Automatically modifying a custom search engine for a website

Abstract

Methods and systems for automatically creating and modifying a search engine for a website are provided. User input may be received specifying an address of a particular website and in response, a search engine may be automatically created for the website. Webpages of the website may specify a plurality of tags specifying custom attributes of the webpages. During creation of the search engine, these custom attributes may be incorporated into the search engine index. Search engine results for the website may be based on various ranking functions, potentially including a social impact of webpages of the website. User input may be received via a user interface for customizing the search engine for various search engine contexts, e.g., based on custom attributes of the webpages. The user interface may receive weights from the user to apply to ranking factors of the ranking function for further customizing the search engine.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for modifying a website search engine, comprising:
 creating a search engine for searching within a particular website, including creating search information for a plurality of webpages of the particular website;   updating the search information to include information related to one or more custom tags dedicated for customizing the search engine of the particular website;   providing a user interface that specifies ranking factors corresponding to the one or more custom tags;   receiving via the user interface user input specifying one or more particular weights for a respective one or more of the ranking factors;   automatically modifying a ranking function of the search engine for the particular website as a function of the specified one or more particular weights;   after the automatically modifying, receiving a search query for the particular website; and   in response to receiving the search query, providing a plurality of search results using the automatically modified ranking function.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the specified one or more particular weights are relative weights. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the ranking factors include engagement, popularity, and history, along with social importance, revenue, and/or cost. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user input specifies the particular weights for all of the respective ranking factors, the automatically modifying comprising modifying the ranking function of the search engine for the particular website as a function of each of the specified particular weights. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the ranking factors is added to the user interface for a respective one of the one or more custom tags inserted into a source code of the particular website. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user interface comprises a slider bar for each of the ranking factors, the user input comprising adjustments to the slider bars to specify the particular weight for the respective ranking factors. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the ranking functions are usable for a plurality of different search contexts, and wherein the different search contexts comprise an autocomplete search context or a full text search context. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more custom tags comprise:
 a tag associated with social endorsements on one or more social networks.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the creating search information for the plurality of webpages of the particular website comprises:
 creating a document comprising the search information for each webpage.   
     
     
         10 . A non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium storing program instructions for modifying a website search engine, wherein the program instructions are executable by one or more processors to:
 create a search engine for searching within a particular website, comprising creating search information for a plurality of webpages of the particular website;   update the search information to include information related to one or more custom tags dedicated for customizing the search engine of the particular website;   provide a user interface that specifies ranking factors corresponding to the one or more custom tags;   receive via the user interface user input specifying one or more particular weights for a respective one or more of the ranking factors;   automatically modify a ranking function of the search engine for the particular website as a function of the specified one or more particular weights;   after the automatically modifying, receive a search query for the particular website; and   in response to receiving the search query, providing a plurality of search results using the automatically modified ranking function.   
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium of  claim 10 , wherein specified one or more particular weights are relative weights. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium of  claim 10 , wherein there are four of the ranking factors. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium of  claim 12 , wherein the input specifies particular weights for the four ranking factors, the automatically modifying comprising modifying the ranking function of the search engine for the particular website as a function of each of the four specified particular weights. 
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium of  claim 12 , wherein the four ranking factors include engagement, popularity, history and cost per thousand impressions. 
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium of  claim 10 , wherein each of the ranking factors is added to the user interface for a respective one of the one or more custom tags inserted into a source code of the particular website. 
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium of  claim 10 , wherein the user interface comprises a slider bar for each of the ranking factors, the user input comprising adjustments to the slider bars to specify the particular weights for the respective ranking factors. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium of  claim 10 , wherein the ranking function is one of a plurality of ranking functions that are usable for a plurality of different search contexts, and wherein the different search contexts comprise an autocomplete search context or a full text search context. 
     
     
         18 . A system for modifying a website search engine, comprising:
 one or more processors; and   at least one memory coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the at least one memory stores program instructions for modifying a website search engine, the program instructions being executable by the one or more processors to:
 create a search engine for searching within a particular website, comprising creating search information for a plurality of webpages of the particular website; 
 update the search information to include information related to one or more custom tags dedicated for customizing the search engine of the particular website; 
 provide a user interface that specifies ranking factors corresponding to the one or more custom tags; 
 receive via the user interface user an input specifying a particular weight for one the ranking factors; 
 automatically modify a ranking function of the search engine for the particular website as a function of the specified particular weight; 
 receive a search query for the particular website; and 
 in response to receiving a search query for the particular website, provide a plurality of search results using the automatically modified ranking function. 
   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the program instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to:
 receive, via the search-customization user interface, additional user input specifying particular weights for other ones of the ranking factors;   automatically modify the ranking function of the search engine for the particular website as a function of the specified particular weights;   after the automatically modifying, receive a search query for the particular website; and   in response to receiving a search query for the particular website, provide a plurality of search results using the modified ranking function.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein each of the ranking factors is added to the user interface for a respective one of the one or more custom tags inserted into a source code of the particular website.