Patent ID: 8700613

Claim:
A method of generating a search results list in response to a search request, the request comprising one or more search terms, the search terms being held in a storage system arranged to store a plurality of search listings, one or more search terms, and a bid amount, wherein each search listing is associated with a network location providing access to a set of data, the method comprising: receiving, at a server, a search request made by a subscriber; accessing, by the server, the storage system so as to identify search listings having search terms generating a match with the received search request; retrieving, by the server, data indicative of a first bid amount and a network location corresponding to each matched search term, the network location providing access to a set of data corresponding to the matched search term; generating, by the server, a second bid amount based on the first bid amount and an amount of data associated with the set of data accessible via the network location, wherein the second bid amount is at least partially indicative of a transmission cost to the subscriber for delivery of the data corresponding to the search term; ordering, by the server, the identified search listings into a search results list in accordance with values corresponding to respective second bid amounts for the identified search listings; and outputting, by the server, data indicative of the ordered search result list, the outputted data comprising a plurality of selectable links, each corresponding to a network location.