Patterns and transitions of query reformulation during web searching

Purpose: To investigate and identify the patterns of interaction between searchers and search engine during Web searching. Design: We examined 2,465,145 interactions from 534,507 users of Dogpile.com submitted on May 6, 2005. We compared query reformulation patterns. We investigated the type of query modifications and query modification transitions within sessions. Findings: We identified three strong query reformulation transition patterns: between (1) specialization and generalization, between (2) video and audio, and between (3) content change and system assistance. In addition, our findings show that Web and images content were the most popular media collections. Value: This research sheds light on the more complex aspects of Web searching involving query modifications. Index Terms — Query modification, query reformulation, search engine, Web search, pattern