Entity linking to query terms on online social networks

One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:

• receive, from a client system of a first user of an online social network, a search query comprising a character string inputted by the first user;
• parse the character string to identify a plurality of n-grams;
• identify one or more entity candidates matching one or more of the n-grams, wherein each entity candidate corresponds to an entity associated with the online social network, each entity candidate being associated with one or more entity features and one or more type features, and wherein each entity candidate is of a particular entity type;
• calculate, for each entity candidate, a confidence score representing a likelihood that the entity candidate is intended to match the corresponding n-gram, wherein the confidence score is based on:
• an entity-score based on the one or more entity features, the entity-score representing a likelihood that the entity candidate matches the corresponding n-gram, and
• a type-score based on the one or more type features, the type-score representing a likelihood that the entity type associated with the entity candidate matches an entity type the first user intended to reference with the corresponding n-gram;
• assign an entity candidate to one or more of the n-grams based on the calculated confidence scores corresponding to the n-grams;
• and
• send, to the client system for display, instructions for presenting a search-results interface responsive to the search query, wherein the search-results interface comprises one or more search results corresponding to one or more identified objects, respectively, matching the assigned entities and the n-grams from the query.

A system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and a non-transitory memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors operable when executing the instructions to:
• receive, from a client system of a first user of an online social network, a search query comprising a character string inputted by the first user;
• parse the character string to identify a plurality of n-grams;
• identify one or more entity candidates matching one or more of the n-grams, wherein each entity candidate corresponds to an entity associated with the online social network, each entity candidate being associated with one or more entity features and one or more type features, and wherein each entity candidate is of a particular entity type;
• calculate, for each entity candidate, a confidence score representing a likelihood that the entity candidate is intended to match the corresponding n-gram, wherein the confidence score is based on:
• an entity-score based on the one or more entity features, the entity-score representing a likelihood that the entity candidate matches the corresponding n-gram, and
• a type-score based on the one or more type features, the type-score representing a likelihood that the entity type associated with the entity candidate matches an entity type the first user intended to reference with the corresponding n-gram;
• assign an entity candidate to one or more of the n-grams based on the calculated confidence scores corresponding to the n-grams;
• and
• send, to the client system for display, instructions for presenting a search-results interface responsive to the search query, wherein the search-results interface comprises one or more search results corresponding to one or more identified objects, respectively, matching the assigned entities and the n-grams from the query.