Abstract: In a method for providing to a user commercial information regarding at least one of a product or a service, at least one of 1) a query of the user, or 2) an answer to the query is analyzed, and an activity of the user is inferred based on the analysis of the query and/or the answer. A general product or service to support the activity is determined, and a vendor that provides the general product or service is determined in response to determining the general product or service. Information regarding a specific product or service provided by the vendor is obtained, wherein the specific product or service corresponds to the general product or service. Commercial information corresponding to the specific product or service provided by the vendor is generated, wherein the commercial information is for electronic transmission to the user.

Abstract: A system including a search engine, an advertiser server, and a user computer. The search engine server has a first computer-readable medium containing information for a search provider's web page. The advertiser server is coupled to the search engine server and has a second computer-readable medium containing information for an advertiser's web page. The user computer is coupled to the search engine and the advertiser's server, and the user computer having a monitor that is configured to display web pages. The search provider's web page, when displayed on the monitor, includes ads with each ad including a link to an advertiser's web page. An advertiser is an entity whose ad is displayed on the search provider's web page. A position of each ad on the search provider's web page is dependent upon whether the search provider is due payment from the advertiser.