Microsoft Inventing Techniques to Improve Search

Scientists at Microsoft are developing new techniques for analyzing search click-through patterns and browsing behaviors to make search results more relevant.

Microsoft researchers report that accurate modeling and interpretation of user interactions with a search engine can significantly improve search-result ranking, the detection of “click-spam,” Web search personalization and, ultimately, the overall Web search experience. While user interactions with the Web search engines are plentiful, new robust techniques are required to understand the relationship between user interactions and result quality.

Another Microsoft Research, “Improving Web Search Ranking by Incorporating User Behavior,” discusses utilizing the discovered patterns of user behavior to improve algorithms that rank search engine results.

“Most search engines today use a somewhat two-dimensional approach, matching user queries with the content and link structure of Web pages to return a list of results,” said Eugene Agichtein, a researcher in the Text Mining, Search and Navigation Group within Microsoft Research. “We’re looking at how to add a third dimension - the users themselves - to improve the search experience.”

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