Whilst search engines are often used for academic and other general searches, they are also regularly used by those looking for commercial services and products.

Whereas the former types of search are well fulfilled by pure text search of web pages, the latter can often be better serviced by recognising the commercial nature of the search in question. To this end Mirago developed the Mirago Media Manager System, known as M3 for short.

M3 is an independent system from Q3, The Mirago Query System. When an individual searches Mirago for some information, the query is sent to both systems and the results are combined as appropriate.

M3 employs a bidding model in ranking potential results. This allows advertisers who are more focused on a particular market to bid strongly against others who have a more general approach and are thus less well able to satisfy the requirements of the original searcher. Companies specialising in a particular market sector are usually better placed to offer the service or product actually being sought and are thus able to compete cost effectively.

In common with much about Mirago, M3 is a fully automated system which operates 24 hours per day and 7 days per week without the need for human intervention. There is still human input into the vetting of words for which advertisers may bid. Other than this, the system operates entirely automatically.

The M3 system is actually comprised of three components, each of which operates independently of the others.

The first is the data management system which manages the database of advertisers and their bids. The online management interface interacts with this system. Additionally, it performs most of the automatically scheduled tasks. These include adjusting bids within the guidelines specified by the advertisers, sending out email notifications if bids cease to be top or in the top three and managing campaign renewal to ensure that funds are maintained.

The second component is the featured site selection system. This component, which operates independently of the first, handles the selection of the relevant featured and sponsored sites in response to actual searches.

The third and final component is the datamining system. Analysis of traffic and lead generation are essential for anyone serious about internet marketing. The datamining system is responsible for producing online and email reports of advertisers' traffic patterns. Like the management interface, datamining is also available to advertisers through the online management interface.