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Making Bible Search Results Relevant
Stephen SmithBible Gateway
March 25, 2011
Agenda
1. How people search Bible Gateway1. Four types of searches2. Seven ways people find verses
2. How people browse Bible Gateway1. Verse popularity2. Parsing queries3. Different translations
Source Data
• Bible Gateway logs, May-November 2010• 160 GB• Processed mostly with Perl• Amazon EC2
Search
Long Tail of Searches
Longer tail queries (log)
Num
ber o
f que
ries (
log)
Percentage of Misspellings
Longer tail queries
SermanPerserveranceVengenceJezabelProdical son
Query Types Change Down the Tail
Longer tail queries
1. Quote
Phil 4:13 Search Quotes
I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me.
Seven Verse Search StrategiesType Example Percent
Exact word / phrase I can do all things 80
Similar verse With God, all things are possible 9
Partial word / misspelling Christ who strengthen me 6
Concept Not alone 3
Keywords Gives strength 2
Minor switch You can do all things 0.6
Paraphrase All things through God 0.5
2. Concept
BG Path Analysis for [strength]Reference Text %
Exod 15:2 The LORD is my strength and my defense… 2.17
Isa 40:31 …will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles… 1.27
Eph 3:16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you… 1.26
Ps 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield… 1.22
Phil 4:13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. 1.04
Reference Text %
Phil 4:13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. 17.5
Deut 31:6 Be strong and courageous… 11.7
Deut 20:4 The LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you…
10.4
1 Cor 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common… 5.38
Eccl 4:12 A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. 3.15
Topical Bible Entries for [strength]
3. Named Entity
Types of Named Entities
Other
GroupJesus
God
Place
Person
4. Story
Types of Story Queries
Synecdoche
Section
Longer tail queries
% o
f Que
ry T
ype
Improving Story-Level Results
For sections, use existing headings to improve recall from 48% to 63%
Path analysis works well for synecdoche
Search Summary
1. Quote: exact word / phrase, similar verse, partial word / misspelling, concept, keyword, paraphrase
2. Concept: most-popular queries; use human intelligence
3. Named Entity: most commonly people4. Story: use metadata
Browse
Old vs. New Testament Popularity
Popularity
Physical Length
Book PopularityM
ore
popu
lar (
log)
Chapter PopularityM
ore
popu
lar (
log)
Verse PopularityM
ore
popu
lar (
log)
Verse Popularity DistributionM
ore
popu
lar (
log)
John 3:16
Num 7:51: “one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old for a burnt offering”
Acts 27:6: “There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy and put us on board.”
Passage Types
71% passage
29% search
Single verse 21%
Sub-chapter range 21%
Chapter 53%
Super-chapter range 2%Multiple passages 3%
Query ComponentsType Example
Book Genesis
Book Chapter Verse Genesis 1:2
Book Chapter Genesis 1
Book Verse Philemon 7
Chapter Verse 1:2
Chapter Ch 1
Verse Verse 2
Integer 3
Translation KJV
And following… Genesis 1:2ff.
Range Genesis 1:2-3
Sequence Genesis 1, 4
Ways to Spell “Genesis”
1. Genesis2. Gen3. Genisis4. Gensis5. Genises6. Genisus7. Gene8. Genis9. Ge10. Geneses11. Geneis12. Genes
13. Genasis14. Genesus15. Genese16. Genesi17. Genius18. Genisi19. Genn20. Gennises21. Genise22. Genessis23. Genezis24. Genenis25. Geness26. Geni27. Gn28. Genesia29. Genesses
…60 more
Geonosis
Geonosis
Corner CasesQuery Problem Best Practice
Genesis 1:5-3 Reversed range Gen.1.5,Gen.1.3 + error
Genesis 49-51 End of range too high Gen.49-Gen.50
Psalm 121-22 Omitting digit Ps.121-Ps.122
1 John 1:2-3 John 2 Book name conflict 1John.1.2-3John.1.2
Philemon 1 Chapter-verse conflict Phlm.1
Philemon 1-2 Chapter-verse range conflict Phlm.1.1-Phlm.1.2
Matt 5,6 Localization Matt.5,Matt.6
Gen 315 Ambiguous reference Gen.3.15
Ma 2 Ambiguous book Matt.2
Ambiguous References
50%
Gen 315 = Gen 3:15 or Gen 31:5?97% of the time, it’s Gen 3:15
Ambiguous Book Names
Ma 1:1 = Matthew 1:1, Mark 1:1, or Malachi 1:1?
50%
Translations
Traditional vs. Contemporary Language in English Bible Translations
% p
agev
iew
s
Section
Section Popularity Varies by Translation Type
Summary
1. Four types of searches.2. Concepts dominate most-popular queries;
quotes dominate the long tail.3. Seven search strategies to find verses.4. Optimize for the New Testament.5. Optimize for passage queries, especially
contiguous passages.6. Accept a variety of book names.
