All Entries in the "Ask.com" Category

Is Ask Giving Up Battle for Search or Staying the Course? Which is True?

Lot’s of talk related to search engine Ask lately. First there were rumors that Ask would be laying off some of its workforce and abandoning the Teoma technology they had worked so hard on the last few years. Then Ask responds and calls the rumors false. Those of us who are cheering Ask on in the battle for search market share breathed a sign of relief… but not for long. The next day a story breaks reporting that Ask has laid off 8% of their workforce (40 jobs) and that they were changing the strategy of the search engine to “focus to better answering search queries posed as questions.” This was followed by a report that Ask would become a search engine geared towards married women.

If that wasn’t enough drama, today we hear from Ask once again claiming that despite all the rumors and speculation, they remain committed to search. Are you confused? I know I am.

Let the Privacy Wars Begin!

I was asked recently if Google’s dominance in search would ever change, at least anytime soon, to which I responded that I did not believe so unless they make a major mistake. And what is the most crucial area that Google needs to pay close attention to? How they handle privacy.

More and more Internet users are worried about the amount of information Google and other search engines have on them. In fact, my father recently told me that he was through with Google because he feels they have become a type of “big brother.” He does not trust their privacy policy practices.

Ask Relaunches and Goes 3D

Ask has made some pretty significant changes over the last year and a half. First they got rid of the butler and now they have gone 3D. This new three dimensional version not only includes a major overhaul of the home page as well as the way search results appear, they have also added a laundry list of new features and resources. The company is calling this release as a “major leap forward” for search which includes a bold three-panel interface (taken from the experimental Ask X) that integrates more multimedia content, including images, videos, music files, as well as more structured text-based content.

Ask CEO Jim Lanzone Comments on Yahoo!’s Hypocrisy

I don’t know how I missed this. Possibly because the day it was posted was my birthday and I was out of the office most of the day. What I am referring to is a post on the Stepforth blog by Ross Dunn announcing Yahoo!’s revamping of their paid inclusion program. Even had I come upon the news, I probably would have merely yawned because really, who cares about their paid inclusion program anyway? Instead of revamping it, they should killing it.

Ask CEO Jim Lanzone Interviewed By The Guardian

I came across an interesting interview today conducted with Ask’s CEO, Jim Lanzone. This among conversation on the web this week that search marketers are beginning to take more notice of Ask when implementing their SEO strategies. I have always liked Ask, even when the butler was on board and have always included them in any SEO strategy.

Current State of Who Powers Who in Search

Before I write anything, let me preface this post by saying that this information will probably change not too long after it is written. I am referring to who powers who in the realm of search engines. There are currently four major search engines – Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask (formerly Ask Jeeves). While many other search engines and meta crawlers exist, most of them are powered by one of these “major” engines. Here is a quick rundown of who powers who.

Ask Jeeves’ New Image Search is Compared to the Competition

Ask Jeeves has recently launched a brand-new image search service, using some innovative techniques to identify high-quality pictures on the web. How does it stack up against Google, Yahoo and MSN? Chris Sherman of SearchDay takes a closer look in Searching For a Better Image.