The invention relates to an online information retrieval system having a queue for storing load requests and a set of two or more load managers for retrieving data from the queue and indexing documents based on the request retrieved from the queue. Each load manager resides in a different geographical location. A set of candidate documents comprise a unique identifier and a version indicator, wherein the unique identifier for each candidate document is identical for a given document and the version indicator is associated with a determination of which document within the set of candidate documents shall ultimately be communicated to a user.