Design and Analysis of Sponsored Search Mechanisms

Design and Analysis of Sponsored Search Mechanisms
Author: Renato Paes Leme
Publisher:
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2013
Genre:
ISBN:

Auctions have become the standard way of allocating resources in electronic markets. Two main reasons why designing auctions is hard are the need to cope with strategic behavior of the agents, who will constantly adjust their bids seeking more items at lower prices, and the fact that the environment is highly dynamic and uncertain. Many market designs which became de-facto industrial standards allow strategic manipulation by the agents, but nevertheless display good behavior in practice. In this thesis, we analyze why such designs turned out to be so successful despite strategic behavior and environment uncertainty. Our goal is to learn from this analysis and to use the lessons learned to design new auction mechanisms, as well as fine-tune the existing ones. We illustrate this research line through the analysis and design of Ad Auctions mechanisms. We do so by studying the equilibrium behavior of a game induced by Ad Auctions, and show that all equilibria have good welfare and revenue properties. Next, we present new Ad Auction designs that take into account richer features such as budgets, multiple keywords, heterogeneous slots and online supply.

Understanding Sponsored Search

Understanding Sponsored Search
Author: Jim Jansen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2011-07-25
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1139503421

This book addresses the underlying foundational elements, both theoretical and methodological, of sponsored search. As such, the contents are less affected by the ever-changing implementation aspects of technology. Rather than focusing on the how, this book examines what causes the how. Why do certain keywords work, while others do not? Why does that ad work well, when others that are similar do not? Why does a key phrase cost a given amount? Why do we measure what we do in keyword advertising? This book speaks to that curiosity to understand why we do what we do in sponsored search. The content flows through the major components of any sponsored search effort, regardless of the underlying technology or client or product. The book addresses keywords, ads, consumers, pricing, competitors, analytics, branding, marketing and advertising, integrating these separate components into an incorporated whole. The focus is on the critical elements, with ample illustrations and with enough detail to lead the interested reader to further inquiry.

Sponsored Search Auctions

Sponsored Search Auctions
Author: Song Yao
Publisher:
Total Pages: 57
Release: 2010
Genre:
ISBN:

We systematically overview the literature in key word search and propose several promising research directions. The paper is organized by each agent in the search process: searchers, advertisers and the search engine, and reviews the key research issues for each. For each group, we outline the decision process involved in keyword search. For searchers, this involves what to search, where to search, which results to click, and when to exit search. For advertisers, this involves where to bid and which word or words to bid on, how much to bid and how searchers and auction mechanisms moderate these behaviors. The search engine faces choices on mechanism design, website design, and how much information to share with its advertisers and searchers. These choices have implications for customer lifetime value and the nature of competition between advertisers. Overall, we list a number of potential areas of future research arising from the decision processes of these various agents.

Agent-Mediated Electronic Commerce. Designing Trading Strategies and Mechanisms for Electronic Markets

Agent-Mediated Electronic Commerce. Designing Trading Strategies and Mechanisms for Electronic Markets
Author: Esther David
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 285
Release: 2010-09-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3642151167

This volume contains 18 thoroughly refereed and revised papers detailing recent advances in research on designing trading agents and mechanisms for agent-mediated e-commerce. They were originally presented at the 11th International Workshop on Agent-Mediated Electronic Commerce (AMEC 2009) collocated with AAMAS 2009 in Budapest, Hungary, or the 2009 Workshop on Trading Agent Design and Analysis (TADA 2009) collocated with IJCAI 2009 in Pasadena, CA, USA. The papers focus on topics such as individual agent behavior and agent interaction, collective behavior, mechanism design, and computational aspects, all in the context of e-commerce applications like trading, auctions, or negotiations. They combine approaches from different fields of mathematics, computer science, and economics such as artificial intelligence, distributed systems, operations research, and game theory.

An Empirical Analysis of Search Engine Advertising

An Empirical Analysis of Search Engine Advertising
Author: Anindya Ghose
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN:

The phenomenon of sponsored search advertising - where advertisers pay a fee to Internet search engines to be displayed alongside organic (non-sponsored) web search results - is gaining ground as the largest source of revenues for search engines. Using a unique 6 month panel dataset of several hundred keywords collected from a large nationwide retailer that advertises on Google, we empirically model the relationship between different sponsored search metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, cost-per-click, and ranking of advertisements. Our paper proposes a novel framework and data to better understand the factors that drive differences in these metrics. We use a Hierarchical Bayesian modeling framework and estimate the model using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. Using a simultaneous equations model, we quantify the relationship between various keyword characteristics, position of the advertisement and the landing page quality score on consumer search and purchase behavior as well as on advertiser's cost-per-click and the search engine's ranking decision. Specifically, we find that (i) retailer-specific keywords are associated with an increase in click-through and conversion rates while brand-specific keywords are associated with a decrease in click-through and conversion rates, (ii) the monetary value of a click is not uniform across all positions because conversion rates are highest at the top and decrease with rank on as one goes down the search engine results page, (iii) while search engines take into account the current period's bid as well as prior click-through rates before deciding the final rank of an advertisement in the current period, the current bid has a larger effect than prior click-through rates, (iv) an increase in landing page quality scores is associated with an increase in conversion rates and a decrease in advertiser's cost-per-click and (v) keywords that have more prominent positions on the search engine results page, and thus experience higher click-through or conversion rates are not necessarily the most profitable ones - profits are often higher at the middle positions than at the top or the bottom ones. Besides providing managerial insights into search engine advertising, these results shed light on some key assumptions made in the theoretical modeling literature in sponsored search.

Design and Analysis of Mechanisms

Design and Analysis of Mechanisms
Author: Michael J. Rider
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2015-07-07
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1119054338

A planar or two-dimensional (2D) mechanism is the combination of two or more machine elements that are designed to convey a force or motion across parallel planes. For any mechanical engineer, young or old, an understanding of planar mechanism design is fundamental. Mechanical components and complex machines, such as engines or robots, are often designed and conceptualised in 2D before being extended into 3D. Designed to encourage a clear understanding of the nature and design of planar mechanisms, this book favours a frank and straightforward approach to teaching the basics of planar mechanism design and the theory of machines with fully worked examples throughout. Key Features: Provides simple instruction in the design and analysis of planar mechanisms, enabling the student to easily navigate the text and find the desired material Covers topics of fundamental importance to mechanical engineering, from planar mechanism kinematics, 2D linkage analyses and 2D linkage design to the fundamentals of spur gears and cam design Shows numerous example solutions using EES (Engineering Equation Solver) and MATLAB software, with appendices dedicated to explaining the use of both computer tools Follows end-of-chapter problems with clearly detailed solutions

Game Theoretic Problems in Network Economics and Mechanism Design Solutions

Game Theoretic Problems in Network Economics and Mechanism Design Solutions
Author: Y. Narahari
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2009-04-03
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1848009380

This monograph focuses on exploring game theoretic modeling and mechanism design for problem solving in Internet and network economics. For the first time, the main theoretical issues and applications of mechanism design are bound together in a single text.

Algorithms of Oppression

Algorithms of Oppression
Author: Safiya Umoja Noble
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2018-02-20
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1479837245

Acknowledgments -- Introduction: the power of algorithms -- A society, searching -- Searching for Black girls -- Searching for people and communities -- Searching for protections from search engines -- The future of knowledge in the public -- The future of information culture -- Conclusion: algorithms of oppression -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the author

Algorithmic Game Theory

Algorithmic Game Theory
Author: Noam Nisan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 928
Release: 2007-09-24
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1139466542

In recent years game theory has had a substantial impact on computer science, especially on Internet- and e-commerce-related issues. Algorithmic Game Theory, first published in 2007, develops the central ideas and results of this exciting area in a clear and succinct manner. More than 40 of the top researchers in this field have written chapters that go from the foundations to the state of the art. Basic chapters on algorithmic methods for equilibria, mechanism design and combinatorial auctions are followed by chapters on important game theory applications such as incentives and pricing, cost sharing, information markets and cryptography and security. This definitive work will set the tone of research for the next few years and beyond. Students, researchers, and practitioners alike need to learn more about these fascinating theoretical developments and their widespread practical application.