System and method for conducting a profile based search

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• a storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the program logic comprising:
• search query receiving logic executed by the processor for receiving a search query including one or more search terms from a user;
• generating logic executed by the processor for generating, based upon the one or more search terms and from tracked user search behavior, a user profile for the user in a data store comprising a plurality of user profiles;
• relationship establishing logic executed by the processor for establishing a contextual relationship between the one or more search terms and user profile characteristics associated with each user profile of the plurality of user profiles;
• parsing logic executed by the processor for parsing the search query into categorical verticals;
• search refinement data determining logic executed by the processor for determining search refinement data relative to the categorical verticals, the search refinement data including at least one of:
• profile information, environmental data relative to the search query and historical behavior data relating to other search queries;
• aggregated search data accessing logic executed by the processor for accessing a database of aggregated search data based on the search refinement data, the search data comprising a plurality of query terms and the plurality of user profiles;
• alternative query term determining logic executed by the processor for determining alternative query terms in the plurality of query terms, the alternative query terms relevant to a set of user profiles in the plurality other than a user's primary profile selected by the user;
• relevant search query and profile determining logic executed by the processor for determining a most relevant search query from the plurality of search queries and the alternative search query terms and a most relevant user profile from the plurality of user profiles, the most relevant user profile based on a plurality of sponsor-purchased public user profiles and both the most relevant search query and the most relevant user profile based on the aggregated search data,
• refining logic executed by the processor for refining the search query based on the most relevant search query and most relevant user profile;
• and
• output display generating logic executed by the processor for generating an output display including a search result set based on the refined search query.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having executable instructions stored thereon such that when the instructions are executed by a processing device, the processing device enables:

• receiving a search query including one or more search terms from a user;
• generating, based upon the one or more search terms and from tracked user search behavior, a user profile for the user in a data store comprising a plurality of user profiles;
• establishing a contextual relationship between the one or more search terms and user profile characteristics associated with each user profile of the plurality of user profiles;
• parsing the search query into categorical verticals;
• determining search refinement data relative to the categorical verticals, the search refinement data including at least one of:
• profile information, environmental data relative to the search query and historical behavior data relating to other search queries;
• accessing a database of aggregated search data based on the search refinement data, the search data comprising a plurality of query terms and the plurality of user profiles;
• determining alternative query terms in the plurality of query terms, the alternative query terms relevant to a set of user profiles in the plurality other than a user's primary profile selected by the user;
• determining a most relevant search query from the plurality of search queries and the alternative query terms and a most relevant user profile from the plurality of user profiles, the most relevant user profile based on a plurality of sponsor-purchased public user profiles and both the most relevant search query and the most relevant user profile based on the aggregated search data;
• refining the search query based on the most relevant search query and most relevant user profile;
• and
• generating an output display including a search result set based on the refined search query.