Segmenting Search Query Logs by Learning to Detect Search Task Boundaries

Abstract

To fulfill their information needs, users submit sets of related queries to available search engines. Query logs record users' activities along with timestamps and additional search-related information. The analysis of those chronological query logs enables the modeling of search tasks from user interactions. Previous research works rely on clicked URLs and surrounding queries to determine if adjacent queries are part of the same search tasks to segment the query logs properly. However, waiting for clicked URLs or future adjacent queries could render the use of these methods unfeasible in user supporting applications that require model results on the fly. Therefore, we propose a model for sequential search log segmentation. The proposed model uses only query pairs and their time span, generating results suited for on the fly user supporting applications, with improved accuracy over existing search segmentation approaches. We also show the advantages of fine-tuning the proposed model for adjusting the architecture to a small annotated collection.