🔎 What are Query-Dependent, Query-Independent, Content-Based, Link-Based, and Usage-Based Algorithms?

Concepts From Koray Tugberk GUBUR

The Initial Ranking and Re-ranking are two different ranking algorithm types (discussed in a recent post), and there are other ranking algorithm types below:

1️⃣ Query-Dependent Algorithms 🔍

These assess how well a document matches the keywords, entities, and intent in the user's search query.

• 📊 TF-IDF: Measures how relevant a term in a document is compared to its usage across all documents.
• 📑 BM25: A ranking function that scores documents based on query term frequency and importance.

2️⃣ Query-Independent Algorithms ⚖️

These evaluate web pages based on their intrinsic qualities, without directly considering a specific query.

• 🔗 PageRank: Measures the authority of a page based on the quantity and quality of links pointing to it.
• ✅ TrustRank: Identifies trustworthy websites by propagating trust signals from authoritative seed sites.

3️⃣ Content-Based Algorithms 📝

These focus on the quality, structure, and relevance of the content within a web page.

• 🧠 Semantic Analysis: Analyzes the depth, variety, and semantic connections in the content.
• 📌 Entity-Attribute-Value Models: Evaluates how well the content is structured around entities, attributes, and values.

4️⃣ Link-Based Algorithms 🔗

These assess the relationships between web pages by analyzing link structures, both internal and external.

• 🔝 PageRank: Assigns a score to pages based on incoming links and their authority.
• 🏆 HITS: Identifies "hubs" (pages linking to many authoritative pages) and "authorities" (pages heavily linked by others).

5️⃣ Usage-Based Algorithms 📊

These focus on user interaction data, leveraging behavioral metrics to refine rankings.

• 👆 Click-Through Rate (CTR)
• ⏳ Dwell Time
• 🚪 Bounce Rate

🏁 Summary of How These Algorithms Work Together

• ✅ Query-Dependent: Assesses direct relevance to the query.
• 🔗 Query-Independent: Evaluates trust and authority.
• 📝 Content-Based: Focuses on semantic relevance of the page.
• 🔍 Link-Based: Uses link structures to assess reputation and connectivity.
• 📊 Usage-Based: Based on user behavior and satisfaction signals.