METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR ADJUSTING A SCORING MEASURE BASED ON QUERY BREADTH

Methods and systems for adjusting a scoring measure of a search result based at least in part on the breadth of a previously-executed search query associated with the search result are described. In one described system, a search engine determines a popularity measure for a search result, and then adjusts the popularity measure based at least in part on a query breadth measure of a previously-executed search query associated with the search result. The search engine may use a variety of query breadth measures. For example, the search engine may use the quantity of results returned by the search query, the length of the query, the IR score drop-off, or some other measure of breadth.