HITS (Hubs and Authorities)
Discover hubs and authoritative sources
HITS identifies two types of important nodes: hubs (nodes that link to many authorities) and authorities (nodes linked to by many hubs).
What It Computes
Two scores per node:
- Hub score: Quality as a curator/aggregator
- Authority score: Quality as a source/expert
When to Use It
- Web analysis: Find authoritative pages and link aggregators
- Citation networks: Discover influential papers and surveys
- Recommendation: Separate content creators from curators
Performance
Time: O(E) per iteration
Typical: 10-20 iterations
Scales to: 10M+ edges
Example
Use Cases
Web Search
Authority: High-quality content pages
Hub: Link directories, resource pages
Academic Citations
Authority: Seminal papers
Hub: Survey papers, reviews
Social Media
Authority: Content creators, experts
Hub: News aggregators, curators
HITS vs PageRank
| Aspect | HITS | PageRank |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | Hub + Authority | Single score |
| Best for | Distinguishing roles | General importance |
| Use when | Two-sided marketplace | Uniform ranking |
See Also
- PageRank - Single importance score
- Degree Centrality - Simple connectivity