Adapting to the Shifting Intent of Search Queries

Understand

Search engines today present results that are often oblivious to abrupt shifts in intent.

• For example, the query `independence day' usually refers to a US holiday, but the intent of this query abruptly changed during the release of a major film by that name.
• While no studies exactly quantify the magnitude of intent-shifting traffic, studies suggest that news events, seasonal topics, pop culture, etc account for 50% of all search queries.
• This paper shows that the signals a search engine receives can be used to both determine that a shift in intent has happened, as well as find a result that is now more relevant.