Experiment No.

10

Aim: Implementation of HITS (Hyperlink−Induced Topic) algorithm

The Hyperlink−Induced Topic Search (HITS) algorithm is a popular algorithm used for web link
analysis, particularly in search engine ranking and information retrieval. HITS identifies
authoritative web pages by analyzing the links between them. In this article, we will explore how
to implement the HITS algorithm using the Networxx module in Python. We will provide a
step−by−step guide on how to install the Networxx module and explain its usage with practical
examples.

Understanding HITS Algorithm

The HITS algorithm is based on the idea that authoritative web pages are often linked to by other
authoritative pages. It works by assigning two scores to each web page: the authority score and
the hub score. The authority score measures the quality and relevance of the information provided
by a page, while the hub score represents the page's ability to link to other authoritative pages.

The HITS algorithm iteratively updates the authority and hub scores until convergence is
achieved. It starts by assigning an initial authority score of 1 to all web pages. Then, it calculates
the hub score for each page based on the authority scores of the pages it links to. Then, it updates
the authority scores based on the hub scores of the pages that link to it. This process is repeated
until the scores stabilize.

Installing the Networkx Module

To implement the HITS algorithm using the Networxx module in Python, we first need to install
the module. Networxx is a powerful library that provides a high−level interface for network
analysis tasks. To install Networxx, open your terminal or command prompt and run the below
command:

C:\Windows\system32>cd C:\Users\TAHA\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python311\Scripts
C:\Users\TAHA\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python311\Scripts>pip install networkx

Pip install networkx

Implementing the HITS algorithm with Networxx

After installing the networxx module in Python, we can now implement the HITS algorithm
using this module. The step by step implementation is as follows:
Step 1: Import the required modules

Import all the necessary modules which can be used in the Python script for implementing the
HITS algorithm.

import networkx as nx

Step 2: Create a Graph and add edges

We create an empty directed graph using the DiGraph() class from the networkx module. The
DiGraph() class represents a directed graph where edges have a specific direction, indicating the
flow or relationship between nodes. Then adds edges to the graph G using the add_edges_from()
method. The add_edges_from() method allows us to add multiple edges to the graph at once.
Each edge is represented as a tuple containing the source node and the target node.

In the below code example, we have added the following edges:

 Edge from node 1 to node 2

 Edge from node 1 to node 3
 Edge from node 2 to node 4
 Edge from node 3 to node 4
 Edge from node 4 to node 5

Node 1 has outgoing edges to nodes 2 and 3. Node 2 has an outgoing edge to node 4, and node 3
also has an outgoing edge to node 4. Node 4 has an outgoing edge to node 5. This structure
captures the link relationships between the web pages in the graph.

This graph structure is then used as input for the HITS algorithm to calculate the authority and
hub scores, which measure the importance and relevance of the web pages in the graph.

G = nx.DiGraph()
G.add_edges_from([(1, 2), (1, 3), (2, 4), (3, 4), (4, 5)])

Step 3: Calculate the HITS Scores

We use the hits() function provided by the networkx module to calculate the authority and hub
scores of graph G. The hits() function takes graph G as input and returns two dictionaries:
authority_scores and hub_scores.
Example code:

import networkx as nx

# Step 2: Create a graph and add edges

G = nx.DiGraph()

G.add_edges_from([(1, 2), (1, 3), (2, 4), (3, 4), (4, 5)])

# Step 3: Calculate the HITS scores

authority_scores, hub_scores = nx.hits(G)

# Step 4: Print the scores

print("Authority Scores:", authority_scores)

print("Hub Scores:", hub_scores)

Output

Authority Scores: {1: 0.15488927092118893, 2: 0.42255536453940556, 3:

0.42255536453940556, 4: 4.846328618837104e-17, 5: -0.0}

Hub Scores: {1: -0.0, 2: 0.13411612248994456, 3: 0.1341161224899445, 4:

0.7317677550201108, 5: 8.392715632333246e-17}

Conclusion

We discussed how we can implement the HITS algorithm using the Networkx module of Python.
The HITS algorithm is a significant tool for web link analysis.