Method and apparatus for identifying related searches in a database search system

Abstract

A method of generating a search result list also provides related searches for use by a searcher. Search listings which generate a match with a search request submitted by the searcher are identified in a pay-for-placement database which includes a plurality of search listings. Related search listings contained in a related search database generated from the pay-for-placement database are identified as relevant to the search request. A search result list is returned to the searcher including the identified search listings and one or more of the identified search listings.

1 . A data processing method for a related searches database for a database search system which includes a search database storing information about a plurality of web pages searchable by a search engine, the method comprising:
 at the database search system, accessing the search database and retrieving from the search database textual information from the plurality of web pages about which information is stored in the search database;   at the database search system, omitting from the retrieved textual information textual information from web pages which are determined to be similar among the plurality of web pages to produce search listing data;   at the database search system, indexing the retrieved textual information and the search listing data to create an inverted index; and   at the database search system, storing the inverted index in the related searches database at the database search system.   
   
   
       2 . The data processing method of  claim 1  wherein indexing comprises:
 at the database search system, arranging data as a plurality of rows in the related searches database, each row of the plurality of rows including a key word along with all text from the search database associated with the keyword.   
   
   
       3 . The data processing method of  claim 2  further comprising:
 receiving a search request at the database search system from a remotely located user device;   at a search engine web server of the database search system, locating in the search database information matching the search request;   at a related searches web server of the database search system, using the key word to identify matching related search listings in the related searches database,   combining the located information from the search database and the matching related search listings in a search results web page; and   communicating the search results web page from the database search system to the remotely located user device.   
   
   
       4 . The data processing method of  claim 1  wherein the search database stores a plurality of search listings, the method further comprising:
 creating one or more additional indexes using key information associated with respective search listings of the stored plurality of search listings; and   storing the one or more additional indexes in the related searches database.   
   
   
       5 . The data processing method of  claim 4  wherein creating the one or more additional indexes comprises forming an index based on an advertiser identification associated with the respective search listings or a derived theme associated with the respective search listings. 
   
   
       6 . The data processing method of  claim 1  wherein the search database stores a plurality of search listings and wherein omitting textual information from web pages which are determined to be similar comprises:
 at the database search system, retrieving from the search database uniform resource locators (URLs) included in the plurality of search listings;   at the database search system, eliminating duplicate URLs from the retrieved URLs to create a set of non-duplicate URLs; and   at the database search system, retrieving textual information stored at web pages identified by URLs of the set of non-duplicate URLs.   
   
   
       7 . The data processing method of  claim 1  wherein the search database stores a plurality of search listings and wherein omitting textual information from web pages determined to be similar comprises:
 using the search database, forming a list of uniform resource locators (URLs) associated with interne web sites to be accessed;   removing duplicate URLs from the list;   if a URL on the list is similar to another URL on the list, crawling a predetermined number of potentially duplicate URLs;   comparing bodies of the other URLs on the list and the potentially duplicate URLs;   if the body of the other URLs on the list is similar to the body of the potentially duplicate URLs,
 suspending crawling of the potentially duplicate URLs, and 
 storing the body of the URL on the list in the related searches database for subsequent search. 
   
   
   
       8 . The data processing method of  claim 7  further comprising:
 comparing a selected URL with other URLs on the list; and   determining the URL is similar to the other URL on the list when the URL has a predetermined text portion in common with the other URL on the list.   
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 7  wherein comparing bodies of the URL on the list and the potentially duplicate URLs comprises:
 comparing text from the URL on the list and text from one potentially duplicate URL; and   determining the URL on the list is similar to the one potentially duplicate URL when the text from the URL on the list and the text from the one potentially duplicate URL have a predetermined text portion in common.   
   
   
       10 . An apparatus for identifying related searches in a database search system, the apparatus comprising:
 a search database storing an ordered collection of search listing records, each search listing record including at least a uniform resource locator (URL) of an associated web page or document and descriptive text;   a search engine web server in data communication with the search database;   a related searches database storing an inverted index for searching, the inverted index including a plurality of rows of data, each row including a keyword and text from the search database associated with the keyword, the index formed from all text on web pages identified by a URL in the search listing records of the search database after omitting text from similar web pages; and   a related searches web server in data communication with the related searches database;   
     wherein the related searches web server responds to a search query received from a remote device at the database search system by searching the related searches database to provide suggested, related searches to the remote device. 
   
   
       11 . The apparatus of  claim 10  wherein the inverted index stored in the related searches database comprises substantially all text on web pages having non-duplicate URLs of associated web pages. 
   
   
       12 . A method for identifying related searches in a database search system, the method comprising:
 at the database search system, retrieving from storage in a search database of the database search system a plurality of search listings which are used to generate search results in response to a search query from a remote device, each search listing including a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of an associated web page or document and textual information;   using the URL, retrieving textual information at the database search system from the associated web page or document for the plurality of search listings;   at the database search system, determining if any web pages or documents associated with search listings in the search database are similar;   at the database search system, omitting textual information from web pages or documents determined to be similar;   at the database search system, indexing the plurality of search listings and the retrieved textual information from non-similar web pages and documents to form an index;   storing the index in a related searches database of the database search system;   in response to a received search query, searching the index for entries matching the received search query; and   proving a list of related search results to the remote device including at least some of the matching entries.   
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 12  wherein omitting the textual information comprises:
 forming a list of URLs in the plurality of search listings in the search database; and   at the database search system, deleting duplicate URLs from the list to create a list of non-duplicate URLs; and   at the database search system, retrieving the textual information only from web pages or documents associated with URLs on the list of non-duplicate URIs.