SUMMARYIn peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, with the aim to support semantic search and keep scalability at the same time, a novel double-layer P2P protocol is proposed. Firstly, keywords representing resource characteristics are compressed into bloom filters and structured P2P layer is constructed. Secondly, through analyzing one's bloom filters, each node extracts its interest, which is represented by a characteristic vector V . After obtaining common interest among nodes through comparing their V s, a small-world model is constructed, and another unstructured P2P layer is obtained. Consequently, on the basis of the decentralized architecture, a double-layer semantic search P2P protocol is structured. When objective resource is being located, its similarity to local interest is used to determine whether it should be located in unstructured P2P semantic layer or structured layer adaptively, which not only improves search efficiency but also supports semantic location more widely.