Ask.com Rolls Out Yet Another Overhaul to Make Search Faster and More Relevant

Ask search engine is quite famous for its constant overhauls in continuous attempts to please users and increase its rather small market share when compared to search giants like Google or Yahoo (according to comScore with its 4.8% it is now number 4 in the US after Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft).

The latest attempt of such a redesign was Ask3D back in June 2007 which showed results in three columns instead of a traditional long list of links. One of the columns displayed images and video results for the search terms while other two columns displayed links to the search results as well as various blocks to narrow or expand the search. Understandably the search engine result pages looked rather cluttered and this approach also damaged speed of displaying results. Unfortunately for Ask many users complained about the speed issues and chose not to use the slow search service.

So today we are seeing yet another attempt by Ask to achieve more impressive results in the search market by increasing speed and relevance of search results. Today’s overhaul reflects results of work that was initiated in January. Starting today users will experience reduction of search results download speed by 30% which is supposed to be the most important result of the overhaul. The majority of changes introduced today will remain invisible to users since they are about increasing the number of pages Ask indexes along with some improvements of the ranking algorithm (no additional details on that unfortunately).

But the most visible result of the overhaul is replacing cluttered 3-column view for search results with 2-column one where the largest space is given to the traditional list of links to the relevant pages while the smaller right column also offering some related search phrases that could probably help find better results. The search results column also offers a selection of tabs for user to choose what type of content is needed for the search - general web pages, images, news, or Q&A where results are served from various places that answer questions related to your search term. Searching other sections is also possible via the drop-down More menu.

Ask CEO Jim Safka explained that the initial tests of the revamped search engine proved that user retention has been improved and people enjoy using the new version much more than the previous 3D version. Of course he expressed confidence that the new approach will help the search engine keep more users. But unfortunately this was exactly the opinion the team shared when launching the now abandoned Ask3D so chances are only time will tell if the overhauled search engine lives up to the team’s expectations.