Generation of refinement terms for search queries

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• receiving from a user, by a search system, a search query comprising terms, each of which comprises one or more keywords;
• using at least one association graph comprising terms, each of which comprises one or more keywords, generating, by the search system, a suggested replacement query by:
• designating one or more of the terms of the search query as anchor terms, and the remaining terms of the search query as non-anchor terms, and
• replacing one or more of the non-anchor terms of the search query with one or more suggested replacement terms, to generate the suggested replacement query that includes the one or more anchor terms and the one or more suggested replacement terms;
• presenting the suggested replacement query to the user;
• and,
• responsively to a selection of the suggested replacement query by the user, replacing the search query received from the user with the suggested replacement query, and presenting search results to the user generated responsively to the suggested replacement query.

An apparatus comprising:

• an interface;
• and
• a processor, which is configured to
• receive from a user, via the interface, a search query comprising terms, each of which comprises one or more keywords;
• using at least one association graph comprising terms, each of which comprises one or more keywords, generate a suggested replacement query by:
• (a), designating one or more of the terms of the search query as anchor terms, and the remaining terms of the search query as non-anchor terms, and (b) replacing one or more of the non-anchor terms of the search query with one or more suggested replacement terms, to generate the suggested replacement query that includes the one or more anchor terms and the one or more suggested replacement terms;
• present, via the interface, the suggested replacement query to the user;
• and,
• responsively to a selection of the suggested replacement query by the user, replace the search query received from the user with the suggested replacement query, and present, via the interface, search results to the user generated responsively to the suggested replacement query.

A computer software product, comprising

• a tangible computer-readable medium in which program instructions are stored, which instructions, when read by a computer, cause the computer to receive from a user a search query comprising terms, each of which comprises one or more keywords;
• using at least one association graph comprising terms, each of which comprises one or more keywords, generate a suggested replacement query by:
• (a) designating one or more of the terms of the search query as anchor terms, and the remaining terms of the search query as non-anchor terms, and (b) replacing one or more of the non-anchor terms of the search query with one or more suggested replacement terms, to generate the suggested replacement query that includes the one or more anchor terms and the one or more suggested replacement terms;
• present the suggested replacement query to the user;
• and,
• responsively to a selection of the suggested replacement query by the user, replace the search query received from the user with the suggested replacement query, and present search results to the user generated responsively to the suggested replacement query.