Analyzing and evaluating query reformulation strategies in web search logs

Users frequently modify a previous search query in hope of retrieving better results. These modifications are called query reformulations or query refinements. Existing research has studied how web search engines can propose reformulations, but has given less attention to how people perform query reformulations. In this paper, we aim to better understand how web searchers refine queries and form a theoretical foundation for query reformulation. We study users’ reformulation strategies in the context of the AOL query logs. We create a taxonomy of query refinement strategies and build a high precision rule-based classifier to detect each type of reformulation. Effectiveness of reformulations is measured using user click behavior. Most reformulation strategies result in some benefit to the user. Certain strategies like add/remove words, word substitution, acronym expansion, and spelling correction are more likely to cause clicks, especially on higher ranked results. In contrast, users ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: CIKM
• Authors: Jeff Huang, Efthimis N. Efthimiadis
• Keywords: CIKM 2009, Database, Query Log, Query Refinement, Query Reformulation