1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium tangibly encoded with computer program process code, that when executed by a search server, performs a method comprising: receiving a search query from a user computing device, said search query comprising a string of characters representing a particular thing; searching over a network, a repository of digital information related to the search server based on search query, said searching comprising identifying a set of search results corresponding to said particular thing; searching, over a network, for popularity information for each search result, said popularity information search comprising analyzing indirect links or Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) associated with each search result, and based on said analysis, identifying behavior activity of other users respective to each result, said behavior activity comprising data representing said popularity information for each search result; communicating, over the network to the user computing device, a user interface (UI) comprising the search results and an associated indicator reflective of the popularity information for each search result, said communication causing each of the indicators to be displayed along with results of the search query within said UI, said communication further causing said user computing device to execute a browser helper application to facilitate the search server's monitoring of user interactions with the UI; automatically monitoring, over the network via the search server, user interactions with the displayed results within the communicated UI, said automatic monitoring occurring without requiring additional input by performing said monitoring without necessitating the use of the indirect links or the URLs associated with each search result; and causing, via the search sever over the network, based on said monitoring, the communicated UI to be updated, said updating comprising updating the search results and popularity information for the particular thing within the UI displayed on the user computing device based on the monitored user interactions, said popularity information updated based on weighted indirect information derived from users associated with said monitored interactions, said indirect information comprising additional information about the users that is automatically determined from analysis of the user interactions and weighted based on an identity of each of the users.