Ask.com's new look scores points against search rivals
Every so often in sports, an underestimated contender rises up to compete with a champion play for play, or even to beat the champ. Something like that is happening in the search business.
Ask Jeeves, a largely failed search service, has been overhauled and renamed Ask.com. I have been testing the new Ask.com against the search champ, Google. I have found that in terms of relevant results and ease of use, Ask holds its own with Google, and even beats the champ on some searches. It has some features Google lacks, including previews of sites it finds, an easy way to narrow or broaden results, and frequent top-of-the-screen answers that lead you to core information.
Ask.com is starting from a low ranking. According to a recent study, Ask.com has about 6% of the search market, compared with 41% for Google and 29% for Yahoo. Yet, Ask.com is improving fast and is capable of playing above its ranking.
In its old incarnation, Ask Jeeves, I never could recommend the service. It was cluttered with ads that too easily confused with real search results and that made the real results hard to find. And it was based on a questionable promise – that it could answer queries stated as English-language questions. While it did that in some cases, it failed in many others.
This year, the name has been changed and the logo has been axed. The whole question-answering approach is de-emphasized. But the overhaul has been far more than just marketing. Ads have been cut back to just three at the top and five at the bottom of each page, and they run on a colored background so you know they aren’t real search results.
In general, Ask’s search-results pages are richer and better organized than typical Google results, and they give greater priority to content over ads.
I did many searches, with roughly similar results. Google usually did a good job, but Ask usually did just as well, and it’s added features made the results more valuable. In a search for a particular digital camera, Ask’s page was topped by a picture of the camera, with links to reviews and price comparisons. Google’s page was topped by ads, followed by links to specific shopping web sites.
In a search on the word Providence, Google offered a map link at the top, then a link the Providence College. Ask featured a Smart Answer box with the start of an encyclopedia article on the Rhode Island capital, and a drop-down list of links to other cities and to the TV show of that name.
Ask also allows you to save any entry in its search results.
Google is still great, and I am not suggesting everyone abandon it. But Ask.com is well worth a try if you want to benefit from some features that go beyond Google.
This article was written by Walter S. Mossberg and published in the Friday – Sunday, March 31 – April 2, 2006 addition of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - Asia. You can e-mail him at mossberg@wsj.com.
Property in Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa on http://www.hotpropertyincapetown.com
Ask Jeeves, a largely failed search service, has been overhauled and renamed Ask.com. I have been testing the new Ask.com against the search champ, Google. I have found that in terms of relevant results and ease of use, Ask holds its own with Google, and even beats the champ on some searches. It has some features Google lacks, including previews of sites it finds, an easy way to narrow or broaden results, and frequent top-of-the-screen answers that lead you to core information.
Ask.com is starting from a low ranking. According to a recent study, Ask.com has about 6% of the search market, compared with 41% for Google and 29% for Yahoo. Yet, Ask.com is improving fast and is capable of playing above its ranking.
In its old incarnation, Ask Jeeves, I never could recommend the service. It was cluttered with ads that too easily confused with real search results and that made the real results hard to find. And it was based on a questionable promise – that it could answer queries stated as English-language questions. While it did that in some cases, it failed in many others.
This year, the name has been changed and the logo has been axed. The whole question-answering approach is de-emphasized. But the overhaul has been far more than just marketing. Ads have been cut back to just three at the top and five at the bottom of each page, and they run on a colored background so you know they aren’t real search results.
In general, Ask’s search-results pages are richer and better organized than typical Google results, and they give greater priority to content over ads.
I did many searches, with roughly similar results. Google usually did a good job, but Ask usually did just as well, and it’s added features made the results more valuable. In a search for a particular digital camera, Ask’s page was topped by a picture of the camera, with links to reviews and price comparisons. Google’s page was topped by ads, followed by links to specific shopping web sites.
In a search on the word Providence, Google offered a map link at the top, then a link the Providence College. Ask featured a Smart Answer box with the start of an encyclopedia article on the Rhode Island capital, and a drop-down list of links to other cities and to the TV show of that name.
Ask also allows you to save any entry in its search results.
Google is still great, and I am not suggesting everyone abandon it. But Ask.com is well worth a try if you want to benefit from some features that go beyond Google.
This article was written by Walter S. Mossberg and published in the Friday – Sunday, March 31 – April 2, 2006 addition of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - Asia. You can e-mail him at mossberg@wsj.com.
Property in Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa on http://www.hotpropertyincapetown.com
posted by Werner Property Agents at 6:47 pm
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