SERPWatcher: A SERP Mining Tool as a Novel Social Survey Method in Sociology

Abstract

Web search engines accept keywords and return a search engine results page (SERP). Since the SERP itself and the ranking order change with time reflecting the changes in society, it might be possible to accurately follow the movement of society by mining SERPs. This demonstration shows a SERP mining tool named SERPWatcher, which could be a novel social survey method in the field of sociology in that it totally differs from the traditional methods such as questionnaires and interviews.