Yahoo Files Patent for Search Term Substitution

May 19, 2008 - 10:18 am 0 by
Filed Under Other Yahoo

Bill Slawski has written up another interesting piece about how search engines substitute other search terms for yours depending on past user behavior. Of course, this is related to a patent he discovered that was filed by Yahoo.

Bill explains how this works:

Let’s say that a large number of people who search for the term intellectual property then go on to search for the term patent attorney with their very next search, or within the same search session.

The search engine log files would uncover that such an association exists, and the search engine might explore how common it is for searchers to search for that second phrase. If it happens frequently enough, the search engine may start suggesting patent attorney as a suggested search to searchers along with a display of search results for the term intellectual property.

Therefore, it's important to take these other substitutions into consideration when optimizing your page, according to a Cre8asite Forums post. It is helpful to look at the various suggestions and optimize accordingly.

Forum discussion continues at Cre8asite Forums.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Google Ads

Google Ads API Outages and Slowness; Microsoft Ads Warns About Google Imports

Jun 29, 2025 - 8:12 am
Google Updates

Heated Google Search Ranking Volatility On Saturday June 28th

Jun 29, 2025 - 7:59 am
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: June 27, 2025

Jun 27, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google

Google AI Overviews Tests Showing Site Names

Jun 27, 2025 - 8:10 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Where The Google Core Updates, Web Is Thriving & AI Index Freshness

Jun 27, 2025 - 8:01 am
Google

Head Of Google Search, Liz Reid, On Ads & SEO With AI Search

Jun 27, 2025 - 7:51 am
Previous Story: Is a Meta Description Necessary in Google?