11. A method for creating a term index for use in ranking results of a search of a plurality of pages in an intranet, each page comprising a plurality of terms arranged in a hierarchical structure, the method comprising acts of: (A) parsing the plurality of pages to identify the plurality of terms, wherein at least one page of the plurality of pages comprises a plurality of instances of a term of the plurality of terms; (B) for each of the plurality of pages: (i) automatically computing, for each instance of each identified term, a specificity value of the instance based upon a combination of a tag parameter associated with the instance and a term level of the instance within the hierarchical structure of the page, the term level being measured from a root tag of the page; (ii) combining, for each identified term, the computed specificity value of the instances of the identified term within the page to produce a combined specificity value for the identified term; and (iii) storing in the term index for each identified term, the page in which the identified term appears, and information identifying the identified term in conjunction with information indicating the combined specificity value for the identified term.
11. A method for creating a term index for use in ranking results of a search of a plurality of pages in an intranet, each page comprising a plurality of terms arranged in a hierarchical structure, the method comprising acts of: (A) parsing the plurality of pages to identify the plurality of terms, wherein at least one page of the plurality of pages comprises a plurality of instances of a term of the plurality of terms; (B) for each of the plurality of pages: (i) automatically computing, for each instance of each identified term, a specificity value of the instance based upon a combination of a tag parameter associated with the instance and a term level of the instance within the hierarchical structure of the page, the term level being measured from a root tag of the page; (ii) combining, for each identified term, the computed specificity value of the instances of the identified term within the page to produce a combined specificity value for the identified term; and (iii) storing in the term index for each identified term, the page in which the identified term appears, and information identifying the identified term in conjunction with information indicating the combined specificity value for the identified term. 18. The method of claim 11 , wherein combining the computed specificity values of the instances of the identified term within the page comprises averaging the computed specificity values of the instances of the identified term within the page.