Indexing and searching content behind links presented in a communication

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, communications from senders to a user;

creating, by the computing device, profiles for the senders;

extracting, by the computing device, links from the communications in response to receiving the communications; and

adding, by the computing device, each of the extracted links to a respective profile for a sender of the communication from which the link is extracted.

2. The method of claim 1 , the extracting links from the communications comprising identifying one or more elements in the communications matching a preset web page link textual pattern.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

characterizing, by the computing device, content associated with each of the extracted links to provide characterization data; and

storing, by the computing device in a memory, the characterization data for use in responding to an access request.

4. The method of claim 3 , the characterizing content comprising generating a textual summary of the extracted links.

5. The method of claim 4 , the generating the textual summary of the extracted links comprising analyzing a content source selected from the group consisting of a uniform resource locator (URL) of an extracted link, text content surrounding the extracted link, metadata associated with a page referenced by the extracted link, content associated with the page referenced by the extracted link, a plurality of additional links included in the page referenced by the extracted link.

6. The method of claim 3 , the storing the characterization data for use in responding to an access request further comprising indexing the characterization data.

7. The method of claim 6 , the indexing the characterization data comprising utilizing a category index, the category index mapping categories to the characterization data.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium for tangibly storing computer program instructions capable of being executed by a computer processor, the computer program instructions defining the steps of:

receiving, at the computer processor, communications from senders to a user;

creating, by the computer processor, profiles for the senders;

extracting, by the computer processor, links from the communications in response to receiving the communications; and

adding, by the computer processor, each of the extracted links to a respective profile for a sender of the communication from which the link is extracted.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8 , the extracting links from the communications comprising identifying one or more elements in the communications matching a preset web page link textual pattern.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8 , the computer program instructions further defining the steps of:

characterizing, by the computer processor, content associated with each of the extracted links to provide characterization data; and

storing, by the computer processor in a memory, the characterization data for use in responding to an access request.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10 , the characterizing content comprising generating a textual summary of the extracted links.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , the generating the textual summary of the extracted links comprising analyzing a content source selected from the group consisting of a uniform resource locator (URL) of an extracted link, text content surrounding the extracted link, metadata associated with a page referenced by the extracted link, content associated with the page referenced by the extracted link, a plurality of additional links included in the page referenced by the extracted link.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10 , the storing the characterization data for use in responding to an access request further comprising indexing the characterization data.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , the indexing the characterization data comprising utilizing a category index, the category index mapping categories to the characterization data.

15. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the program logic causing the processor to perform the operations of:

receiving communications from senders to a user;

creating profiles for the senders;

extracting links from the communications in response to receiving the communications; and

adding each of the extracted links to a respective profile for a sender of the communication from which the link is extracted.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , the extracting links from the communications comprising identifying one or more elements in the communications matching a preset web page link textual pattern.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 , the operations further comprising:

characterizing content associated with each of the extracted links to provide characterization data; and

storing, in memory, the characterization data for use in responding to an access request.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , the characterizing content comprising generating a textual summary of the extracted links.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , the generating the textual summary of the extracted links comprising analyzing a content source selected from the group consisting of a uniform resource locator (URL) of an extracted link, text content surrounding the extracted link, metadata associated with a page referenced by the extracted link, content associated with the page referenced by the extracted link, a plurality of additional links included in the page referenced by the extracted link.

20. The apparatus of claim 17 , the storing the characterization data for use in responding to an access request further comprising indexing the characterization data.