A theoretical analysis of a keyword auction: How rational the current settings of keyword auction are

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The purpose of this research project is to explore how rational the current settings of keyword auctions are by means of a game theoretic analysis and a computer simulation.In the first study, we explore a slot supply strategy of a search engine. Based on the revenue prediction from a game theoretic analysis, we show that restricting the number of the ads in a search result page and highlighting the top ads are consistent with the revenue maximization of the sellers.In the second study, we explore the bidding behavior of advertisers in a sealed-bid environment, where each bidder does not know the current bids of others. It is shown that even in a sealed bid environment, bid profie of advertisers converges to some equilibrium point in a one-shot game. Simulation results verify that a sealed-bid environment would be beneficial to search engines.