1. A computer-implemented method for ranking content entities by their associated web pages and search queries, the method comprising: at a computer system having memory and one or more processors: performing an automated textual analysis on one or more predefined websites to identify a plurality of reference web pages, further including determining content information and one or more corresponding search queries for each reference web page, wherein a reference web page is a web page whose content information provides an accurate description of a particular content entity; for a respective content entity: identifying a subset of the reference web pages associated with the respective content entity and the corresponding search queries based on the content information of the reference web pages and query terms of the corresponding search queries; and inferring a popularity ranking for the respective content entity based on one or more server and/or search logs of user interactions with the identified subset of reference web pages and the corresponding search queries; and in response to a user search request related to one or more content entities, selecting at least a subset of the content entities for display to an end user in accordance with their respective popularity rankings.
1. A computer-implemented method for ranking content entities by their associated web pages and search queries, the method comprising: at a computer system having memory and one or more processors: performing an automated textual analysis on one or more predefined websites to identify a plurality of reference web pages, further including determining content information and one or more corresponding search queries for each reference web page, wherein a reference web page is a web page whose content information provides an accurate description of a particular content entity; for a respective content entity: identifying a subset of the reference web pages associated with the respective content entity and the corresponding search queries based on the content information of the reference web pages and query terms of the corresponding search queries; and inferring a popularity ranking for the respective content entity based on one or more server and/or search logs of user interactions with the identified subset of reference web pages and the corresponding search queries; and in response to a user search request related to one or more content entities, selecting at least a subset of the content entities for display to an end user in accordance with their respective popularity rankings. 2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of reference web pages each have a respective predefined textual pattern.