How Teoma Works
Teoma adds a new dimension and level of authority to search results through its
approach, known as Subject-Specific PopularitySM.
Instead of ranking results based upon the sites with the most links leading to them,
Teoma analyzes the Web as it is organically organized—in naturally-occurring
communities that are about or related to the same subject—to determine which sites are
most relevant. Teoma’s search technology can locate communities on the Web within
their specific subject areas, as they actually exist.
To determine the authority—and thus the overall quality and relevance—of a site's
content, Teoma uses Subject-Specific PopularitySM. Subject-Specific Popularity ranks a
site based on the number of same-subject pages that reference it, not just general
popularity. In a recent test performed by Search Engine Watch, Teoma's relevance grade
was raised to an "A" following the integration of Teoma 2.0.
Teoma 2.0: Evolution and Growth
In early 2003, Teoma 2.0 was launched. The enhanced version represents a major
evolution in terms of improvements to relevance and an expansion of the overall
advanced search functionalities. Below are detailed explanations for the improvements
made in this version:
More Communities
Like social networks in the real world, the Web is clustered into local communities.
Communities are groups of Web pages that are about or are closely related to the same
subject. Teoma is the only search technology that can view these communities as they
naturally occur on the Web (displayed under the heading "Refine" on Teoma.com). This
method allows Teoma to generate more finely tuned search results. In other words,
Teoma's community-based approach reveals a 3-D image of the Web, providing it with
more information about a particular Web page than other search engines, which have
only a one-dimensional view of the Web.
Web-Based Spell Check
Teoma's proprietary Spell Check technology identifies query misspellings and offers
corrections that help improve the relevance and precision of search results. The Spell
Check technology, developed by Teoma's team of scientists, leverages the real-time
content of the Web to determine the correct spelling of a word.
Dynamic DescriptionsSM
Dynamic Descriptions enhance search results by showing the context of search terms as
they actually appear on referring Web pages. This feature provides searchers with
information that helps them to determine the relevance of a given Web page in
association with their query.
Advanced Search Tools
Teoma's Advanced Search tools allow searchers to search using specific criteria, such as
exact phrase, page location, geographic region, domain and site, date, and other word
filters. Users can also search using 10 Western languages, including Danish, Dutch,
English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. A link
to Teoma's Advanced Search tools can be found next to the search box on Teoma.com.
The Teoma Algorithm
In addition to utilizing existing search techniques, Teoma applies what they call
authority, a new measure of relevance, to deliver search results. For this purpose, Teoma
employs three proprietary techniques:
Refine, Results and Resources.
Refine
First, Teoma organizes sites into naturally occurring communities that are about the
subject of each search query. These communities are presented under the heading
"Refine" on the Teoma.com results page. This tool allows a user to further focus his or
her specific search.
For example, a search for "Soprano" would present a user with a set of refinement
suggestions such as "Marie-Adele McArther" (a renowned soprano), "Three Sopranos"
(the operatic trio), "The Sopranos" (the wildly-popular HBO television show) as well as
several other choices. No other technology can dynamically cluster search results into the
actual communities as they exist on the Web.
Results
Next, after identifying these communities, Teoma employs a technique called Subject-
Specific PopularitySM. Subject-Specific Popularity analyzes the relationship of sites
within a community, ranking a site based on the number of same-subject pages that
reference it, among hundreds of other criteria. In other words, Teoma determines the best
answer for a search by asking experts within a specific subject community about who
they believe is the best resource for that subject. By assessing the opinions of a site's
peers, Teoma establishes authority for the search result. Relevant search results ranked by
Subject-Specific Popularity are presented under the heading "Results" on the
Teoma.com results page.
In some instances companies pay to have their Web sites included within Teoma's
dataset, otherwise known as the Teoma Index. Like all Web sites, these sites are
processed through Teoma's search algorithms and are not guaranteed placement in the
results. This ensures that relevancy is the primary driver of results.
Resources
Finally, by dividing the Web into local subject communities, Teoma is able to find and
identify expert resources about a particular subject. These sites feature lists of other
authoritative sites and links relating to the search topic.
For example, a professor of Middle Eastern history may have created a page devoted to
his collection of sites that explain the geography and topography of the Persian Gulf. This
site would appear under the heading "Resources" in response to a Persian Gulf-related
query. No previous search technology has been able to find and rank these sites.
Sponsored Links
Search results appearing under the heading "Sponsored Links" are provided by
Google®, a third party provider of pay for performance search listings. Google generates
highly relevant sponsored results by allowing advertisers to bid for placement in this area
based on relevant keywords. These results, which are powered by Google's advanced
algorithms, are then distributed across the Internet to some of the world's most popular
and well-known Web sites, including Teoma.com and Ask Jeeves.
Other factors
Boolean Searching
Limited Boolean searching is available. Teoma defaults to an AND between search terms
and supports the use of - for NOT. Either OR or ORR can be used for an OR operation,
but the operator must be in all upper case. Unfortunately, no nesting is vailable.
Proximity Searching
Phrase searching is available by using “double quotes” around a phrase or by checking
the "Phrase Match" box. Teoma also supports phrase searching when a dash is used
between words with no spaces. Until Nov. 2002, Teoma's help page stated that "Teoma
returns results which exactly or closely matches the given phrase" which meant that not
all phrases matches will necessarily be accurate. As of Nov. 2002, that appears to have
been corrected and phrase searching now works properly.
Truncation
No truncation is currently available.
Case Sensitivity
Searches are not case sensitive. Search terms entered in lowercase, uppercase, or mixed
case all get the same number of hits.
Stop Words
Teoma does ignore frequently-occurring words such as 'the,' 'of', 'and', and 'or'. However,
like at Google, these stop words can be searched by putting a + in front of them or by
including them within a phrase search.
Sorting
By defaults, sites are sorted in order of perceived relevance. They also have site
collapsing (showing only two pages per site with the rest link via a “More Results”
message. There is no option for sorting alphabetically, by site, or by date.
Display
Teoma displays the title (roughly first 60 characters), a two line keyword-in-context
extract from the page, and the beginning of the URL for each hit. Some will also have a
link to "Related Pages" which finds related records based on identifying Web
communities by analyzing link patterns. Two other sections displayed are the "Refine"
section (formerly folders) that suggest other related searches based on words that Teoma
uses to identify communities on the Web and the "Resources: Link collections from
experts and enthusiasts" (formerly "Experts' Links") which are Web pages that include
numerous links to external resources -- metasites or Internet resource guides. Some
"Sponsored Links" may show up at the top. These are ads from the Google AdWords
program.
Teoma will only display 10 Web page records at a time; however, up to a 100 at a time
can be displayed through a change in the preferences and on the advanced search page.
Teoma may also display up to 10 metasites under the "Resources" heading and up to 6
Refine suggestions.
Teoma adds a new dimension and level of authority to search results through its
approach, known as Subject-Specific PopularitySM.
Instead of ranking results based upon the sites with the most links leading to them,
Teoma analyzes the Web as it is organically organized—in naturally-occurring
communities that are about or related to the same subject—to determine which sites are
most relevant. Teoma’s search technology can locate communities on the Web within
their specific subject areas, as they actually exist.
To determine the authority—and thus the overall quality and relevance—of a site's
content, Teoma uses Subject-Specific PopularitySM. Subject-Specific Popularity ranks a
site based on the number of same-subject pages that reference it, not just general
popularity. In a recent test performed by Search Engine Watch, Teoma's relevance grade
was raised to an "A" following the integration of Teoma 2.0.
Teoma 2.0: Evolution and Growth
In early 2003, Teoma 2.0 was launched. The enhanced version represents a major
evolution in terms of improvements to relevance and an expansion of the overall
advanced search functionalities. Below are detailed explanations for the improvements
made in this version:
More Communities
Like social networks in the real world, the Web is clustered into local communities.
Communities are groups of Web pages that are about or are closely related to the same
subject. Teoma is the only search technology that can view these communities as they
naturally occur on the Web (displayed under the heading "Refine" on Teoma.com). This
method allows Teoma to generate more finely tuned search results. In other words,
Teoma's community-based approach reveals a 3-D image of the Web, providing it with
more information about a particular Web page than other search engines, which have
only a one-dimensional view of the Web.
Web-Based Spell Check
Teoma's proprietary Spell Check technology identifies query misspellings and offers
corrections that help improve the relevance and precision of search results. The Spell
Check technology, developed by Teoma's team of scientists, leverages the real-time
content of the Web to determine the correct spelling of a word.
Dynamic DescriptionsSM
Dynamic Descriptions enhance search results by showing the context of search terms as
they actually appear on referring Web pages. This feature provides searchers with
information that helps them to determine the relevance of a given Web page in
association with their query.
Advanced Search Tools
Teoma's Advanced Search tools allow searchers to search using specific criteria, such as
exact phrase, page location, geographic region, domain and site, date, and other word
filters. Users can also search using 10 Western languages, including Danish, Dutch,
English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. A link
to Teoma's Advanced Search tools can be found next to the search box on Teoma.com.
The Teoma Algorithm
In addition to utilizing existing search techniques, Teoma applies what they call
authority, a new measure of relevance, to deliver search results. For this purpose, Teoma
employs three proprietary techniques:
Refine, Results and Resources.
Refine
First, Teoma organizes sites into naturally occurring communities that are about the
subject of each search query. These communities are presented under the heading
"Refine" on the Teoma.com results page. This tool allows a user to further focus his or
her specific search.
For example, a search for "Soprano" would present a user with a set of refinement
suggestions such as "Marie-Adele McArther" (a renowned soprano), "Three Sopranos"
(the operatic trio), "The Sopranos" (the wildly-popular HBO television show) as well as
several other choices. No other technology can dynamically cluster search results into the
actual communities as they exist on the Web.
Results
Next, after identifying these communities, Teoma employs a technique called Subject-
Specific PopularitySM. Subject-Specific Popularity analyzes the relationship of sites
within a community, ranking a site based on the number of same-subject pages that
reference it, among hundreds of other criteria. In other words, Teoma determines the best
answer for a search by asking experts within a specific subject community about who
they believe is the best resource for that subject. By assessing the opinions of a site's
peers, Teoma establishes authority for the search result. Relevant search results ranked by
Subject-Specific Popularity are presented under the heading "Results" on the
Teoma.com results page.
In some instances companies pay to have their Web sites included within Teoma's
dataset, otherwise known as the Teoma Index. Like all Web sites, these sites are
processed through Teoma's search algorithms and are not guaranteed placement in the
results. This ensures that relevancy is the primary driver of results.
Resources
Finally, by dividing the Web into local subject communities, Teoma is able to find and
identify expert resources about a particular subject. These sites feature lists of other
authoritative sites and links relating to the search topic.
For example, a professor of Middle Eastern history may have created a page devoted to
his collection of sites that explain the geography and topography of the Persian Gulf. This
site would appear under the heading "Resources" in response to a Persian Gulf-related
query. No previous search technology has been able to find and rank these sites.
Sponsored Links
Search results appearing under the heading "Sponsored Links" are provided by
Google®, a third party provider of pay for performance search listings. Google generates
highly relevant sponsored results by allowing advertisers to bid for placement in this area
based on relevant keywords. These results, which are powered by Google's advanced
algorithms, are then distributed across the Internet to some of the world's most popular
and well-known Web sites, including Teoma.com and Ask Jeeves.
Other factors
Boolean Searching
Limited Boolean searching is available. Teoma defaults to an AND between search terms
and supports the use of - for NOT. Either OR or ORR can be used for an OR operation,
but the operator must be in all upper case. Unfortunately, no nesting is vailable.
Proximity Searching
Phrase searching is available by using “double quotes” around a phrase or by checking
the "Phrase Match" box. Teoma also supports phrase searching when a dash is used
between words with no spaces. Until Nov. 2002, Teoma's help page stated that "Teoma
returns results which exactly or closely matches the given phrase" which meant that not
all phrases matches will necessarily be accurate. As of Nov. 2002, that appears to have
been corrected and phrase searching now works properly.
Truncation
No truncation is currently available.
Case Sensitivity
Searches are not case sensitive. Search terms entered in lowercase, uppercase, or mixed
case all get the same number of hits.
Stop Words
Teoma does ignore frequently-occurring words such as 'the,' 'of', 'and', and 'or'. However,
like at Google, these stop words can be searched by putting a + in front of them or by
including them within a phrase search.
Sorting
By defaults, sites are sorted in order of perceived relevance. They also have site
collapsing (showing only two pages per site with the rest link via a “More Results”
message. There is no option for sorting alphabetically, by site, or by date.
Display
Teoma displays the title (roughly first 60 characters), a two line keyword-in-context
extract from the page, and the beginning of the URL for each hit. Some will also have a
link to "Related Pages" which finds related records based on identifying Web
communities by analyzing link patterns. Two other sections displayed are the "Refine"
section (formerly folders) that suggest other related searches based on words that Teoma
uses to identify communities on the Web and the "Resources: Link collections from
experts and enthusiasts" (formerly "Experts' Links") which are Web pages that include
numerous links to external resources -- metasites or Internet resource guides. Some
"Sponsored Links" may show up at the top. These are ads from the Google AdWords
program.
Teoma will only display 10 Web page records at a time; however, up to a 100 at a time
can be displayed through a change in the preferences and on the advanced search page.
Teoma may also display up to 10 metasites under the "Resources" heading and up to 6
Refine suggestions.
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