1. A computer-implemented method for assigning a search query to one or more verticals, the method comprising the steps of: segmenting a search query into one or more units; wherein each unit of the one or more units is an element of a query; for each of the one or more verticals, computing a coverage adjusted log likelihood for the search query; wherein, for each particular vertical of the one or more verticals, the coverage adjusted log likelihood for the particular vertical is a conditional probability of the query appearing in a log of queries previously submitted within the particular vertical given the one or more units; and assigning the search query to a subset of the one or more verticals based in part on the coverage adjusted log likelihood.