Abstract: Web searchers signal their geographic intent by using placenames in search queries. They also indicate their flexibility about geographic specificity by reformulating their queries. We conducted experiments on geomodification in query rewriting. We examine both deliberate query rewriting, conducted in user search sessions, and automated query rewriting, with users evaluating the relevance of geo-modified queries. We find geo-specification in 12.7% of user query rewrites in search sessions, and show the breakdown into sub-classes such as same-city, same-state, same-country and different-country. We also measure the dependence between US-state-name and distance-of-modified-location-from-original-location, finding that Vermont web searchers modify their locations greater distances than California web searchers. We also find that automatically-modified queries are perceived as much more relevant when the geographic component is unchanged.
mobile