November 12, 2007

AOL Acquires Q&A Platform Yedda

Last week, AOL announced the acquisition of contextual ad network Quigo to Platform A, its growing group of ad companies. Today, AOL follows that move with the news that it has acquired Yedda, an Israel-based Q&A platform similar to Yahoo Answers.

Yedda employs semantic matching technology that automatically matches questions to other related questions and topics, while selecting the best available users to answer the question. AOL expects to incorporate Yedda's technology into some of its content areas of AOL.com and throughout its network.

"This acquisition builds on AOL's community legacy," said an AOL spokesperson. "Asking a question is the most natural way to search for information and with the incorporation of Yedda's unique patent-pending technology, AOL will enhance our programming efforts while bringing together editorial and user-generated communities."

Platform A, launched in September, now includes Yedda, Quigo, Advertising.com, AOL-run sites, Tacoda, Third Screen Media and AdTech.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:17 AM | Permalink

December 18, 2006

2006 Top Searches

Following Yahoo's release on December 4 of its top searches for 2006, last week AOL, Lycos and MSN Live released their top searches for the year 2006. Google still has their 2005 review at Zeitgeist, along with recent monthly totals. Ask.com presents weekly lists, but has yet to release a 2006 year in review.

A closer look at these lists reveals some interesting questions about the differences in the data from engine to engine.

Looking at the slight differences between this data can be an interesting project, and can probably yield some good insight into both the user demographics of each of the engines

Paris Hilton is an interesting example to use in showing how search engines classify types of searches. In Yahoo! and in AOL, Paris is listed as a celebrity, yet she is found in top News searches for MSN Live. Does this mean that people search Live's (formerly search.msn.com) News category when they look for everyone's favorite socialite?

More can undoubtedly be read into the top overall searches reported for each portal. AOL reports: "weather" (does this mean they included all weather-inclusive searches or just the term "weather?"); Yahoo! says Britney Spears is number one (hmm...wonder if that includes people misspelling it?); MSN Live claims that the world wanted to know about Ronaldinho more than anyone or thing else; and Lycos puts Poker at number one. Again, others can fill in the blanks as to what they think the demographics most closely associated with each portal are.

It will be interesting to see what the top Google searches are. It would also be nice to have some more details as to how many misspellings were included in searches and perhaps how many of the searches for each top term were actually contained in a longer keyword phrase.

See also the discussions about this at the Yahoo! Search Blog, and the MSN Blog post that introduced their list. AOL has opened up the floor for discussion at the AOL Search Blog (thanks Susan for the link!). Lycos provides a platform for discussion which can be found at the Lycos 50 Blog. (Thanks Carolyn!)

(Note this story was edited after I discovered that Paris Hilton did make the top celebrity list at AOL. For some reason I missed that originally. Apologies to the AOL team for this oversight. CB)

Posted by Chris Boggs at 10:58 AM | Permalink

November 8, 2006

In The Election Results Race, Yahoo's The Winner

Like many Americans, I wanted to know what was up with the vote in the US midterm elections this morning. As a search analyst, I then wanted to know how the search engines performed in helping me find out. The results are in! Yahoo's the winner by far, but I'd still take the New York Times over it. Come along for an illustrated tour.

Google told us last month that Google Earth was all geared up to be an election guide. That's great if you've downloaded Google Earth and wanted to learn more before the election. But how about a quick, fast summary of what happened yesterday? What's Google got for us?

The Google home page is as minimal as always, no help there -- not even a special logo as in the 2004 race.

How about a search for "election results," which I think is a fair query to try. After all, using Google Trends, I can see a huge spike for that term after the last elections in the US:

I also checked the volume for just "results," and that was even higher whereas "elections" was much lower (see them all compared here). So my two queries for this test were "election results" and "results." On Google, both disappointed.

Here are election results on Google:

CNN's top with 2004 results! I know -- web search is always behind the times. That's why Google inserts that big news results OneBox unit above the regular results. Let's click on the main news link there, which takes us to news results:

Pretty bad. News about the dollar, stock prices -- but who won?!!! I've got to really work to figure this out, especially compared to the New York Times, as I'll show at the end of this story.

Maybe I head to the actual Google News home page:

Nope. I get some headlines telling me about the Democratic house victory, but it could be much better.

FYI, checking on a search for just results, I don't even get the news headlines inserted. Overall, I found Google to be a pretty poor resource.

How about Yahoo? The home page there immediately gives you some news:

If I actually gravitate to the picture and resist the pull of the search box, the "Full elections coverage" link takes me to a Full Coverage page with lots of info, including an interactive results page (my link takes that out of the normal pop-up box, but it still works great):

This is very, very nice. I can see at a glance who is ahead in the race for control of the US House Of Representatives, plus with a click I can check out the Senate or governor races. Selecting any state also gives me the information about races with that state.

I love this. It very similar to what impressed me at the New York Times. I hope Yahoo searchers found it. However, I suspect many bypassed it. To understand why, let's do that search for election results:

Similar to Google, Yahoo inserts a big "News Results" shortcut unit above the regular results, to help detour searchers into the freshest results. Of course, searcers might bypass that. If so, unlike Google, Yahoo has managed to get the CNN 2006 results page up rather than the CNN 2004 page. Nice. After that, there's Fox News 2006. But c'mon -- Yahoo's own special election results are third. This is one case where I'd totally applaud a little hand manipulation to get that to the top, especially to highlight that interactive results summary page.

Still, the web search results for this particular day at Yahoo far outshine Google. That's almost certainly due to some human editing, which is fine. Along with the sites I've mentioned, you get the New York Times politics page, USA Today's politics page, C-SPAN's 2006 results page, the ABC News politics page, CBS News's 2006 page, politics from the LA Times, then the Washington Post's 2006 results page. All of these are excellent choices. If Yahoo did human intervention to make this happen, kudos to them. You can check out a snapshot of the entire page here.

Over at Google, nothing is either timely or general enough. The Virginia state election board, California election info, assorted things dating from 2004 -- then oddly Virginia and California get another bump for their 2006 pages. Ugh. See the entire list in the snapshot here.

What happens if we detour into the news area that Yahoo promotes at the top of the page? Disappointment:

Yes, relevant news stories. And the image results to the side are kind of fun. But some hand help could have made a difference. How about a promo for that awesome election map of Yahoo's?

Let's go over to Ask, where I had high hopes. Ask has made a big deal of its special Smart Answers for the election, and they are cool. But will I see them? Yes, if I search for election:

I'd also get to this box if I went to the Ask home page and clicked on the Election Day link there:

But for election results (what I believe to be the more popular query), all I get is a small news unit:

The news unit will take me over to some news results, but like Yahoo's, these aren't thrilling. It's pick and choose through what you want, rather than any type of easy overview. As for a search on just results, that doesn't even bring back the news unit at all.

The overall web search results, similar to Google, are underwhelming. Nothing really helpful for the 2006 results pops up (see the full results in the snapshot here).

Even the special Smart Answers box, had it shown up, isn't that helpful for what I want now -- RESULTS! None of the featured links with it takes me to results.

Microsoft, what have you got for me at Windows Live Search? On the home page, nothing. For search on election results, it's disappointing old or non-targeted results (screenshot here). Unlike the others, there are no news results inserted above these. A search for just results is no better. If I specifically try a news search for election results, as with the others, there's no attempt to get me a comprehensive overview. It's up to me to review each story and hope for a good match.

Ironically, at the largely overshadowed MSN site, similar to Yahoo, I get a big election photo on the home page along with links, including one called "state-by-state results" that leads to MSNBC here. And over there is a pretty neat "Democracy Dashboard" giving me that type of overview I wanted:

It's a pity Windows Live didn't reach out to either MSN or MSNBC and do something special to point to this or somehow integrate it into the results.

What about AOL? From the home page, it's pretty easy to spot a link to a AOL election page with results for the House, Senate and more:

Searching for election results brings back disappointing Google listings in the main results. However, the new FullView column does a good job of dividing news into elections overall, US Senate coverage, US House coverage and more. And clicking on any of the "View all" links brings up the special AOL election page (see the full page here).

Now to the New York Times. I headed over there pretty much by chance. There are any number of newspapers I might of thought of off the top of my head, and usually its my original home town paper of the Los Angeles Times. But I hit the NY Times today, and boy was I glad.

Right on the home page, above the "fold" is an easy-to-spot election map. In seconds, it organized the most important information I was looking for into a way for me to know what was going on:

Drilling into the full map was even better. There, I could click on any state -- in particular the undecided ones -- and see the current situation:

Just when I was thinking "what if," I saw the "Create Outcomes" tab where I could click on a state and flip it to the Democrats or the Republicans to see how it might go with the Senate. Outstanding!

Other newspapers or web sites might have done as well with similar displays. If so, my apologies that this wasn't a review of the best election results sites. Instead, it was really meant to see how well the search engines held up as information resources for this particular news event.

Overall, I've written many times before that there's a role humans can play in search results. Today -- this was a perfect example of that. Yahoo almost certainly put some human effort into crafting results, and it was the clear victor in terms of quality of what was coming up in web search listings. AOL comes in second, again where human effort has helped its FullView listings help make up for the poor crawler-based results from Google.

In third, I put Google and Ask. Google's results were poor, but at least it floated some news results that may have helped. Ask, I was rooting for. But that Smart Answers box simply wasn't showing up for the queries I thought people were doing. Even if people were getting it for "election," it wasn't helpful to get election results. I really appreciate the effort, and if this had been for something other than actual results, Ask would have been great. In last place -- Windows Live.

This campaign of sorts is also one of those classic "what if" races. With just a little more effort, Yahoo would have had a landslide victory by getting people to its great overview page. The same is true for AOL. Ask, with just a bit more thought, could have had that box coming up for "election results" rather than just "elections" and added some links to get people to actual results. Windows Live, if it had remembered its MSN origins, might not be in last. And Google? A company that's all about organizing information might not have put in such a poor performance if it used some human power in the way the New York Times did.

Postscript: See also Case Study: Digg Versus Google News Traffic from me on my personal blog that covers how this article ultimately brought in lots of traffic from Google News from those unable to find election results there, along with lots of other data and a comparison to traffic from a top story at Digg on the same day.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 4:17 AM | Permalink

October 26, 2006

AOL Scores with Newly Enhanced Search Features

AOL has quietly rolled out a major upgrade to its search service, adding new "FullView" links that automatically pull in multimedia, local, news or other types of content to supplement Google-powered web search results. Others have experimented with including non-web search content on result pages, but AOL has really pushed the idea to a new level with this release, and I highly recommend you try it out. More on the new release in today's SearchDay article, AOL Enhances Search with FullView Results.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 1:36 PM | Permalink

August 29, 2006

New Search Patent Filings: August 29, 2006 - Yahoo looks at Interactive TV and VOIP

Yahoo patent filings include one detailing bidding for placement in paid search filed this past April, another that details a very interactive environment for watching television programming, a third describing a method of soliciting consumer reviews, and a granted patent for a Voice Over IP (VOIP) system that doesn't require Telephony Interface Cards.

Microsoft had two new patent applications published, including one which provides a means of suggesting alternative spellings for words, and another that interacts with searchers to help them construct queries.

IBM filed a patent application for building social networks within a business organization, and was granted a patent for a method of checking pages shown in search results for viruses.

America Online looks at the classification of queries in a manner which seems very similar to the editorial opinion decisions made in a recently granted Google patent.

Mobile search company Geovector comes up with a way to make quick hyperlinked image maps from mobile phones with cameras.

Yahoo

System and method for enabling multi-element bidding for influencing a position on a search result list generated by a computer network search engine Invented by Ted Meisel, Peter Savich and Thomas A. Soulanille Assigned to Overture US Patent Application 20060190354 Published August 24, 2006 Filed on April 24, 2006

Abstract

A system and method for enabling information providers using a computer network such as the Internet to influence a position for a search listing within a search result list generated by an Internet search engine. A database stores accounts for the network information providers. Each account contains contact and billing information for a network information provider. In addition, each account contains at least one search listing having at least three components: a description, a search term comprising one or more keywords, and a bid amount. The network information provider may add, delete, or modify a search listing after authenticated login. A search term relevant to the content of the web site or other information source to be listed is first selected. A search listing includes the search term and a description. A bidding process occurs when the network information provider enters a new bid amount for a search listing. The system and method then compares the bid amount with all other bid amounts for the same search term, and generates a rank value for all search listings having that search term. The rank value determines where the listing will appear on the search results list page that is generated in response to a query of the search term by a searcher.

Framework for providing ancillary content in a television environment Invented by Michael Mills, Philip Mckay, Michael Hoch, Kumiko Tanaka Toft, and Rod Perkins US Patent Application 20060184579 Published August 17, 2006 Filed on January 5, 2006

Abstract

The present invention provides functionality for retrieving ancillary content associated with the content delivered to a given user's client device. According to one embodiment, the method of the present invention comprises retrieving the context of a given user and identifying a plurality of characteristics associated with the user's context. The one or more characteristics associated with the user's context are displayed to the user and the user may select from the displayed characteristics. One or more items of content are retrieved based upon the user's selection and presented to the user on the user's client device.

Group polling for consumer review Invented by Norman Shi Assigned to Yahoo US Patent Application 20060190475 Published August 24, 2006 Filed on December 20, 2005

Abstract

Using a computer system comprising clients at which users interface to the computer system and at least one review server that maintains a collection of reviews, each associated with a presentation, a method of collecting the reviews including providing a first presentation to a first user via a first client associated with the first user; maintaining a trust network linking the first user to the other users in the trust network; receiving a request for a review from the first user via the first client; routing a request for a review to the users in the trust network who are linked to the first user in the trust network; and saving at least some of the returned reviews in the collection of review.

Voice integrated VOIP system Invented by Madhu Yarlagadda, Patrick Loo and David H. Nakayama Assigned to Yahoo United States Patent 7,095,733 Granted August 22, 2006 Filed on September 11, 2000

Abstract

An integrated VoIP unified message processing system includes a voice platform that processes data in native VoIP format. There is no use of hardware telephone interface cards (TICs) or software transcoding to transform data to PCM or other formats. Cost reductions are achieved by the elimination of expensive dedicated hardware and scalability is achieved by obviating the need for software transcoding.

Microsoft

Query spelling correction method and system Invented by Justin Harmon, Kyle G. Peltonen and Shajan Dasan Assigned to Microsoft US Patent Application 20060190447 Published August 24, 2006 Filed on February 22, 2005

Abstract

A method and system for providing to a user a set of alternative query suggestions is disclosed. The method, system and computer readable medium product in accordance with embodiments of the invention includes generating an index of all words in a corpus of documents available to the application, generating a popularity table for the index having a popularity value for each word in the index based on occurrences of the word in the corpus, comparing each entry in the popularity table to suggestions from a word generator, compiling a lexicon of word generator suggestion words that are found in the popularity table, submitting each word in the search query to the word generator to determine suggestion words, and displaying to the user one or more of the suggestion words from the lexicon that are more popular than the query word.

Dynamic client interaction for search Invented by Matthew R. Richardson and Robert J. Ragno Assigned to Microsoft US Patent Application 20060190436 Published August 24, 2006 Filed on June 23, 2005

Abstract

A system for guiding a search for information is presented. The system comprises a user interface that accepts a phrase and receives at least one suggestion based at least in part on the phrase. The system also includes a phrase suggestion engine that matches the phrase with the at least one suggestion. Methods of using the system are also provided.

IBM

Method, system and program product for building social networks Invented by Margaret A. Strong and Albert Tien Yuen Wong Assigned to IBM US Patent Application 20060190536 Published August 24, 2006 Filed on February 23, 2005

Abstract

Under the present invention, a user with an existing profile page who desires to have a social network built will first submit a subscription request. If approved, an existing contact list such as a chat list or the like for the user will be compared to existing contact lists for other subscribing users to establish commonalities. Based on such commonalities, a configurable social network of contacts is built. Using a graphical representation of the social network, the user can (among other things) provide or read testimonials about the contacts therein; access the profile pages for the contacts; provide or read "ratings" for the contacts; be provided with levels/degrees of separation between the contacts; validate trusts and business relationships, etc.

Virus checking and reporting for computer database search results Invented by Cary Lee Bates, Robert James Crenshaw, Paul Reuben Day and John Matthew Santosuosso Assigned to IBM United States Patent 7,096,215 Granted August 22, 2006 Filed on January 13, 2004

Abstract

An apparatus, program product and method integrate virus checking functionality into a computer database search environment to assist in protecting a user computer from contracting a computer virus when accessing search results. The generation of a display representation of a result set generated in response to a search request may be based at least in part upon virus status information associated with at least a portion of a plurality of result records identified in the generated result set. Moreover, an apparatus, program product, and method configure a first computer to receive virus status information generated by a plurality of computers, with such received virus status information stored in a virus database that is accessible by the first computer.

America Online

Web query classification Invented by Abdur R. Chowdhury, Steven Michael Beitzel, David Dolan Lewis and Aleksander Kolcz US Patent Application 20060190439 Published August 24, 2006 Filed on January 27, 2006

Abstract

A query phrase may be automatically classified to one or more topics of interest (e.g., categories) to assist in routing the query phrase to one or more appropriate backend databases. A selectional preference query classification technique may be used to classify the query phrase based on a comparison between the query phrase and patterns of query phrases. Additionally, or alternatively, a combination of query classification techniques may be used to classify the query phrase. Topical classification of a query phrase also may be used to assist a search system in delivering auxiliary information to a user who entered the query phrase. Advertisements, for instance, may be tailored based on classification rather than query keywords.

Geovector

Imaging systems including hyperlink associations Invented by Thomas William Ellenby, Peter Malcolm Ellenby and John Ellenby Assigned to GeoVector Corporation US Patent Application 20060190812 Published August 24, 2006 Filed on February 22, 2005

Abstract

Computer pointing systems include schemes for producing image map type hyperlinks which are associated and stored integrally with image data from which they are derived. An object being addressed by a pointing system of is implicitly identified by way of its location and position relative to the pointing system. A geometric definition which corresponds to space substantially occupied by the addressed object is rotated appropriately such that it perspective matches that of the imaging station. When an image is captured, the image data (pixel data) is recorded and associated with image map objects which may include network addresses such as a URL. On reply, these images automatically present network hyperlinks to a user whereby the user can click on an image field and cause a browser application to be directed to a network resource.

My usual reminder about patents: Some of the processes and technology described in patents are created in house, and some are developed with the assistance of contractors and partners. A percentage are never developed in a tangible manner, but may serve as a way to attempt to exclude others from using the technology, or even to possibly mislead competitors into exploring an area that they might not have an interest in (sometimes skepticism is good.)

There are times when a Google or Yahoo acquires a company to gain access to the intellectual property of that company, or the intellectual prowess and expertise of that company's employees. And sometimes patents are just purchased.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our Search Technology & Relevancy area of the Search Engine Watch Forums.

Posted by Bill Slawski at 2:33 PM | Permalink

August 8, 2006

New Search Patent Applications: August 8, 2006 - Focusing on the Searcher

This last week's patent applications involving search all seem to focus upon users of search engines, and finding ways to fulfill intentions behind searches.

There are a couple from Stanford professor Louis Rosenberg and his company Outland Research, that focus upon a searcher's personal interests and attributes, and two from America Online involving dictionary searches and meta searches. Microsoft also has a pair of patent filings on interesting ways to refine search results after a search has been conducted. And, IBM comes up with a related duo on measuring how documents served as search results are used, including an incentive feature for users to provide information about those documents.

Outland Research

The first of Outland Research's patent applications reranks search results based upon the age or the gender, or both, of a searcher. The second reranks results based upon the personal background of the searcher.

Methods and apparatus for using user gender and/or age group to improve the organization of documents retrieved in response to a search query Invented by Louis B. Rosenberg Assigned to Outland Research,. LLC US Patent Application 20060173556 Published August 3, 2006 Filed: January 27, 2006

Abstract

A computer implemented method of organizing a set of documents, and associated apparatus, are adapted to receive a search query from a user; obtain identified-age and/or -gender data for the user; identify a set of documents responsive to the search query; assign a score to each identified document based upon a correlation between age- and/or gender-usage data for each document and identified-age and/or -gender data, respectively; and organize the documents based at least in part on the assigned score. The identified-age data describes an age of the user and the identified-gender data describes a gender of the user. The age-usage data describes a number and/or frequency of users who previously accessed the document who are of a particular age or age range. The gender-usage data describes a number and/or frequency of users who previously accessed the document who are of a particular gender.

Methods and apparatus for using personal background data to improve the organization of documents retrieved in response to a search query Invented by Louis B. Rosenberg Assigned to Outland Research, LLC US Patent Application 20060173828 Published August 3, 2006 Filed: December 9, 2005

Abstract

A computerized method of organizing a set of documents includes receiving a search query from a user; obtaining personal background data from the user; identifying at least one personal background trait within the personal background data, the personal background trait being statistically correlated with documents that the user is likely to prefer; identifying a plurality of documents responsive to the search query; assigning a score to each identified document based upon a correlation between advanced usage information for each document and the identified personal background trait, the advanced usage information describing at least one of a number and frequency of users who have previously accessed the document who possess the identified personal background trait; and organizing the documents based at least in part on the assigned score.

America Online

America Online provides a process that can take membership in a community as a factor when returning results in a dictionary lookup, and a process involving meta search which may involve modifying queries to match a user's intentions, and scoring and sorting results to be served.

Retrieving and providing contextual information Invented by Carl Bruecken Assigned to America Online US Patent Application 20060173806 Published August 3, 2006 Filed: October 31, 2005

Abstract

An electronic dictionary may be created by receiving a data request action for a word appearing in an electronic document, accessing information regarding the context of the word derived from within the electronic document in which the word appears, storing the definition of the word along with the context information for the word, and enabling access by the user to the definition and the context information. Search fusion

Invented by Abdur R.Chowdhury and Gregory S. Pass US Patent Application 20060173817 Published August 3, 2006 Filed: December 29, 2004

Abstract

Search results are assigned scores based on visual aspects of surrogate representations of the search results which are to be displayed to a query submitter in a search results summary overview. That is, the surrogate representations are relatively short summaries or excerpts of the search results that may be presented in place of the search results themselves, thus enabling an overview of various search results to be perceived by a user concurrently. The search results are assigned scores based on the presence, position, and form of some or all of the query within the corresponding surrogate representations. The search results may be sorted or filtered based on the assigned scores. Assigning scores to the search results based on visual characteristics of the surrogate representations mimics how a user may assess the relevance of the search results when viewing a search results summary page.

Microsoft

Microsoft's patent applications allow a user to further refine results based upon user feedback. The first enables the selection of attributes associated with results, such as positive and negative opinions associated with the subject of the search. The second process involves the creation of a user survey to enable a searcher to comment upon search results to help train the search engine, and also refine that particular search.

System and method for grouping by attribute Invented by Eric B. Watson Assigned to Microsoft US Patent Application 20060173819 Published August 3, 2006 Filed: January 28, 2005

Abstract

A system and method are provided for implementing a search engine to produce search results grouped by attribute. The system may include an attribute indexing component for indexing available resources with reference to selected attributes in a search engine index. The system may additionally include a grouping component for grouping search results produced by the search engine into at least two attribute groups in accordance with the indexed selected attributes. The system may further include an attribute display component for displaying information pertaining to the selected attributes within each relevant available resource.

System and method for generating contextual survey sequence for search results

Invented by Eddie L. Mays and Oliver Hurst-Hiller Assigned to Microsoft US Patent Application 20060173820 Published August 3, 2006 Filed: January 28, 2005

Abstract

A system and related techniques generate a survey to capture a user's feedback about the quality of search results, in a continuous context with the user's Web page or other search activity. A survey frame inviting the user to undertake a set of search questions may be presented within a set of page frames which display search results. The survey frame enables the user to be prompted into a dialogue to supply feedback about their search experience, while still within the contextual workflow of that experience, and still being able to view or review results or content which they have received. User distraction is therefore minimized while feedback quality may be improved. The user's feedback, which rates the quality or accuracy of the search results or search experience may be stored and used to train search intelligence.

IBM

IBM's documents also take hints from user behavior to define search results. The first looks at how documents returned during a search are utilized by a searcher, such as whether they are viewed or printed out or bookmarked, by the searcher. The second builds upon that one by defining a process where rewards or credits may be awarded to a user for providiing document use information.

Systems, methods, and media for utilizing electronic document usage information with search engines Invented by Viktors Berstis and Randolph Michael Forlenza Correspondence Name and Address: IBM US Patent Application 20060173818 Published August 3, 2006 Filed: January 11, 2005

Abstract

Systems, methods and media for utilizing electronic document usage information are disclosed. More particularly, hardware and/or software utilizing electronic document usage information to respond to user search requests with search engines are disclosed. Embodiments include receiving a search request from a requesting user and receiving document utilization information associated with one or more electronic documents, where the document utilization information provides an indication of the usage of the electronic documents by one or more users. Further embodiments include generating search results based at least partially on the search request and the document utilization information and transmitting an indication of the search results to the requesting user. Further embodiments include generating statistical information regarding the search results for electronic documents and transmitting the generated statistical information.

Systems, methods, and media for awarding credits based on provided usage information Invented by Viktors Berstis and Randolph Michael Forlenza Correspondence Name and Address: IBM US Patent Application 20060173837 Published August 3, 2006 Filed: January 11, 2005

Abstract

Systems, methods and media for awarding credits based on provided usage information are disclosed. More particularly, hardware and/or software for collecting and disseminating usage information related to electronic documents and for awarding usage credits to users in exchange for providing usage information are disclosed. Embodiments include receiving an indication of the usage of an electronic document by a user and aggregating the received usage indication for the document with usage indications relating to other users. Embodiments may also include creating document utilization information for the electronic document based on the aggregated usage indications and awarding usage credit to the user based on the user's providing statistics on the usage of the electronic document. Further embodiments may include transmitting an indication of the awarded usage credit to the user and receiving a request to use the usage credits.

My usual reminder about patents: Some of the processes and technology described in patents are created in house, and some are developed with the assistance of contractors and partners. A percentage are never developed in a tangible manner, but may serve as a way to attempt to exclude others from using the technology, or even to possibly mislead competitors into exploring an area that they might not have an interest in (sometimes skepticism is good.)

There are times when a Google or Yahoo acquires a company to gain access to the intellectual property of that company, or the intellectual prowess and expertise of that company's employees. And sometimes patents are just purchased.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our a href="http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/forumdisplay.php?f=21">Search Technology & Relevancy area of the Search Engine Watch Forums.

Posted by Bill Slawski at 6:52 AM | Permalink

July 5, 2006

New Search Patent Applications: July 5, 2006 - Google Coming to a Shopping Mall Near You

Google files patents for shopping offline with online assistance, a secondary map in Google Maps, and an updated review aggregator. Yahoo adds a patent application for search results PPC advertising, and managing blog content. Microsoft looks to anchor text to help train a machine learning classification system when user behavior data isn't available. AOL details a method of filtering search results using ontologies and expert domains for queries. IBM explains differences in how images can be indexed, and presents a method based upon the semantic meanings of pictures. Become, Inc., describes how different links can be assigned different values while using a link-based ranking system.

Google

The title to this first patent filing is a little misleading, in that it encompasses a much broader range of activities than just serving coupons or advertising. It's the first patent filing I've seen that includes island resorts, shopping malls, and chinese restaurants as part of the "Exemplary System Architecture." It's a shopping system that provides information about offline shopping, including real time data, such as waiting times in lines, menu specials, products and services available by price range and in stock availability, walking directions combined with shopping lists, and much more. Imagine shopping kiosks at your local shopping mall that can be used as part of this system, you have part of the broader picture in place.

Generating and/or serving dynamic promotional offers such as coupons and advertisements Invented by Ashutosh Garg and Allen Romero US Patent Application 20060143080 Published on June 29, 2006 Filed on December 29, 2004

Abstract

A promotional offer may be generated by (i) accepting information concerning at least one of (A) a search query entered, at a client device, by a user, (B) an item or establishment which is the subject of a search result selected by a user using a client device, (C) one or more items or establishments which are elements of a shopping session summary provided to a user via a client device, (ii) determining a promotional offer to serve using at least the accepted search query information, and (iii) determining terms of the promotional offer using at least one of (A) a location of the client device, (B) a distance from the client device to an establishment associated with the promotional offer, and (C) a distance from the client device to an establishment competing with the establishment associated with the promotional offer, (D) an inventory, at an establishment associated with the promotional offer, of the goods which the promotional offer concerns, (E) a capacity, at an establishment associated with the promotional offer, to provide the services which the promotional offer concerns, (F) a level of excess capacity, at an establishment associated with the promotional offer, to provide the services which the promotional offer concerns, (G) a perishability of goods which the promotional offer concerns, and (H) a remaining shelf-life of goods which the promotional offer concerns.

The Google Map team comes out with another patent filing, and this one may have already been implemented in the system. If you've seen a second map within a Google Map that allows for moving a view frame, or helping with zooming in on specific areas, you'll have a sense of what they are describing here.

Secondary map in digital mapping system Invented by Jens Eilstrup Rasmussen, Bret Steven Taylor, and Lars Eilstrup Rasmussen US Patent Application 20060139375 Published on June 29, 2006 Filed on December 29, 2005

Abstract

Digital mapping techniques are disclosed that provide more flexibility to the user through the use of multiple views of map information, including a secondary map and a main map. The secondary map can provide the user with either a zoomed out or in relative to the main map, or a different type of map view (e.g., satellite images). The secondary map can be turned on and off by the user. The secondary map may include one or more viewing frames that indicate views (e.g., current and alternate views) of the main map. The user can move the main map, viewing frame, or secondary map to achieve desired map views. During such movement, the relationship between the main and secondary maps can be synchronous, partially synchronous, or serial.

Very similar to another patent application from a couple of weeks ago, Method and system for finding and aggregating reviews for a product, and filed on the same day, this patent application adds an inventor and some changes to the title, filing class, and some text within the claims and summary. The drawings and detailed description of the process appear to be substantially the same except for renumbering and some very minor edits.

Method, system and graphical user interface for providing reviews for a product Invented by Jan Matthias Ruhl, Mayur D. Datar, and Jessica Yoko Wai-min Lee US Patent Application 20060143158 Published on June 29, 2006 Filed on December 14, 2004

Abstract

The embodiments disclosed herein include new, more efficient ways to collect product reviews from the Internet, aggregate reviews for the same product, and provide an aggregated review to end users in a searchable format. One aspect of the invention is a graphical user interface on a computer that includes a plurality of portions of reviews for a product and a search input area for entering search terms to search for reviews of the product that contain the search terms.

Yahoo

This first Yahoo patent application went quickly from filing to publication in four months. This appears to describe the pay-for-performance search advertising process presently in place on Yahoo.

System and method for influencing a position on a search result list generated by a computer network search engine Invented by Darren J. Davis, Matthew Derer, Johann Garcia, Larry Greco, Tod E. Kurt, Thomas Kwong, Jonathan C. Lee, Ka Luk Lee, Preston Pfarner, and Steve Skovran Assigned to Overture Services, Inc. US Patent Application 20060143096 Published on June 29, 2006 Filed on February 22, 2006

Abstract

A system and method for enabling information providers using a computer network such as the Internet to influence a position for a search listing within a search result list generated by an Internet search engine. The system and method of the present invention provides a database having accounts for the network information providers. Each account contains at least one search listing having at least three components: a description, a search term comprising one or more keywords, and a bid amount. The network information provider may add, delete, or modify a search listing after logging into his or her account via an authentication process. The network information provider influences the position for a search listing through a continuous online competitive bidding process. The bidding process occurs when the network information provider enters a new bid amount, which is preferably a money amount, for a search listing. The system then compares this bid amount with all other bid amounts for the same search term, and generates a rank value for all search listings having that search term. The rank value generated by the bidding process determines where the network information providers listing will appear on the search results list page that is generated in response to a query of the search term by a searcher located at a client computer on the computer network. A higher bid by a network information provider will result in a higher rank value and a more advantageous placement.

Bitmask access for managing blog content Invented by Vijay S. Ramachandran and Hitesh S. Shah Assigned to Yahoo US Patent Application 20060143208 Published on June 29, 2006 Filed on December 29, 2004

Abstract

Methods, devices, and systems are directed towards managing a database using moderator determined attributes, and a contributor employable bitmask. In one embodiment, the database is employable for use in managing a weblog (blog). The bitmask is configured to enable contributors of a content item to modify selected options of an attribute for the provided content item. In one embodiment the bitmask is stored in the database and is associated with the content item in the database. By enabling a contributor to directly control options associated with an attribute for the content item, changes to selected attributes of the database's content may be made with minimum interaction with a database administrator. For example, in one embodiment, the contributor may directly control anonymity associated with the provided content item, access to the provided content item, and how the provided content items is displayed.

Microsoft

Machine learning classifiers may rely upon user behavior such as click-throughs and user reviews to help them rank pages in response to queries. This kind of reliance may mean that pages lacking user behavior information may fail to be ranked, and may not be presented to users so that they can gain that type of feedback. This Microsoft patent application describes the use of a second set of training data that doesn't depend upon user interaction, but rather looks at anchor text "to be a surrogate for the missing user feedback data."

System and method for using anchor text as training data for classifier-based search systems Invented by Harr Chen, Adwait Ratnaparkhi, Sonja S. Knoll, and Hsiao-Wuen Hon Assigned to Microsoft US Patent Application 20060143254 Published on June 29, 2006 Filed on December 24, 2004

Abstract

A computer implemented information retrieval system is provided. The system includes a user input configured to receive a user query relative to the corpus. A machine learning classifier is trained with a first set of training data comprising anchor text relative to at least some of the documents in the corpus. A processing unit is adapted to interact with the classifier to obtain search results relative to the query using the machine learning classifier. In some aspects, the classifier is also trained with a second set of training data. A method of integrating a new document into a corpus of documents is also provided. A method of training a machine learning classifier for retrieving documents from a corpus using two distinct types of training data is also provided.

AOL

This next document looks at filtering search results based upon assigned categories for each of the results, comparisons of quality between them, and the use of expert domains for specific queries.

Filtering search results Invented by Abdur R. Chowdhury and Gregory S. Pass US Patent Application 20060143159 Published on June 29, 2006 Filed on December 29, 2004

Abstract

Search results may be sorted or filtered based on scores assigned to the search results. For example, scores may be assigned to the search results based on characteristics of surrogate representations of the search results, which are relatively short summaries or excerpts of the search result that may be presented in place of the search results themselves, and those assigned scores may be used to sort or filter the search results. In one example of filtering, pairs of search results may be examined to identify significant drops in quality between the search results, which is indicated by a large relative or absolute difference in the scores of the search results. Search results with scores that indicate ranks that are lower than a lower ranked search result of the pair of search results may be eliminated when the difference between the scores assigned to the pair of search results exceeds a maximum allowable difference.

IBM

System and method for measuring image similarity based on semantic meaning Invented by Aleksandra Mojsilovic, Bernice Rogowitz, and Jose Gomes Assigned to IBM US Patent Application 20060143176 Published on June 29, 2006 Filed on February 21, 2006

Abstract

A method includes deriving a plurality of semantic categories for representing important semantic cues in images, where each semantic category is modeled through a combination of perceptual features that define the semantics of that category and that discriminate that category from other categories; for each semantic category, forming a set of the perceptual features comprising required features and frequently occurring features; comparing an image to said semantic categories; and classifying said image as belonging to one of said semantic categories if all of the required features and at least one of the frequently occurring features for that semantic category are present in said image. A database contains image information, where the image information includes at least one of already classified images, network locations of already classified images and documents containing already classified images. The database is searched for images matching an input query, comprising, e.g., an image, text, or both.

Become, Inc.

Method for assigning relative quality scores to a collection of linked documents Invented by Rohit Kaul, Marcin Kadluczka, Yeogirl Yun, and Seong-Gon Kim Assigned to Become, Inc. US Patent Application 20060143197 Published on June 29, 2006 Filed on December 23, 2005

Abstract

A method for assigning relative quality scores to a collection of linked documents is presented. The method includes constructing a spring network according to a connectivity graph of a linked database and determining the strength of inter-nodal springs based on the link structure of the network and the displacements on end-nodes. The method may further include computing the displacements of the nodes in a spring network through an iterative process and obtaining the quality scores for documents from the converged displacements of nodes. The method may also include obtaining the relative quality scores for groups of documents. The method may further include assigning topic-specific quality scores to documents in a linked database.

My usual reminder about patents: Some of the processes and technology described in patents are created in house, and some are developed with the assistance of contractors and partners. A percentage are never developed in a tangible manner, but may serve as a way to attempt to exclude others from using the technology, or even to possibly mislead competitors into exploring an area that they might not have an interest in (sometimes skepticism is good.)

There are times when a Google or Yahoo acquires a company to gain access to the intellectual property of that company, or the intellectual prowess and expertise of that company's employees. And sometimes patents are just purchased.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our Search Technology & Relevancy area of the Search Engine Watch Forums.

Posted by Bill Slawski at 1:06 PM | Permalink

June 20, 2006

It's Not Just Google With Disappointing Results

We have been poking hard at Google for disappointing search results, but Google is not the only search engine that has been disappointing me recently. You can group Yahoo and MSN and even Ask.com into the search engines that I have been disappointed with.

Over at the Search Engine Roundtable, I cover what I call "forum buzz," the discussions taking place within the SEM/SEO community. I tend to pick up on algorithm shifts and post the details at my site.

Today, I covered two threads, one I named Yahoo! Also Easy To Spam and the other MSN Asks Webmasters What Are Quality & Authoritative Sites. But what really got me was Danny's postscript on Google Sub Sub Domain Issues Clearly Visible showing Yahoo has a similar issue.

Typically, I have always had a search engine to fall back on when one wasn't "doing it for me." Today, I don't have that search engine. Google pushed me over the edge with the Sub Sub Domain Issues. Yahoo is easy to spam with comment spam (ummm, nofollow not working?), and MSN is being laughed at, IMO. Ask.com, they are good, but way too slow to update at this point.

To make it even worse, Google still refuses to take a stand on the whole cloaking debate. Just take a look at the back and forth in our Search Engine Watch Forums thread!

So where does that leave me? Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask.com are all disappointing right now. Tomorrow? Well, I can always hope for a better tomorrow. Who knows, maybe a new Google will come along? Maybe AltaVista will rise up again?

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 11:25 AM | Permalink

Google Sub Sub Domain Issues Clearly Visible

Threadwatch reveals some more examples of issues Google is having. They note a search on queer forum returns CraigsList 97 times out of the top 100 results. That is not all, a search on wedding forum returns about 50 of 100 results from CraigsList's site, just scroll down to number 50 and you will see.

Is CraigsList spamming? No! Is Google suffering? :) Google is clearly having issues with sub sub domains. Continued coverage of Google's public index issues.

Postscript From Danny: Comments at Threadwatch also note Yahoo has the same issue. MSN does not as badly (but that could be the result of spidering fewer pages) and Ask looks very good.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:19 AM | Permalink

May 30, 2006

Calacanis Dings AOL Search

Jason Calacanis has written a forthright piece on the importance of fixing AOL search. He's examined Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL Search, and in particular looked at the position of the first organic result, down to the number of pixels from the top and the left, together with useful screen shots. Danny wrote on the same subject of the positioning of results a couple of years ago. There's absolutely no doubt that the positioning of organic results is very important, but as a searcher there are other things that I worry about rather more.

I ran the same search as Jason across all four search engines, and I think he's being slightly harsh on AOL Search, basing his criticism on one search. However, I fully agree with him that it's not good news for AOL Search that the first search result is below the fold (meaning you have to scroll down to see it); as a searcher I want information presented to me as quickly and effectively as possible - I don't want to hunt around on a page looking for my results.

However, as a searcher I do have other concerns, namely that I want good results that answer my question as quickly as possible and secondly, that I get information about the sites that are being returned to enable me to better decide which one I visit. Obviously I'm hopeful that the first organic result is on topic and trustworthy, especially if I've run a tight search. That isn't always going to be the case however, so I may need some guidance.

Looking at the AOL results I get a title, a line of description (two if I'm lucky) and a URL. Although Google gives me the same information, I also often get update details, a cached version and the chance to search for similar pages. At Yahoo I get the title, a short description of the content showing my search term in context, the opportunity to look at the category the result is in, a cached version and the ability to search for more from that site. I also get the chance to run other searches with their 'also try' option at the top of the page. Over at MSN Search I just get title, brief description and sometimes the chance to see a cached version.

Expanding out my search from those four to Ask for example I find the same problem that Jason found with AOL - my first search results are below adverts and sponsored results and just below the fold. While I still don't get much by way of description I can do a quick peek to see what the page looks like and I immediately get opportunities to narrow or broaden my search. Over at Exalead I also get a thumbnail shot of the page and various useful ways of refining my search.

As a searcher, that's really what interests me the most. Yes, of course, position of search results on the page is very important, but as important, or even moreso in my opinion, is greater information about the results, the ability to quickly refine a search, and of course accurate and on topic results. Jason finishes his piece by saying that AOL needs to love their users more; I heartily agree (and thank him for saying so) but I think the same can be said of most search engine companies. If you want to love me, give me good results, sound information on which to base the decision on which result to visit, and the ability to help me focus my search more effectively.

Postscript From Danny: See also Revisiting Search Engine Ad Breaks for a recent look at a related issue, the percentage of ads to editorial. AOL doesn't do well under that measure, either.

Posted by Phil Bradley at 8:59 AM | Permalink

January 29, 2006

AOL's "(Quick) Answer" Feature On Web Results Pages

Although we've blogged many times about search engines becoming answer engines for some types of queries with a variety of tools and services including Google "Q&A", MSN "Instant Answers", Ask Jeeves "Smart Answers", and Yahoo Wikipedia shortcuts, we haven't mentioned AOL's (quick) answer feature found at the top of some web results pages.

An AOL (quick) answer should not be confused with AOL "Snapshot" that provides facts, stats, links, etc. to related content from other web sites (including Time Warner properties) that have been assembled by human editors. Here's an example of an AOL Snapshot.

A (quick) answer comes from material autonomously mined from open web sources like Wikipedia, CIA World Factbook, IMDB, and other sites delivered at the very top of a web results page.

Examples: + President of Harvard University + Capital of France + Director of Spiderman

(quick) answer is powered by technology from Teragram based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Their website offers info on the specific technology that AOL users to power (quick) answer (called Direct Answer) along info about other categorization and taxonomy technology they market.

Posted by Gary Price at 12:57 PM | Permalink

October 5, 2005

AOL Bolsters Web Search

AOL has rolled out a number of new features on its search.aol.com service. Although AOL search is powered by Google, it has a very different look and feel, and the new features make it a compelling alternative to the web search powerhouse.

More details about AOL's new offerings in today's SearchDay article, New Features at AOL Search.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 10:12 AM | Permalink

September 29, 2005

Preview New Saved Searches & Clip Feature At AOL Search

While I was looking at the AOL Search home page this afternoon, I noticed some text (near the bottom the page) that invited me "preview new features" as AOL continues to enhance its search site. So, what did I find?

After clicking the preview url (http://aolsearcht.aol.com/aolcom/webhome) I arrived at a page that allowed me to save my searches. Look for the green box and scissors icon on the right side of the page. Clicking this green box took me to another page where I could turn off the feature and erase everything (searches are saved for 30 days) or sort my past clips and searches by when it was saved or what I searched for.

Web search results page also allow you to easily clip and save results. For example, I searched for "Search Engine Watch" and was allowed to clip results (note how the scissors icon moves from result to result). Clicking the icon saves a copy of the result link and snippet. It does not save the full text of the underlying page. It's also possible to clip and save sponsored links. You you can "clip" up to 25 results per search.

I was not asked to sign-in with my AOL ID to preview. However, I would imagine that in the future, signing-in will allow me to view my saved results and searches on any computer. Make sure to take the proper safety precautions if you share your computer with others.

A final note, this time on image searching.

When you run an image search, here's a set of thumbnail results for "Golden Gate Bridge" the image(s) you clicks appears along with the full page of where the image appears embedded on the page directly below the selected image.

Remember, this is a preview and not all features work with all search types. Still, it's good to see AOL continuing to improve their web search offerings. Kudos. Given the ephemeral nature of the web, I would love to see AOL begin offering what others (Filangy, Yahoo, etc) offer and begin locally caching copies of pages viewed by the searcher for future reference and use.

Posted by Gary Price at 1:47 PM | Permalink

February 26, 2005

AOL's Advanced Search Preview Feature

As someone who teaches many web search training classes I would like to offer a tip o' the cap to a simple but elegant feature found on AOL's advanced search page.

A frequent challenge to new and even some veteran users of advanced search interfaces is entering terms into the various boxes and then not having a clear understanding (aka confusion) of what they are or aren't searching.

AOL's Search Preview, located on the right side of the advanced search page, takes the material entered into each search box and uses it to dynamically generate the query into a single easy/easier to understand sentence. Words and items that will be searched appear in green. Material that will not be searched appears in red.

Posted by Gary Price at 12:57 PM | Permalink

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