Described herein are systems and methods for bidirectional matching. In overview, various embodiments provide software, hardware and methodologies underlying a bidirectional matching approach that implements a multi-level importance weighting procedure. Generally speaking, potential relationships between parties are scored on the basis of criterion matches. In some embodiments, a value is assigned to each criterion match based on a function of predefined factor, which is optionally experientially defined, and a further factor, which is defined based on individual preferences.