USING BEHAVIOR DATA TO QUICKLY IMPROVE SEARCH RANKING

Systems and methods for applying user behavior data to improve serach query result ranking are provided. Upon receiving an update file indicating that recent, significant user behavior data is available for a document associated with an inverted index, the update file is published periodically and frequently to an index server. After filtering out the relevant update information from the update file, the index server extracts identifiers of the documents having the associated user behavior data. The update file and the identifier of the documents are utilized to update an in-memory index containing representations of metadata indicative of the user behavior. The in-memory index is continuously updated and utilized to serve search query results in response to user search queries. Search query results from the in-memory index are ranked using the user behavior data prior to serving. Thus, results associated with recent, significant user-behavior metadata receive prominent placement on the search results page.