System and method for assisting online product research by consumers

A computer-readable medium carrying instructions for assisting online research, wherein the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform steps comprising:

• determining a rating value for a plurality of available online sources from which products or services can be purchased, the rating value being determined from rating feedback that is accumulated from a rating population of users of individual sources in the plurality of available online sources;
• receiving, from a user of the website, search criteria that at least partially defines a product or service of interest;
• determining, from the plurality of available online sources, a plurality of sources that satisfies the search criteria;
• from the plurality of sources that satisfy the search criteria, determining, using the rating information, a set of one or more sources that have a highest rating value as compared to other sources in the plurality of sources;
• displaying, to the user, a plurality of links that individually identify a corresponding one of the plurality of sources, so that at least some of the plurality of sources are represented by the plurality of links;
• wherein displaying the plurality of links includes
• (i) presenting at least one link most prominently in position relative to other links in the plurality of links that are displayed, the at least one link corresponding to a source that is identified as providing a highest referral compensation for user activity originating from the website, while concurrently (ii) presenting, in prominence, using a qualitative graphic, a select set of one or more links that are individually associated with a corresponding source in the plurality of sources that have the highest rating value amongst the plurality of sources that are displayed, the select set of one or more links excluding the at least one link that is most prominently positioned relative to the other links;
• wherein presenting the select set of one or more links in prominence includes (a) displaying the qualitative graphic that is representative of the highest rating value with or adjacent to only the select set of links, while (b) not displaying the qualitative graphic with links that are not in the select set.