A novel approach for comparing web sites by using MicroGenres

In this paper, a novel approach is introduced to compare web sites by analysing their web page content. Each web page can be expressed as a set of entities called MicroGenres, which in turn are abstractions about design patterns and genres for representing the page content. This description is useful for web page and web site classification and for a deeper insight into the web site's social context. The web site comparison is useful for extracting patterns which can be used for improving Web search engine effectiveness, the identification of best practices in web site design and of course in the organization of web page content to personalize the web user experience on a web site. The effectiveness of the proposed approach was tested in a real world case, with e-shop web sites showing that a web site can be represented in a high level of abstraction by using MicroGenres, the contents of which can then be compared and given a measure corresponding to web site similarity. This measure is very useful for detecting web communities on the Web, i.e., a group of web sites sharing similar contents, and the result is essential in performing a focused and effective information search as well as minimizing web page retrieval. & 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.