A system and method are directed towards automatically modifying an online dating service's search results based on adaptive personalizations from a user's activities. A user provides input to questions that seek information regarding the user. The invention employs the input to identify a list of candidates for a potential long-term social relationship with the user. The invention may then develop a unified search score for each candidate that represents a weighted sum of normalized search subscores. The subscores represent various user activities, affinities with a candidate, frequencies of viewing a candidate profile, and feedback about a candidate from the user. The unified search score for each candidate is then used to rank order the results presented to the user.