In search quality, there are query-dependent ranking signals, and query-independent ranking signals.

Query-independent signals are things like the Page Rank of a given result.

Query-dependent signals are things like, "for this query, how often is this result clicked on by users when it shows up in the search results."

You can also think of user-dependent ranking signals, and user-independent.

A user-independent quality signal for a Maps listing is "what is the average rating score of this place."

A user-dependent quality signal is "what is the average rating of this place for people with similar preferences as this user?"

In systems with more context, the user-dependent ranking signals will get more and more important.