Employing user activity data of variants for improved search

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• receiving a first variant of a listing and a second variant of the listing, the listing describes an item for sale in an electronic marketplace, the first variant describes a different iteration of the item relative to the second variant;
• generating first user activity data of the first variant and generating second user activity data of the second variant, wherein the first user activity data corresponds to user input metrics associated with the first variant, and wherein the second user activity data corresponds to user input metrics associated with the second variant;
• receiving, at a search engine, a first query associated with the first variant;
• in response to the receiving of the first query and based on the first user activity data, ranking, at a first time, the listing as a search result;
• receiving, at the search engine, a second query associated with the second variant;
• and
• in response to the receiving of the second query and based on the second user activity data, ranking, at a second time subsequent to the first time, the listing as another search result, wherein the ranking of the listing at the second time is different relative to the ranking of the listing at the first time based at least in part on the second user activity data relative to the first user activity data.

One or more computer storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, the method comprising:

• receiving a first listing and a first variant that describes an iteration of the first listing relative to a second variant of the first listing, wherein the listing describes a first item for sale in an electronic marketplace;
• receiving a second listing and a third variant that describes an iteration of the second listing, wherein the second listing describes a second item for sale in the electronic marketplace;
• generating first user activity data of the first variant and generating third user activity data of the third variant, wherein the first user activity data corresponds to user input metrics associated with the first variant, and wherein the third user activity data corresponds to user input metrics associated with the third variant;
• receiving a query associated with the first variant and the third variant;
• and
• based on the query and the first user activity data relative to the third user activity data, ranking the first listing higher than the second listing.