HK1146754A - Customization of search results - Google Patents

Description

Customization of search results

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The priority and benefit of U.S. patent application No.11/856,327, filed 9, 17, 2007, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the presentation of search results, and in particular to techniques that enable the presentation of search results to be customized.

Background

Users of the world wide web are familiar with the various services available on the web for locating content of interest. Many entities provide search engines and many web sites have search capabilities embedded therein. Web users are also familiar with the manner in which search results are presented by various search engines and applications.

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram of the city of Sonerville, CalifAn example of one method employed by a company to present search results. In the example shown, a search for content related to "social networking" returns a search results page 100 that includes "commercial" search results at the top (102) and right-hand side (104) of the page (i.e., search results that appear because the sponsor paid for placement in response to a particular search keyword), and basic (organic) search results at the lower-left side (106) below the commercial search results 102 in the page (i.e., search results that appear because they have some objective measure of relevance to the keyword). Each of the basic search results typically includes a query such as, for example, a bidA topic 108, a description or summary 110 (which may include text from the actual web page pointed to by the search results), a link 112 to cached content, and the like. As will be appreciated, the manner in which the search results and search result components are arranged and presented is typically controlled by the search provider.

Disclosure of Invention

According to the present invention, various methods and apparatus are provided to enable customization of search results. According to particular embodiments, methods and apparatus are provided for facilitating customization of search results. The user is enabled to specify a plurality of configurations of one or more components in the search results page. A plurality of machine-readable representations of a plurality of configurations specified by a user are stored. Each machine-readable representation is operable in conjunction with a search engine to present one or more search results in an interface according to a respective configuration specified by a user in response to a search query. Each machine-readable representation is associated with a query class for which the machine-readable representation is invoked.

According to another specific embodiment, a method and apparatus for facilitating customization of search results is provided. In response to the search query, one of the plurality of machine-readable representations is identified with reference to a query category to which the search query corresponds. Each machine-readable representation represents a configuration of one or more components in a search results page and has an associated query category for which the machine-readable representation is invoked. One or more search results responsive to the search query are presented in the interface according to the configuration represented by the identified machine-readable representation.

According to another particular embodiment, at least one computer-readable medium having stored therein a plurality of machine-readable representations is provided. Each machine-readable representation represents a configuration of one or more components in a search results page. Each machine-readable representation is operable in conjunction with a search engine to present one or more search results in an interface according to a respective configuration in response to a search query. Each machine-readable representation is associated with a query class for which the machine-readable representation is invoked.

According to various embodiments, the one or more components may include one or more of the following items: a location of at least some of the components in the interface, a format of the respective search results, metadata to be included in the search results, user-generated information to be included in the search results, a number of search results per page, at least one global format parameter, a link to similar results, a link to similar pages, a link to related pages, at least one control that invokes an operation related to an associated one of the search results, a thumbnail of the search results, an interactive behavior of a selected one of the search results, grouping of the search results having at least one common characteristic, inclusion of a particular component in the search results according to information associated with the search results, triggering of a specialized module according to information associated with the search results, initiation of a particular action according to information associated with the search results, or a source that can retrieve the search results.

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the inventions herein may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the attached drawings.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a screen shot illustrating a conventional presentation of search results.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a technique by which a search results page template may be configured, according to a specific embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a technique by which a search results page template is invoked, according to a specific embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a simplified diagram illustrating an example of a computing environment in which embodiments of the present invention may be implemented.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to specific embodiments of the invention including the best modes contemplated by the inventors for carrying out the invention. Examples of these specific embodiments are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention will be described in conjunction with these specific embodiments, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to the described embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. In the following description, specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. The present invention may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. Additionally, well known features may not have been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention.

The present invention relates generally to the ability of an individual user to participate in modifying and thereby customizing his or her experience with an online service, such as a search service. Certain embodiments of the present invention relate to various ways in which such users may share these customizations with others in a shared computing context, environment, or ecosystem.

Particular embodiments of the present invention enable a user to specify a configuration of at least some components in a search results page. According to one category embodiment, this is accomplished by using search result page templates that allow a user to specify certain customizations, and according to certain implementations, this is accomplished when a particular template is to be invoked (e.g., for a particular type or category of query). The term "query class" is used herein to refer to a group or class of queries that have some common characteristics. For example, a query category may include queries related to a particular type of product or service. In another embodiment, a query category may include queries related to a particular subject matter area (such as sports, entertainment, news, etc.). In another example, a query category may include queries related to a particular type of media (such as video, audio, images, etc.). As will be appreciated, by reference to the foregoing example, a query class can correspond to virtually any manner in which a query can be classified, and thus should not be used in a limiting manner.

Allowing users to customize search results may enable search providers to effectively differentiate their services from those of other providers and generate some degree of user loyalty. That is, many users of search services on the web are beginning to consider multiple search providers that are largely interchangeable, and do not exhibit more particular loyalty to one provider than another because most users do not readily recognize any significant differences in search result quality. Customization enables the user to create a more satisfying experience and represents an investment on the part of the user that is likely to bring more loyalty.

As noted above, particular embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the use of templates, which, when specified by a user, are used to control the configuration of components of a search results page. However, it should be noted at the outset that the templates described below are merely examples of mechanisms by which presentation of search results may be customized. More generally, any of a variety of different mechanisms for controlling the configuration and presentation of web pages may be employed without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, certain aspects of a search results page may be learned based on the user's behavior or the behavior of other users. For example, a user may employ a configuration in which search results are ordered according to the number of clicks generated by the current user (or other users who are similar to the current user, say step-by-step). This does not represent a template, i.e., it affects ordering rather than display. Similarly, machine learning techniques can be used to modify whether certain modules are included in a template based on successful examples that included such modules in the past. Such a configuration may be considered a self-modifying template that fits the user.

According to particular embodiments of the present invention, the search result page template representation may be used to generate a customized cluster that reflects a customized search result page. The customization may be defined by the end user or may be part of a predefined template available to the end user. Such customization may include, for example, the overall look and feel of the page, the arrangement or layout of the various components of the page, the format of the various results, or even the selection or filtering of the source from which the search results were derived and the type of information presented.

The user may define or select a "horizontal" template, i.e., a template that may be used to configure search results among different types of searches. For example, a horizontal template may be specified to provide as many results as possible on a page. In such a case, the user may specify, for example: the template may serve as a default template for most or all types of searches, each search result has a summary that occupies only one line (rather than two or three lines as in traditional results), the summary font size may be relatively small, and so on.

In another example, a template may be specified in which each search result includes components of particular interest to or relevance to the user. For example, the user may specify: each search result includes information from an auxiliary source of metadata to help the user better understand the results when available (e.g., del. icoi. us tags; dig. com ratings; stmbleupon. com ratings; metadata, ratings or other information generated by a particular individual; etc.). Alternatively, a user may specify that information is included in search results when any one of his or her communities has some relationship (e.g., original author, comment, quote in a blog (blog), view, rating, additional metadata, etc.) with a particular search result (e.g., through a contact list or other ecosystem group).

The user may also define or select a "vertical" template, i.e., a template that may be used to configure search results for a particular type or category of query. For example, a user may define a product template that may be invoked when a search keyword is identified as a product. Such a product template may, for example, specify a results page that includes a picture of the product, pricing information, and Web results related to the product. Such a product template may then be designated to be invoked for anything that falls within the "product" category or query category.

In a more specific example, a product category may even be designated to be invoked only for a particular type or category of product (e.g., camera). In this case, the results may be specified to include very specific metadata or other information about the type of product, such as number of megapixels, shot type, etc.

The manner in which a particular template is invoked may vary widely from embodiment to embodiment of the present invention. For example, the user may explicitly select a template from available options at the same time or prior to initiating the search. In another embodiment, a user may be enabled to bind certain categories of queries to a particular template by specifying queries containing a particular keyword or phrase as having results returned using the particular template. The appropriate template will then be selected immediately in response to such a query. Further, machine intelligence and/or learning can be employed to process queries and/or results and map them to available templates. For example, an algorithm for parsing text strings may be applied to a query for this purpose. In such a case, the parsed text may simply be mapped to a particular category and its corresponding template. In other examples, various information may be evaluated to determine a topic or query category, and thus an appropriate template. Examples of such information may include preliminary search results returned in response to a query, a series of queries from a user, feedback from a user, and so forth. It should be noted that the foregoing information is merely an example, and that any of a number of different techniques may be used to invoke a particular template without departing from the scope of the invention.

As described above and in accordance with particular embodiments of the present invention, particular templates may be associated with and invoked by one or more query categories. When a user or search provider specifies a template, a query category may be specified. Examples of such query categories may include, but are not limited to, movie names, sports figures, actors/actresses, politics, multimedia, products, technical products, blogs, news or facts, and so forth. In addition, existing query categories may be expanded or refined to produce new query categories for which templates for presenting search results for these categories may be specified. According to some of these embodiments, a simple language may be used to specify new query categories and to expand or refine existing query categories. For example, query classes can be defined by regular expressions (a very simple example of such a language). Further, query categories may be defined by regular expressions reinforced by concrete operators (operators) providing stem extraction (stemming), or more complex linguistic processing such as word-form analysis, or matching verb categories such as action verbs, or matching certain types of entities such as dates, times, geographic locations, etc.

According to particular embodiments, multiple horizontal and/or vertical templates are made available to users of a search service. These templates may be generated and/or made available by a search provider, one or more users themselves, a third party template provider, or any combination of these. Further, the user may be provided with tools for modifying and/or extending existing templates as well as creating new templates. Such tools may be implemented, for example, using a stylesheet language, such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) or related techniques for describing the presentation of a document written in a markup language. Further, more visually oriented tools may be employed that, for example, provide a visual presentation of a search results page and/or individual search results in which the relative sizes, locations, and other attributes of the various visual components may be manipulated in the interface through a personally specified template. Various different tools and languages suitable for specifying the various customizations enabled by the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Some examples of the types of customizations that may be presented in templates generated according to various embodiments of the present invention may be indicative. However, it should be understood that the following description is only exemplary and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention. Rather, as will be appreciated, there are a large number of possible customizations that are implemented by and fall within the scope of the present invention.

According to some embodiments, various customizations that apply globally to a search results page may be specified. In one example, the number of results per page may be specified. In another example, the format (e.g., font size, color, style, etc.) or location of items on a page may be specified. As will be appreciated, in such a case, it is desirable to limit the modifications that the user can make. For example, in some cases, the search provider may not wish to allow removal of its trademark or modification or removal of any advertising or paid content (e.g., commercial links). In such a case, certain customization options may be limited to basic search results.

The components that make up each search result may also be customized according to some implementations. That is, as described above, conventional search results typically include multiple components, the selection and configuration of which is typically static and entirely controlled by the search provider. Rather, some embodiments of the invention allow for customization of the components of each search result, including, for example, overall arrangement and ordering of the components, emphasis or de-emphasis of particular components, enlargement or reduction of particular components, inclusion or removal of particular components, and the like. Conventional components of the search results that may be customized include, for example, titles, descriptions, cached links to results, and the like.

In addition, various other types of components may be included in search results and/or customized according to a particular implementation. For example, the search results may be customized to include "more content-like" links or "page-like" links, the selection of which results in additional results or links to information or pages similar to the preliminary search results. Search results may also be customized to include one or more links whose selection results in some action related to the preliminary search result, such as "open in new tab page", "use it in blog", "dig (dig) it", "add to favorites", and so on. The search results may be customized to include links to other pages associated with the page described by the preliminary results, such as a link to the top page or a so-called "deeper link" to a point of entry that may be more accurate. The search results may be customized to include thumbnails of the described pages.

The search results may also be customized such that it is interactive in some way, i.e., the presentation or content of the results changes in some way in response to user actions. For example, a template may be specified to generate search results that are transformed in some manner in response to a specified user action (e.g., when a mouse is placed over it). Such transformations may include, for example, generating thumbnails, more detailed summaries, richer information sets, and so forth. Alternatively, a control (e.g., a button or link) may be associated with each search result that, when selected, causes the information in the result to expand, e.g., a richer presentation, and/or more corresponding or associated pages to be presented.

As described above, in some instances, certain customizations may be limited to only basic search results because the search provider is interested in maintaining control over other types of results (e.g., commercial search results). It should be noted, however, that implementations are contemplated in which little or no such limitations exist.

Other customizations that may be implemented include, for example: in generating search results, it is permissible to specify particular data sources or types of information, which may be included, excluded, or weighted relative to other data sources. Examples of different data sources or types of information that may be specified in this manner generally include the world wide Web (i.e., Web results), specific Web media assets (e.g., Yahoo | Answers, Flickr, Upcoming, del.

According to some implementations, results associated with a particular source or type of information may be grouped together in various ways. For example, a label may be set for each source or information type, with the label selected such that the results associated with the label are presented. Alternatively, results associated with different sources or types of information may be presented in the same interface by some visual difference, segmentation, or segmentation of the results in the interface. According to one set of embodiments, the format of each result may depend on the information source that provided the result. This may be as simple as showing the results from a particular source in a larger font, for example. Alternatively, such embodiments may employ more sophisticated techniques, such as embedding author information on the results from an electronic bulletin board (bulletin board). Again, the manner in which the results may be grouped and presented may vary widely without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Further, the template may be designated to trigger a specific module, initiate a specific action, or include a specific component in the search results based on information included or associated with the specific search results. For example, when the results include a person's name, biographical information about the person may be included in the results. Or when the results include a geographic location, geographic information about the location may be included in the results (e.g., presented or linked to a map or current weather conditions). Or when the results identify a movie or song, information about the movie or song or associated artist(s), or a link to a clip of the movie or song may be included with the results. As will be appreciated, the number of possible selections, variations, and combinations is vast.

It should also be noted that embodiments of the present invention are contemplated in which the operation of the underlying search engine is largely unaffected by the use of template coverage. That is, in response to a search query, the search engine may obtain information related to the search query as is customary, i.e., without the benefit or influence of the customization enabled by the present invention. The customization of the appropriate template is then applied to the results traditionally taken. However, embodiments are contemplated in which the operation of the underlying search engine is altered in some way to achieve at least some customization. For example, if the customization involves including in each search result information that the underlying search engine has not been previously configured to retrieve, the operation of the engine may need to be modified in some way to retrieve or facilitate access to the necessary information to be included in the search results.

According to some embodiments, search result customizations (e.g., as implemented by templates) may be published and shared by other users (e.g., users in a community of users operating in a shared computing context, environment, or ecosystem). E.g. registeredCan have access to provide forA database of templates for use with a search engine, which may includeStaff, othersA user or both. Alternatively, or in addition, the rights to use the templates may be controlled by the user who created them. For example, a particular user may specify a group of users that may use his template (e.g., his user may use his template)Messenger contact list). Alternatively, the user may send the template (or a link to the template) to other users, for example, by email or text message. As will be appreciated, the manner in which templates may be published or shared may vary widely without departing from the scope of the present invention.

According to one embodiment, customizations (e.g., as implemented by templates) may be made available to or rated by such communities of users. Rating customizations may be done in an explicit manner, for example, by allowing users to vote or explicitly indicate their favorite customizations. Alternatively, the customizations may be rated in an implicit manner, such as by referencing the frequency with which users employ or share particular customizations. Such an approach enables preferential treatment for customization of higher ratings regardless of the manner in which the rating occurs. For example, such a rating system may cause higher rated customizations to have a higher ranking when a user searches for possible customizations. In another example, higher rated customizations may be displayed on a "favorite customizations" page or the like.

Techniques by which templates may be configured and made practical will now be described with reference to the flow chart of fig. 2. Initially, a user configures a search results page template (202). As described above, the user may be an end user who wishes to customize the search results page of his own search using the template and/or who wishes to share the template with others. Alternatively, the user may be a representative of a search provider who wishes to make the template available to users of the provider's search engine. As another alternative, the user may be a third party provider that makes the template available to the provider's search engine. Even embodiments are contemplated in which the "user" is actually an automated process or device capable of configuring the template with machine intelligence and/or learning.

Further, the configuration of the template by the user may include any of a variety of different actions that cause the template to be generated or modified. For example, it may involve creating a new template or importing and modifying an existing template. It may also involve establishing or importing one or more query classes and/or establishing a mapping between one or more query classes and templates. More specifically, the configuration of the template includes any action or process that causes one or more customizations that may be associated with the template to be specified.

The user-configured template is expressed in a machine-readable format (204). One example of a suitable format is an XML document. The template in machine-readable format is then saved in a template data repository or database (206). The expression of the template in machine-readable form may occur at the time the user configures the template or after the template configuration is complete. Further, the expression of the template in machine-readable form and the saving of the template in the template data store may occur at a device of the user, at a back-end system (e.g., a search provider's or third party provider's system), or on multiple devices in a distributed computing system.

Such a specific technique will now be described with reference to fig. 3: with this technique, templates stored in a template data store may be invoked in response to a search query. When a user expresses a query (302), for example, in a search engine query box, the category of the query is determined (304). The determination of the query category may be accomplished by reference to an explicit selection by the user (e.g., the user identifies the query category and/or the template to be used). Alternatively, the determination of the query category may be implemented in an automated manner, such as a process associated with a search engine parsing the query.

Based at least in part on the query category, an appropriate search result page template is identified (306). The identification of the appropriate template may also be done with reference to information about the user, such as a user profile. That is, for example, a user initiating a search may have previously specified that a particular template be used for a particular query category. Thus, the user identity and the preferences he has expressed will be part of the process of identifying the appropriate template. Alternatively, where the user does not express any such preferences, it may be sufficient to use the query category itself to identify one of a plurality of available default templates.

Once the appropriate template is identified, it is extracted from the template data store (308). Search results are generated by the search engine (310). As discussed above, the operation of the search engine may be entirely conventional, with additional processing operated to provide returned results according to the template. Alternatively, various functions associated with the present invention may affect the operation of the underlying search engine, depending on the implementation. That is, for example, in implementations where a template requires information that is not normally returned by traditional search results (e.g., metadata from a specified source in each result), a search engine may be required to retrieve additional information in addition to traditional results. That is, the customizations specified by the template may inform the search engine of the information it needs to retrieve.

The results are then provided by the search engine front end by referencing the template (312). That is, the search engine front-end references the extracted template to determine which information to provide and how to provide. The provided results are then presented to the user (314).

According to particular embodiments, a user is enabled to apply different templates to the same set of search results. According to such an embodiment, the user initiates a search as follows: the search is replied to either using the template or in a conventional search results page. The user is then provided with controls (e.g., a menu, one or more buttons, a toolbar option, etc.) in the interface that allow the search results to be reformulated according to one or more template options. These templates may be published templates, shared templates, user's own templates, or a combination. This allows the user to try different appearances of a set of search results. In some cases, reformulation may simply be applied to the content shown in the current results page, or the search may need to be reinitiated, as required by the configuration represented by the template.

Embodiments of the present invention may be used to help customize search results in any of a variety of different computing contexts. For example, as shown in fig. 4, the following implementations are contemplated: wherein users of a region of interest interact with a diverse network environment via any type of computer (e.g., desktop, laptop, tablet, etc.) 402, media computing platform 403 (e.g., cable and satellite set-top boxes and digital video recorders), handheld computing devices (e.g., PDAs, email clients, etc.) 404, cellular phones 406, or any other type of computing or communication platform.

And according to different embodiments, various different techniques may be used to facilitate the specification of the customization enabled by the present invention. For example, as described above, a variety of different tools may be provided whereby the tools may specify the template and query class to which they are to be applied. And once specified, these templates and query classes can be stored, published, shared, and invoked in a centralized or distributed manner. While the template and query class definitions may be stored in a proprietary language that is not visible to the user, for example, they may be specified using tools accessible by the user at their respective computing device. The centralized manner in which templates are stored, published, shared, and enabled is represented in fig. 4 by server 408 and data store 410, as will be appreciated, server 408 and data store 410 may correspond to a plurality of distributed devices or data stores.

Aspects of the invention may also be practiced in a variety of different network environments (represented by network 412), including, for example, TCP/IP-based networks, telecommunications networks, wireless networks, and the like. Furthermore, the computer program instructions and data structures by which embodiments of the invention are implemented may be stored in any type of computer-readable medium and executed on a stand-alone computing device in accordance with various computing models, including a client/server model, a peer-to-peer model, or a distributed computing model in which the various functions described herein may be implemented or employed at different locations.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to specific embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes in the form and details of the disclosed embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, embodiments are described herein with reference to the use of templates as a mechanism for presenting and instantiating customizations enabled by the present invention. However, it should be understood that the templates described herein are merely examples of such mechanisms. Other approaches include code synthesized in the front end of the search engine, or a separate process that instantiates a search results page by reference to dynamically generated or statically stored parameter values.

Moreover, the notion of query classes mentioned herein should not be construed as requiring such query classes in all embodiments of the invention. Rather, embodiments are contemplated in which query categories are not required for enabling customization of search results pages. For example, embodiments in which a user can explicitly select a desired set of customizations (e.g., as implemented by a template) would not require the concept of query categories to be used to implement the selection.

Furthermore, although various advantages, aspects, and objects of the present invention have been discussed herein with reference to various embodiments, it will be understood that the scope of the invention should not be limited by reference to such advantages, aspects, and objects. Rather, reference should be made to the appended claims for determining the scope of the present invention.

Claims (24)

1. A computer-implemented method for facilitating customization of search results, comprising:

enabling a user to specify a plurality of configurations of one or more components in a search results page; and

storing a plurality of machine-readable representations of the plurality of configurations specified by the user, each machine-readable representation being operable in conjunction with a search engine to present one or more search results in an interface in response to a search query according to the respective configuration specified by the user, each machine-readable representation being associated with a query category for which the machine-readable representation is invoked.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more components comprise one or more of:

a location of at least some of the components in the interface, a format of the respective search results, metadata to be included in the search results, user-generated information to be included in the search results, a number of search results per page, at least one global format parameter, a link to similar results, a link to similar pages, a link to related pages, at least one control that invokes an operation related to an associated one of the search results, a thumbnail of the search results, an interactive behavior of a selected one of the search results, grouping of the search results having at least one common characteristic, inclusion of a particular component in the search results according to information associated with the search results, triggering of a specialized module according to information associated with the search results, initiation of a particular action according to information associated with the search results, or a source that can retrieve the search results.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling the user to specify a query category for which each of the machine-readable representations is invoked.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising making the machine-readable representation available to a plurality of users in a shared computing context.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising rating the machine-readable representation with reference to input by at least some of the plurality of users, the rating enabling preferential treatment of machine-readable representations in the shared computing context.

6. A system for facilitating customization of search results, comprising at least one computing device configured to:

enabling a user to specify a plurality of configurations of one or more components in a search results page; and is

Storing a plurality of machine-readable representations of the plurality of configurations specified by the user, each machine-readable representation being operable in conjunction with a search engine to present one or more search results in an interface in response to a search query according to the respective configuration specified by the user, each machine-readable representation being associated with a query category for which the machine-readable representation is invoked.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the one or more components comprise one or more of:

a location of at least some of the components in the interface, a format of the respective search results, metadata to be included in the search results, user-generated information to be included in the search results, a number of search results per page, at least one global format parameter, a link to similar results, a link to similar pages, a link to related pages, at least one control that invokes an operation related to an associated one of the search results, a thumbnail of the search results, an interactive behavior of a selected one of the search results, grouping of the search results having at least one common characteristic, inclusion of a particular component in the search results according to information associated with the search results, triggering of a specialized module according to information associated with the search results, initiation of a particular action according to information associated with the search results, or a source that can retrieve the search results.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one computing device is configured to enable the user to specify a query category for which each of the machine-readable representations is invoked.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one computing device is configured to make the machine-readable representation available to a plurality of users in a shared computing context.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to rank the machine-readable representations with reference to input by at least some of the plurality of users, the ranking enabling preferential treatment of machine-readable representations in the shared computing context.

11. A computer-implemented method for facilitating customization of search results, comprising:

identifying, in response to a search query, one of a plurality of machine-readable representations that each represent a configuration of one or more components in a search results page and have an associated query category for which the machine-readable representation is invoked, with reference to a query category to which the search query corresponds; and

one or more search results responsive to the search query are presented in an interface according to the configuration represented by the identified machine-readable representation.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more components comprise one or more of:

a location of at least some of the components in the interface, a format of the respective search results, metadata to be included in the search results, user-generated information to be included in the search results, a number of search results per page, at least one global format parameter, a link to similar results, a link to similar pages, a link to related pages, at least one control that invokes an operation related to an associated one of the search results, a thumbnail of the search results, an interactive behavior of a selected one of the search results, grouping of the search results having at least one common characteristic, inclusion of a particular component in the search results according to information associated with the search results, triggering of a specialized module according to information associated with the search results, initiation of a particular action according to information associated with the search results, or a source that can retrieve the search results.

13. The method of claim 11, further identifying the identified machine-readable representation with reference to an identity of a user initiating the search query.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising identifying the query category with reference to one of a query category selection of the user or an automatic analysis of the search query.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the search results are generated by a search engine, and wherein operation of the search engine requires reference to a configuration represented by the identified machine-readable representation.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the search results are generated by a search engine, and wherein operation of the search engine occurs without reference to a configuration represented by the identified machine-readable representation.

17. A system for facilitating customization of search results, comprising at least one computing device configured to:

identifying, in response to a search query, one of a plurality of machine-readable representations that each represent a configuration of one or more components in a search results page and have an associated query category for which the machine-readable representation is invoked, with reference to a query category to which the search query corresponds; and is

One or more search results responsive to the search query are presented in an interface according to the configuration represented by the identified machine-readable representation.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more components comprise one or more of:

a location of at least some of the components in the interface, a format of the respective search results, metadata to be included in the search results, user-generated information to be included in the search results, a number of search results per page, at least one global format parameter, a link to similar results, a link to similar pages, a link to related pages, at least one control that invokes an operation related to an associated one of the search results, a thumbnail of the search results, an interactive behavior of a selected one of the search results, grouping of the search results having at least one common characteristic, inclusion of a particular component in the search results according to information associated with the search results, triggering of a specialized module according to information associated with the search results, initiation of a particular action according to information associated with the search results, or a source that can retrieve the search results.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one computing device is configured to further identify the identified machine-readable representation with reference to an identity of a user that initiated the search query.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one computing device is configured to identify the query category with reference to one of a query category selection of the user or an automatic analysis of the search query.

21. The system of claim 17, further comprising a search engine for generating the search results, wherein operation of the search engine requires reference to a configuration represented by the identified machine-readable representation.

22. The system of claim 17, further comprising a search engine for generating the search results, wherein operation of the search engine occurs without reference to the configuration represented by the identified machine-readable representation.

23. At least one computer-readable medium having stored therein a plurality of machine-readable representations, each machine-readable representation representing a configuration of one or more components in a search results page, each machine-readable representation operable in conjunction with a search engine to present, in response to a search query, one or more search results in an interface according to the respective configuration, wherein each machine-readable representation is associated with a query category for which the machine-readable representation is invoked.

24. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the one or more components comprise one or more of:

a location of at least some of the components in the interface, a format of the respective search results, metadata to be included in the search results, user-generated information to be included in the search results, a number of search results per page, at least one global format parameter, a link to similar results, a link to similar pages, a link to related pages, at least one control that invokes an operation related to an associated one of the search results, a thumbnail of the search results, an interactive behavior of a selected one of the search results, grouping of the search results having at least one common characteristic, inclusion of a particular component in the search results according to information associated with the search results, triggering of a specialized module according to information associated with the search results, initiation of a particular action according to information associated with the search results, or a source that can retrieve the search results.