Hands On with the Revamped Ask

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Fast answer to a query of the new Ask.com

Ask.com was relaunched with new and improved features today as it sets its sights on regaining ground in the consumer market. Ask says its site is faster than before, has improved relevance, will return better natural language searches, and has simpler layout. Gone are the divided search results the company launched in June 2007 as Ask3D with encyclopedia entries, video, and images divided up on different parts of the page. Although this function was popular with tech reviewers, Ask was never able to get in front of MSN and AOL to compete with Google and Yahoo. The new Ask will still allow you to refine your search, preview certain Web pages, and provide statistics on that page, but it's all streamlined into one list like most other search engines.

Ask.com President Scott Garrell says that it generally takes users three to four clicks to get the answers they are looking for in a typical search engine. Garrell's aim with the new Ask is to "reduce the distance between your query and the answer you want."

So, does it work? Well, for my tests I threw the same query I used in my test of Powerset earlier this year. I typed in, "Who is the President of the United States?" and right there at the top of the page was Ask.com's new Answer feature telling me that, in fact, George W. Bush is the president. All right, it passed the easy test, so now on to something a little harder.

"Who was the President of the United States in 1986?" At the top of the results page was the Wikipedia entry for Ronald Reagan. Okay, one more for good measure: "What is the lineup for the Philadelphia Phillies?" The top two answers linked here and here.

So, yes, Ask.com has the natural language thing down for direct questions. The layout is also nice, as you can see from the illustrations here. Standard web returns run in a single list and there are tabs at the top for other types of search including images, news, "Q&A" (the natural language function), and common searches such as blogs, videos, and TV listings.

But will Ask be able to break through and compete with Google, Yahoo, and MSN? Possibly. But it's got a long road ahead. The major search engines have been spending a lot of time going beyond search to create comprehensive Web portals. E-mail, calendars, documents, fantasy sports, customizable maps, and instant messaging have created loyal networks for Ask's major competitors. Ask has improved its search engine and is well worth using, but the company is going to have to offer a lot more if it wants to stay relevant.

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Answers to my second query