Once the document engine 146 determines the likelihood that an article is a manipulated article, the method 400 ends. The likelihood that an article is a manipulated article can be used in a variety of ways. For example, the information that an article is likely a manipulated article can be used to lower a ranking associated with that article such that the article will be displayed lower in a listing of search results or not displayed at all.
Alternatively, the information that an article is likely a manipulated article can be used to test ranking algorithms.
For example, it may be desirable to use ranking algorithms that function independently of the click-through data associated with an article, but that nevertheless attempt to lower manipulated articles within a listing of search results. The information obtained from the method 400 that an article is likely to be a manipulated article based on the click-through data can be used to test the effectiveness of a ranking algorithm that functions independently of the click-through rate.
For example, if the method 400 determines that articles A, B and C are associated with high click-through rates and therefore are likely to be manipulated articles, this information can be compared to the ranking determined by an algorithm independent of the click-through data associated with the articles for the articles A, B and C. If the articles A, B and C are similarly ranked lowly by an algorithm independent of the click-through rate, this can be an indication that the independent algorithm effectively identifies manipulated articles.
