Search Engines

I know how search engines work pretty well and have an appreciation for the problems inherent in them based on their design. I think I am a little more fascinated by the creative ways these software engines draw revenue for the companies that own them. One way of generating revenue is by using “search term bidding” where a search engine company “sells” by via automated auction the placement of a customer’s website on its returned search webform. The idea being the higher on the list a company’s website is returned the more customer “click-throughs” it will receive.

We had an interesting class activity yesterday where we role-played being a search term bidder. The rules were a little vague and there was a lot of confusion about the point of the exercise. It seemed to me that people would bid until they had no more money which would guarantee that the person with the highest amount of available money would always win. The run through of the process with the class proved this out, maybe because we weren’t using real money?? And several people over bid their budget too. Anyway, I found an article that explains search term bidding rather well and clears up (for me anyway), the point of what we were trying to replicate in class: http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com/pay-per-click-search-engine-bidding.shtml