A system and method of generating an ordered search list via a search
engine by determining various account balances to determine where a
search listing will appear, if at all, in a search results list. If a web
site advertiser's account is below a threshold, the search listing
associated with the advertiser will not appear in the search list.
Various balances may be used. Some of the balances may be closer to
real-time balances and others may be more accurate, for example by
removing certain event charges that were later determined to be
non-chargeable. By using and monitoring the various account balances, the
search engine prevents over-delivery of advertising through search result
listings and possible over-billing of the advertisers.