . A method for dynamically modifying search results comprising:
 receiving one or more keywords for use as search terms from a user;   providing a first set of search result objects;   monitoring user behavior in interacting with said search result objects; and   generating a second set of search result objects based on said user behavior.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 providing some title and display text with each of said search result objects in said first set;   monitoring which of said objects is selected by said user;   using terms from the title and display text corresponding to a selected object as subordinate keywords for generating said second set of search result objects.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising:
 selecting subordinate keywords from at least one of the links clicked on by the user, other links associated with a document including links pointing to the document, descriptive text associated with each document in the search results, meta-tags connected to viewed documents, prominent words and phrases in viewed documents and a thesaurus.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2  wherein said second set of search result objects comprises a re-ranked version of at least a portion of said first set of search result objects. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising:
 using terms from the title and display text corresponding to objects skipped by a user as negative subordinate keywords; and   reducing the ranking of search results objects containing said negative subordinate keywords.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising:
 assigning weights to said subordinate keywords, such that search result objects having higher weighted subordinate keywords are ranked higher.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising:
 selecting and displaying advertising based on said subordinate keywords.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising:
 providing a user interface allowing a user to promote selected subordinate keywords such that they have a higher weighting or are used as primary keywords to generate new search results.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising:
 providing a user interface allowing a user to delete selected subordinate keywords.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said providing a first set of search result objects is performed by a separate search engine software program from a user behavior program that performs said monitoring and generating steps. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said monitoring user behavior includes at least one of:
 clicks on links in the search results;   subsequent clicks on links within documents;   dwell times;   time spent looking at documents from specific domains;   resources accessed;   transactions conducted;   purchases made;   orders placed;   sessions created;   documents downloaded;   cursors moved;   pages or text scrolled; and   images or other information highlighted.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 returning to said first set of search result objects, after displaying said second set of search result objects, in response to a user indication to return.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 rating the usefulness of at least one of said search result objects in response to a user rating input.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 providing a first display indication of search result objects that have been previously selected by said user; and   providing a second display indication of search result objects that have been skipped by said user.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 providing a display indication of the ranking movement of said search result objects in said second set of search result objects.   
     
     
         16 . A system for dynamically modifying search results comprising:
 a user interface on a first computer configured to receive one or more keywords for use as search terms from a user;   a search engine on a server in communication with said first computer over a network, said search engine being configured to provide a first set of search result objects in response to said keywords;   a monitoring program in communication with said network, said monitoring program being configured to monitor user behavior in interacting with said search result objects; and   a re-ranking program configured to generate a second set of search result objects based on said user behavior.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16  wherein said search engine is on a first server, and said monitoring and re-ranking programs are on a second server. 
     
     
         18 . Computer readable media having computer readable code thereon for dynamically modifying search results, comprising code for:
 receiving one or more keywords for use as search terms from a user;   providing a first set of search result objects;   monitoring user behavior in interacting with said search result objects; and   generating a second set of search result objects based on said user behavior.   
     
     
         19 . A method for ranking a set of search results having an initial ranking, comprising:
 determining one or more selected objects in said set of search results which corresponds to user interest based on user behavior;   selecting at least one subordinate keyword corresponding to said selected objects; and   re-ranking said set of search results based on said at least one subordinate keyword.