A click signal records that a user clicked a search-result document for a particular query. Search systems can aggregate these events to estimate which documents users find relevant and boost them in later rankings. section 4.1.3 section 8.4
Represent each click with a query identifier, user, signal type, target document, and timestamp. The query identifier links the click to the query that produced the result, allowing aggregation by query and document. section 4.1.3
Use click signals in a broader relevance pipeline:
- Count clicks for each query/document pair to create a popularity or relevance boost. section 8.3.1
- Combine clicks with add-to-cart and purchase events when stronger evidence of product interest is available. section 8.4
- Assign different weights to reduce the influence of weaker signals; one demonstrated configuration gives clicks weight 1, add-to-cart events 10, and purchases 25. section 8.4
Worked interaction sequence
A user searches for “ipad,” clicks doc1 and doc3, and adds doc3 to a cart. The query identifier connects both clicks to “ipad,” while separate timestamps preserve the interaction order. A later “ipad cover” query links a click and cart addition for doc4, followed by purchases of doc3 and doc4. section 4.1.3
Clicks are useful but noisy: browsing can produce a click without strong purchase intent. They are also vulnerable to manipulation, such as repeatedly querying “star wars” and clicking one product thousands of times, which can push that product to the top. section 8.4 section 8.3.1
Table 4.1 Example signals format
|
query_id
|
user
|
type
|
target
|
signal_time
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
u123
|
query
|
ipad
|
2024-05-01-09:00:00
|
|
1
|
u123
|
results
|
doc1,doc2,doc3
|
2024-05-01-09:00:00
|
|
1
|
u123
|
click
|
doc1
|
2024-05-01-09:00:10
|
|
1
|
u123
|
click
|
doc3
|
2024-05-01-09:00:29
|
|
1
|
u123
|
add-to-cart
|
doc3
|
2024-05-01-09:03:40
|
|
2
|
u123
|
query
|
ipad cover
|
2024-05-01-09:04:00
|
|
2
|
u123
|
results
|
doc4,doc5
|
2024-05-01-09:04:00
|
|
2
|
u123
|
click
|
doc4
|
2024-05-01-09:04:40
|
|
2
|
u123
|
add-to-cart
|
doc4
|
2024-05-01-09:05:50
|
|
1
|
u123
|
purchase
|
doc3
|
2024-05-01-09:07:15
|
|
2
|
u123
|
purchase
|
doc4
|
2024-05-01-09:07:15
|
Inspect the tabular event representation linking queries, returned results, clicks, cart additions, and purchases. section 4.1.3
