Computing features of structured data

A system for computing features of structured data, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• memory comprising instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
• accessing, by a computing device, a table, the table including a subject column, a non-subject column, and a plurality of rows, cells of the table being at intersections between columns and rows of the table, the table annotated with additional content relevant to describing the table;
• generating, by the computing device, an index for the table by indexing at least over data within the table along with the additional content;
• storing, by the computing device, the index within a database, the index improving a relevance of providing the table in search results;
• deriving, by the computing device, a semantic attribute for a first cell at an intersection of the non-subject column and a row of the table, wherein the semantic attribute comprises a first value in the first cell, a second value in a second cell at the intersection of the subject column and the row, and a name value for the non-subject column;
• calculating, by the computing device, a first occurrence metric for the semantic attribute, the first occurrence metric indicating how frequently the semantic attribute is included in a plurality of other tables;
• calculating, by the computing device, a second occurrence metric for the semantic attribute, the second occurrence metric indicating how frequently the semantic attribute is included in a web page that is selected from presented search results;
• determining, by the computing device, a feature of the table by aggregating the semantic attribute, the first occurrence metric, and the second occurrence metric, wherein the feature of the table indicates a popularity or a trustworthiness of the table relative to the plurality of other tables;
• creating, by the computing device, a ranking for the table based at least in part on the feature, wherein a more popular table is ranked higher than a less popular table, and wherein a more trustworthy table is ranked higher than a less trustworthy table;
• receiving, by the computing device, a search query;
• and
• surfacing, by the computing device, results from the table that satisfy the search query based at least in part on the ranking in order to distinguish the table from at least one other table that also satisfies the search query.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

• accessing, by a computing device, a table, the table including a subject column, a non-subject column, and a plurality of rows, cells of the table being at intersections between columns and rows, the table annotated with additional content relevant to describing the table;
• deriving, by the computing device, for each cell in the non-subject column, a semantic attribute, wherein the semantic attribute for a first cell in a non-subject column comprises a first value in the first cell, a second value in a second cell at the intersection of the subject column and a row corresponding to the first cell, and a name value for the non-subject column;
• calculating, by the computing device, for the semantic attribute of each cell in the non-subject column, a first occurrence metric and a second occurrence metric, the first occurrence metric indicating how frequently the semantic attribute is included in a plurality of other tables, the second occurrence metric indicating how frequently the semantic attribute is included in a web page that is selected from presented search results;
• determining, by the computing device, a feature of the table by aggregating a plurality of semantic attributes, a plurality of first occurrence metrics, and a plurality of second occurrence metrics, wherein the feature of the table indicates a popularity or a trustworthiness of the table relative to the plurality of other tables;
• creating, by the computing device, a ranking for the table based at least in part on the feature, wherein a more popular table is ranked higher than a less popular table, and wherein a more trustworthy table is ranked higher than a less trustworthy table;
• receiving, by the computing device, a search query;
• and
• surfacing, by the computing device, results from the table that satisfy the search query based at least in part on the ranking in order to distinguish the table from at least one other table that also satisfies the search query.