Yahoo! Inc.

Excalibur Ip, LLC

Arun Kumar Gnanamani

Ankur Gupta

Evgeniy Makeev

Query threshold values are determined to be used to select advertisements to be displayed in response to a search query. A query threshold value is determined for each query based on query attributes characterizing the query, such as a query frequency, query length, whether the query is a navigational query, etc. By generating a threshold value for each query, and using the query threshold value for selecting advertisements to be displayed for the query (e.g., selecting advertisements having quality scores greater than the query threshold value), the advertisements can better correspond to the query, and thus are more likely to be selected by the user. As a result, the user experience can be enhanced and the advertising revenue can be correspondingly increased.

Variation of minimum advertisement relevance quality threshold based on search query attributes

Contextual or cumulative interpretation is applied to individual user queries to improve the accuracy of sponsored and/or non-sponsored search results. Queries are interpreted based on present features derived from a user query in the context of past features derived from qualified past queries such as those previously received during a user query session. Based on contextual interpretation, present features may be augmented using past features. A search is performed using augmented features instead of present features. Contextual interpretation of queries improves search system understanding of the context in which queries are submitted, which is particularly helpful when interpolating query intent to develop features not expressed in a query. Contextual interpretation permits queries to be interpreted and treated more uniformly and more intelligently. As a result, users and advertisers benefit from more precise sponsored and/or non-sponsored search results. As one example, contextual interpretation can improve the geo-precision of sponsored search results.

Method and system to utilize session queries in real time to improve geo precision of sponsored listings

A computer-implemented system and methods of re-ranking sponsored search results by a search engine in response to a search query include: retrieving one or more organic search results and a plurality of sponsored search results ('search results'), along with their respective rankings, associated with a search query; determining a degree of association between each sponsored search result and the other search results through analyzing web links between the plurality of sponsored search results, the one or more organic search results, and other web documents to or from which the search results are at least indirectly linked; re-ranking the plurality of sponsored search results based on the degree of association between each respective sponsored search result and the other search results; and storing in memory the plurality of re-ranked sponsored search results in relation to the search query.

Sponsored search results re-ranking based on linking associations

A computer-implemented system and methods of re-ranking sponsored search results by a search engine in response to a search query include: retrieving one or more organic search results and a plurality of sponsored search results ('search results'), along with their respective rankings, associated with a search query; determining a degree of association between each sponsored search result and the other search results through analyzing web links between the search results and other web documents to or from which the search results are at least indirectly linked; calculating a clustering score for each sponsored search result based on their respective degrees of linking association; generating a new ranking score for each sponsored search result based on their respective clustering scores and rankings; and re-ranking, and storing in memory, the plurality of sponsored search results based on the new ranking scores of each respective sponsored search result.

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Mountain View, CA, United States of America

Arun Kumar Gnanamani