1. A method for preparing a system with a confidence based ranking algorithm, comprising: receiving at least one data record; determining a confidence value for each attribute value in each data record, wherein the determining comprises evaluating accuracy, not frequency, of each attribute value; associating at least one confidence value with each attribute value for each data record and using a unique identifier for each record, wherein the unique identifier and the confidence value are combined to form an ordered pair; storing at least one attribute value and at least one associated confidence value for each data record; creating a searchable data structure based on the attribute values and their associated confidence values; and updating the searchable data structure based on periodically determined associated confidence values, wherein the periodic determination occurs independent of the frequency at which the data is received.