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 .- 21 . (canceled) 
     
     
         22 . A method for dynamically modifying advertisements associated with search results comprising:
 receiving one or more keywords for use as search terms from a user;   providing a set of search result objects on a first page of results displayed to said user;   providing a set of advertisement objects on said first page of results;   monitoring which of said objects, search results and advertisements, is selected by said user;   compiling information to infer user intent based on analyzing the content of an object the user clicks; and   upon said user clicking to return from said object to said set of search result objects including said object, immediately automatically re-ranking said set of advertisement objects based on said user inferred intent, so that upon said user returning from said object to said set of search result objects including said object, without the user resubmitting the search, the re-ranked advertisements will be visible;   wherein said re-ranking includes moving at least one advertisement object from a subsequent page, not originally visible to said user on said first page, onto said first page.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22  further comprising:
 monitoring which objects said user skips; 
 compiling information to infer user intent based on the content of said objects said user skips; and 
 upon said user clicking to return from said selected object to said set of search result objects including said selected object and said skipped objects, immediately automatically re-ranking said set of advertisement objects based on user intent inferred from said analyzing of the content of said skipped objects, so that a user clicking on a single object from said set of search result objects results in a re-ranking of said set of objects, so that upon said user returning from said object to said set of search result objects including said object, without the user resubmitting the search, the re-ranked advertisements will be visible. 
 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 22  further comprising:
 selecting subordinate keywords from the title and snippet of at least one of the objects clicked on by the user, other links associated with an object including links pointing to the object, descriptive text associated with each object in the search results, meta-tags connected to viewed objects, prominent words and phrases and their synonyms provided by a Thesaurus in viewed objects; and 
 improving the ranking of advertisement objects containing said subordinate keywords. 
 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 22  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 advertisement objects containing said negative subordinate keywords. 
 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 24  further comprising:
 assigning weights to said subordinate keywords, such that objects having higher weighted subordinate keywords are given increased preference in the ranking. 
 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 24  further comprising:
 providing a user interface allowing a user to manually promote selected subordinate keywords such that they have a higher weighting or are used as primary keywords to generate new search results. 
 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 24  further comprising:
 providing a user interface allowing a user to delete selected subordinate keywords. 
 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 22  further comprising:
 doing said re-ranking based on information from searches including said keywords in a same browser session; 
 wherein said providing a first set of objects is performed by a separate search engine software program from a user behavior program that performs said monitoring and generating steps. 
 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 22  further comprising monitoring user behavior by at least one of:
 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. 
 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 22  further comprising:
 rating the usefulness of at least one of said objects in response to a user rating input; and 
 applying the user rating to said algorithm for generating said re-ranking. 
 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 22  further comprising:
 providing a first display indication of objects that have been previously selected by said user; and 
 providing a second display indication of objects that have been skipped by said user. 
 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 22  further comprising:
 providing a display indication of the ranking movement of said objects in said re-ranking of said first set of objects, said ranking movement indicating an amount of a change in ranking of said objects. 
 
     
     
         34 . 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 set of search result objects on a first page of results displayed in response to said keywords and to provide some title and display text with each of said search result objects in said set of search result objects and to provide a plurality of advertisement objects on said first page of results;   a monitoring program in communication with said network, said monitoring program being configured to monitor user behavior in interacting with said search result and advertisement objects;   a re-ranking program configured to
 monitor which objects said user clicks on in interacting with said first set of objects; 
 monitor which objects said user skips; 
 compile information to infer user intent based on analyzing the content of said objects the user clicks on and said objects said user skips; 
 upon said user clicking to return from an object to said set of search result objects including said object, immediately automatically re-rank said set of advertisement objects based on said inferred intent, so that a user clicking on a single object from said set of search result objects results in a re-ranking of said set of advertisement objects, so that upon said user returning from said object to said set of search result objects including said object, without the user resubmitting the search, the re-ranked advertisement will be visible; and 
   use terms from the title and display text corresponding to a selected object in an algorithm for generating said re-ranking of said set of advertisement objects on at least said first page;   an advertising program configured to select and display advertising based on said inferred intent and immediately and automatically re-ranking said plurality of advertisement objects on said first page by adding at least one advertisement not previously shown on said first page.   
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 34  wherein said search engine is on a first server, and said monitoring and re-ranking programs are on a second server. 
     
     
         36 . A computer product having computer instructions on computer readable media executable by a processor to dynamically modify search results, comprising code for:
 receiving one or more keywords for use as search terms from a user;   providing a set of search result objects on a first page of results displayed;   providing some title and display text with each of said search result objects in said set of search result objects;   providing a set of advertisement objects on said first page of results;   monitoring which of said objects is selected by said user;   monitoring which of said objects said user skips;   compiling information to infer user intent based on analyzing the content of said objects the user clicks on and said objects said user skips;   upon said user clicking to return from an object to said set of search result objects including said object, immediately automatically re-ranking said first set of advertisement objects based on said inferred intent, so that a user clicking on a single object from said set of search result objects results in a re-ranking of said set of advertisement objects, so that upon said user returning from said object to said set of search result objects including said object, without the user resubmitting the search, the re-ranked advertisements will be visible;   using terms from the title and display text corresponding to a selected object in an algorithm for generating said re-ranking of said set of objects on at least said first page;   wherein said re-ranking includes moving at least one object from a subsequent page, not originally visible to said user on said first page, onto said first page;   wherein said at least one advertisement object moved onto said first page is displayed in a manner to indicate to the user that it has been inserted between other objects on said first page, with said display providing an indication that the object is from a subsequent page and was not originally displayed on said first page   
     
     
         37 . A method for ranking a set of search results having an initial ranking, comprising:
 providing some title and display text with each of said search result objects on a first page of results displayed in said set of search result objects;   monitoring which of said objects is selected by said user;   determining one or more selected objects in said set of search results which corresponds to user interest based on user behavior;   monitoring which documents said user skips;   compiling information to infer user intent based on the content of said object the user clicks on and said objects said user skips;   upon said user clicking to return from an object to said set of search result objects including said object, immediately automatically re-ranking said set of advertisement objects based on said user inferred intent, so that a user clicking on a single document from said first set of objects results in a re-ranking of said set of objects, so that upon said user returning from said object to said set of search result objects including said object, without the user resubmitting the search, the re-ranked advertisements will be visible;   using terms from the title and display text corresponding to a selected object as positive subordinate keywords for generating said re-ranking of said set of advertisement objects;   increasing the ranking of advertisement objects containing positive subordinate keywords.   using terms from the title and display text corresponding to objects skipped by a user as negative subordinate keywords;   reducing the ranking of advertisement objects containing said negative subordinate keywords;   wherein said re-ranking includes moving at least one advertisement object from a subsequent page, not originally visible to said user on said first page, onto said first page;   wherein said at least one advertisement object moved onto said first page is displayed in a manner to indicate to the user that it has been inserted between other objects on said first page, with said display providing an indication that the object is from a subsequent page and was not originally displayed on said first page.   
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 22  wherein said selecting and displaying advertising based on said user behavior further comprises:
 providing a plurality of advertisement objects; and 
 reordering said advertisement objects based on said user behavior. 
 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 22  wherein said performing said selecting and displaying advertising objects based on said subordinate keywords further comprises:
 allocating particular keywords to particular sponsors. 
 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 31  wherein said rating the usefulness of at least one of said search result objects in response to a user rating input further comprises:
 providing a search object rating for an indicated search object; 
 adjusting the weights of subordinate keywords associated with said indicated search object in accordance with said search object rating. 
 
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 22  further comprising:
 wherein said second set of objects are generated by using a separate search engine to perform a second search in the background, comparing the results of said second search to said set of objects, and re-ranking said set of objects based on said results of said second search. 
 
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 25  further comprising:
 assigning weights to said negative subordinate keywords, such that objects having higher weighted subordinate keywords are given decreased preference in the ranking. 
 
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 25  further comprising:
 providing a user interface allowing a user to manually demote selected negative subordinate keywords such that they have a higher weighting. 
 
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 25  further comprising:
 providing a user interface allowing a user to delete selected negative subordinate keywords.