Ask.Com's New Look Competes Well With Google

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "Ask Jeeves has been overhauled and renamed Ask.com. The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg tested the new site against Google and found that Ask.com holds its own and even beats the search champ in some cases. 'It has some very nice features Google lacks, including previews of the sites it finds, an easy way to narrow or broaden your search results, and frequent top-of-the-screen answers that lead you directly to core information,' Mossberg writes."

The preview would be nice

[Anonymous Crowhead]

If you could actually read the text of the website. I guess maybe it would steer you away from link farms but other than that, you can't see much.

For the lazy

[creepynut]

I know it's not hard to type, but when doing an article about Ask.com [ask.com], it helps to provide a link to Ask.com [ask.com].

Oh, and it's nice. Unfortunately, I use Google because I like the results it provides. Can Ask.com compete with that, or is it just a nice look?

One big difference

[Araxen]

Ask.com throws big ad searches first before any of the results you actually want. Google ads are off to the side. I'll stick with Google still.

Firefox Extension

[celardore]

There's a Firefox extension that adds preview images to search results.

http://ackroyd.de/googlepreview/ [ackroyd.de]

Re:They need to do a lot better than Google...

[iocat]

Ask's search results are just as good as Google's IMHO (when I've asked it about a subject I know a lot about, sometimes the results are actually better than Google's to be honest). I use Google more cause of the toolbar, but I use Ask's portal [myway.com] as my homepage because it's full featured, loads quickly, and is ad free.

Re:I think...

[Otter]

I never really understood the whole butler thing either. A butler is someone who greets you at the door (and maybe gets you your pipe and slippers), but not necessarily someone who can answer any questions you might have.

In the P. G. Wodehouse novels, the dimwitted protagonist Bertie Wooster was wholly dependent on the practical and theoretical wisdom of his butler, Jeeves. As you note, though, that reference may have been lsot on most users.

Re:has no one

[GundamFan]

https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php ?id=189&application=firefox [mozilla.org]

here you go... it's not a google product but it does add this functionality to Firefox.

Google previews are available

[phoebe]

with a Firefox plugin [ackroyd.de], which has existed for quite some time and doesn't require you to move the mouse over the binoculars making for more productive use. The extension also works with Yahoo! search and has screenshots for a lot more sites than ask.com currently has.

Re:For the lazy

[npietraniec]

I just did a search for my name and it returned documents on my website that have been gone for years... Their cache on my last name is HORRIBLY out of date... Just one search though, maybe they can compete better on more common terms.

More on Ask.com

[packdel99]

These posts have more about what's new, enhanced, etc. http://www.resourceshelf.com/2006/03/askcoms-new-l ook-scores-big-points.html [resourceshelf.com] http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php /3587686 [searchenginewatch.com] http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6317186.ht ml [libraryjournal.com] The image database has also been revamped. http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php /3580061 [searchenginewatch.com]

Re:Cannot search in...

[Anonymous Coward]

Try ask.jp [www.ask.jp]