In this paper, we study the problem of learning block classification models to estimate block functions. We distinguish general models, which are learned across multiple sites, and site-specific models, which are learned within individual sites. We further consider several factors that affect the learning process and model effectiveness. These factors include the layout features, the content features, the classifiers, and the term selection methods. We have empirically evaluated the performance of the models when the factors are varied. Our main results are that layout features do better than content features for learning both general and site-specific models. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.3.3 [Information Storage and Retrieval]: Information Search and Retrieval--Information filtering, selection process; I.7.m [Document and Text Processing]: Miscellaneous General Terms Algorithms Keywords Web page block, block function, block classification model, feature selection, layout feat...