9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 further comprising: prior to processing the query, receiving an item listing from a seller; associating the item listing with a category selected by the seller; and storing in the dictionary, the item listing and the corresponding category selected by the seller.
8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a set of instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, comprising: processing a query to identify a set of item listings, each item listing associated with an item or service being offered for sale and assigned to a leaf-level category; determining a scope of the query based on a dictionary of queries or a length of the query when the query is not found in the dictionary; identifying one or more categories based on the scope of the query; and presenting a search results page with the item listings from the identified one or more categories.