Try Another Search Engine Day - Ask.com
Carrie Hill | 25 February 2008 |
I’m declaring today “Try Another Search Engine Day” at Blizzard. I’m trying to get my coworkers to cut the cord between themselves and Google and try out Ask.com.
Besides the really cool start pages, the content and layout is really nice. A recent Comscore report showed that Ask.com grew faster than Google, MSN or Yahoo in January 2008 - when compared with the prior month.
So why is Ask getting popular? That’s a hard question but my guesses are:
Ask has a great interface - and people are starting to notice it? (that’s a stretch probably)
People are afraid of BigBrother Google and are looking for an alternative?: (possibly but probably not)
Ask pays them? (okay no, that’s not it)
Some reasons from Ross Dunn at Stepforth ( I found this via MarketingPilgrim - so thanks to the Pilgrims)
- The shun the nofollow tag and pass some juice!
- Local businesses can submit their business manually to Ask’s local portal AskCity. If you’re not included and want to be, you have to send an email request.
- Ask owns blog reader Bloglines and they rank blogs partly based on their popularity on Bloglines.
I encourage everyone to give their search engine a try. They’ve really embraced universal search results and you’re going to find a ton of neat stuff for your queries. The result below is a query I did for “Best Snow in Idaho”
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February 25th, 2008 at 10:55 am
I tried out ask this morning. I found the results relevant and I was able to get the information that I was looking for fairly easy. The one thing that I didn’t like as well is that the sponsored listings are listed above the organic listings and although the area is labeled, it is not very prominent. It took me a minute to figure out why the thing I was looking for was always the fifth listing instead of the first, but once I had gotten used to it, it went well. Whether it is habit or not, I think I do prefer to have the sponsored listings on the left so that it is easy to use those for things that make sense there and the organics where they make sense.
February 25th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Hi Carrie,
I agree, I was very happy with the content and layout of ask.com’s search results. In addition, I LOVE the fun site preview on the organic results!
February 25th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
I did it. I broke away from Google and Blackle to give Ask.com a chance. It wasn’t painful at all. I, too, prefer the sponsored listings to be separate. The preview website option was a nice touch. The search suggestions provided a good list that covered a broad list of topics. Thanks for breaking the mold, Carrie.
February 25th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
So after taking a Valium to calm my nerves enough to tear myself away from Google I gave it a try. I wills tart with the good that I saw on ask.
- Relevancy was good, better than MSN and Yahoo but side by side with Google I prefer Google.
- Previewing pages is a nifty feature but I have a plug-in in Firefox that does that.
- Having videos and songs to put in the right gutter was really nice
- The left gutter containing other searches was REALLY good. Came up with terms I did not think of.
- When searching for Denver hotels the map that came up was super usefull
- The layout is clean and easy to use, though its still more cluttered than Google and if I did not have wide screen monitors I might not like it as much
Okay the bad, and there is one that makes it so I wont continue using Ask.
- I hate the fade in effect, that really annoys me for some reason
- Image search needs to have better filters placed on it. Maybe they should get Matt Cutts over there.
- With all the extra goodies it loads slower. When I search I want in and out, I don’t want to wait.
- What the heck is with the red line. I don’t need a pointer to tell me what I am looking at.
- The deal killer for me is the sponsored adds. 3 times I clicked on the page to use my scroll bar on my mouse and got taken to a sponsored page. This happened because if you click anywhere within the blue box it takes you to one of the ads. On Google you have to click on the link itself not just the general area. As a internet marketer I worry about false click. As a user I don’t want to be taken to a page by accident. I have to wonder if this is Asks attempt to up the Click Through Rate.
So all in all, Ask is pretty good search engine but they are concentrating on so much that the service and appeal has dropped for me. I’m back to using Google after only 30 minutes on Ask.
February 25th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
I found the search results very convenient, there are so many different options displayed on ONE page such as: current time, current weather, images, maps, jobs, schools, official site, site preview, etc. I also liked the “blog” search function as well. I’m definitley going to start using Ask.com more often…thanks Carrie!
February 25th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
I do like the suggested search terms that Ask provides during your search and I found that their results were fairly similar to the other engines when looking at some of my clients. I also thought the My Stuff option may be pretty useful. You can save any results from a search, organize it, publish and still be able to search through all the info you have saved.
February 25th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Well, I’m not going to say anything new here but wanted to echo the comments about the placement of the Sponsored advertisments. I felt like (for some search terms, at least) I had to scroll down quite a ways to get to the organic results and that they were kind of sandwiched between the paid ads. I’m sure it becomes less annoying as you become more familiar with it. I definitely liked the simple format, the search suggestions in the left panel, and the current time and weather features. As I write this, it is 7:45am Tuesday morning in Tokyo, Japan and it’s 6 degrees Celsius. Pretty cool.
February 26th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
So I Asked for day instead of Googling, although I wasn’t convinced it was possible.
What did I think?
- Well, I’m on the girly side, so I loved the different skins and the cute little site preview binoculars.
- The related search terms are very user friendly, and great for the SEO side of my brain.
- During my testing I searched for my town, Eagle, Colorado, and it brought up related news stories (even though the Kobe Bryant stuff in no longer news…please get on that Ask.com), the current time, weather, and a map – all useful items related to the search that I didn’t know I needed, but now I don’t want to live without.
- I also like layout of the results page in that it included the image results and the related search terms, without overshadowing the key results.
February 26th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Sometimes trying something new can be difficult and we distort our opinion just because its different. I like the results when searching a particular city with the map, pictures, and encyclopedia information. I particularly like the option to expand and narrow my search, it offers options I might not have thought of or been unaware of. I agree with the layout of the Sponsored Ads and thought the space on the right was wasted. I’ll remember to use this search engine…….for certain searches.