Domain expertise determination

Abstract

A user's domain expertise may be estimated through several factors by monitoring different aspects of a user's interaction with a web browser. Based on the user's domain expertise, search results may be presented to the user that is commensurate with their expertise, resulting in a more efficient and productive on line session. A user's expertise in a knowledge domain may be determined from the user's behavior, including analyzing search queries, monitoring how the user navigates between and through websites, and analyzing the specific cites visited. As a user interacts with a browser, the user's estimated domain expertise may be updated and used to provide appropriate and useful search results. In many embodiments, a user may have different expertise levels for different technical domains.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system, the system comprising:
 a processor;   system memory;   an expert rating system, using the processor, configured to:
 identify a search query submitted by a user during a browser session, the search query generating a search results page, the search results page including links to sites in a technical domain; and 
 during the browser session, monitor the user's interaction with one or more pages of the linked sites, including identifying one or more technical words in said one or more pages; and 
 determine a technical domain expertise of the user within the technical domain by comparing the one or more technical words to a mapping of technical words to expertise for the technical domain; and 
 store the technical domain expertise of the user.