20 links on search and design

I compiled another quick list of links this week, but you might want to read them fast, because as Kid Mercury noted almost a week ago, On April 11, The Internet Gets Destroyed (No longer available) OK, it might not be demolished, but it may just be broken in many places after Microsoft issues a … Read more

Ranking Search Results Using Featured Based Rankings

ranking search results

How does one optimize pages for MSN, given that they use a machine-based ranking system for ranking search results and returning results to visitors?

Some new research from Microsoft and some recently released patent applications might provide some ideas.

Before I dive into this, I want to point out Search Engines and Algorithms: Optimizing for MSN’s RankNet Technology by Jennifer Sullivan Cassidy, which takes a look at Microsoft’s Ranknet Technology. It’s a good introduction to some of the research that Microsoft has been doing lately.

Query independent ranking

Ranknet is discussed more in a paper to be presented in May at the WWW2006, titled Beyond PageRank: Machine Learning for Static Ranking. It provides a detailed look at how human ranked pages can be used to identify other high-quality pages, without relying upon the link structure of the web.

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