Exploring mouse movements for inferring query intent

Clickthrough on search results have been successfully used to infer user interest and preferences, but are often noisy and potentially ambiguous. We explore the potential of a complementary, more sensitive signal -mouse movements- in providing insights into the intent behind a web search query. We report preliminary results of studying user mouse movements on search result pages, with the goal of inferring user intent - in particular, to explore whether we can automatically distinguish the different query classes such as navigational vs. informational. Our preliminary exploration confirms the value of studying mouse movements for user intent inference, and suggests interesting avenues for future exploration.