Handling search queries

Abstract

A system for providing advertisements with search results in response to a search query comprises a front end and an advertisement server. The front end is configured: to receive a search query; to send a first search request to a search server and sending a first advertisement request to an advertisement server, wherein the first search request includes the search query or information based on the search query, and wherein the first advertisement request includes the search query or information based on the search query and an indication that an advertisement response is not to be provided; to receive search results from the search server; and to send at least some of the search results to the advertisement server in a second advertisement request, wherein the second advertisement request includes an indication that an advertisement response is to be provided. The advertisement server is configured: in response to receiving the first advertisement request, to search for advertisements related to the search query to produce plural advertisement results each with an associated score; in response to receiving the second advertisement request, to modify the score of at least one of the plural advertisement results; to rank the plural advertisement results according to their scores; to select one or more of the highest ranked plural advertisement results; and to send an advertisement response to the front end, the advertisement response including the selected one or more highest ranked plural advertisement results. The front end is configured to provide the search results with the selected one or more highest ranked plural advertisement results.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A system comprising:
 a memory device; and   one or more processors configured to execute instructions that cause the content server to perform operations comprising:
 receiving a first request that includes a search query and an indication that a response to the first request is not required to be provided by the one or more processors; 
 identifying, in response to receiving the first request, a set of content related to the search query; 
 waiting for a second request rather than responding to the first request based on inclusion of the indication that the response to the first request is not required to be provided in the first request; 
 receiving a second request that includes one or more search results generated by a search server using the search query; 
 modifying the set of content based on the one or more search results included in the second request; and 
 sending, in response to the second request, a response that includes content from among the modified set of content. 
   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein modifying the set of content based on the one or more search results included in the second request comprises performing an additional search for additional content beyond the set of content using information included in the second request. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to perform operations comprising:
 modifying a score of at least one portion of content in the set of content based on a predicted click-through rate of the at least one portion of content; and   selecting that portion of content from among the set of content and the additional content based at least in part on the modified score.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to perform operations comprising modifying the predicted click-through rate based on user interface elements identified in the second request. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein modifying the score of at least one portion of content comprises modifying a relevance score of the at least one portion of content based on a top one of multiple search results identified in the second request. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to perform operations comprising modifying the relevance score of the at least one portion of content based on a location of the top one of the multiple search results identified in the second request. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to perform operations comprising:
 processing the search results; and   for at least some of the search results, including some, but less than all, information from the search results in the second request.   
     
     
         9 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by one or more processors, a first request that includes a search query and an indication that a response to the first request is not required to be provided by the one or more processors;   identifying, in response to receiving the first request and by the one or more processors, a set of content related to the search query;   waiting, by the one or more processors, for a second request rather than responding to the first request based on inclusion of the indication that the response to the first request is not required to be provided in the first request;   receiving, by the one or more processors, a second request that includes one or more search results generated by a search server using the search query;   modifying, by the one or more processors, the set of content based on the one or more search results included in the second request; and   sending, in response to the second request and by the one or more processors, a response that includes content from among the modified set of content.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein modifying the set of content based on the one or more search results included in the second request comprises performing an additional search for additional content beyond the set of content using information included in the second request. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 modifying a score of at least one portion of content in the set of content based on a predicted click-through rate of the at least one portion of content; and   selecting that portion of content from among the set of content and the additional content based at least in part on the modified score.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising modifying the predicted click-through rate based on user interface elements identified in the second request. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein modifying the score of at least one portion of content comprises modifying a relevance score of the at least one portion of content based on a top one of multiple search results identified in the second request. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising modifying the relevance score of the at least one portion of content based on a location of the top one of the multiple search results identified in the second request. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 processing the search results; and   for at least some of the search results, including some, but less than all, information from the search results in the second request.   
     
     
         16 . A non-transitory computer readable media storing instructions that, upon execution by one or more processors, cause performance of operations comprising:
 receiving a first request that includes a search query and an indication that a response to the first request is not required to be provided by the one or more processors;   identifying, in response to receiving the first request, a set of content related to the search query;   waiting for a second request rather than responding to the first request based on inclusion of the indication that the response to the first request is not required to be provided in the first request;   receiving a second request that includes one or more search results generated by a search server using the search query;   modifying the set of content based on the one or more search results included in the second request; and   sending, in response to the second request, a response that includes content from among the modified set of content.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer readable media of  claim 16 , wherein modifying the set of content based on the one or more search results included in the second request comprises performing an additional search for additional content beyond the set of content using information included in the second request. 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer readable media of  claim 16 , wherein the instructions cause performance of operations comprising:
 modifying a score of at least one portion of content in the set of content based on a predicted click-through rate of the at least one portion of content; and   selecting that portion of content from among the set of content and the additional content based at least in part on the modified score.   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer readable media of  claim 18 , wherein the instructions cause performance of operations comprising modifying the predicted click-through rate based on user interface elements identified in the second request. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer readable media of  claim 19 , wherein modifying the score of at least one portion of content comprises modifying a relevance score of the at least one portion of content based on a top one of multiple search results identified in the second request. 
     
     
         21 . The non-transitory computer readable media of  claim 20 , wherein the instructions cause performance of operations comprising modifying the relevance score of the at least one portion of content based on a location of the top one of the multiple search results identified in the second request.