A Search Log Analysis of a Portuguese Web Search Engine

We present a characterization of the information-seeking be- havior of the users of a Portuguese web search engine, based on the analysis of its logs. We obtained detailed statistics about the users' ses- sions, queries, terms and searched topics over a period of two years. The results show that the users prefer fast and short sessions, composed of short queries and few clicks. The trend is towards a reduction of the number of interactions with the web search engine. We also discuss the specificities and interests of the Portuguese users and their implications on the development of better adapted web search engines.

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