SEL: WSJ: "Ask Scores Big Against Search Rivals"

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Search marketing in the new media era.

March 30, 2006

WSJ: "Ask Scores Big Against Search Rivals"

The WSJ's Walter Mossberg wrote an Ask review today and sees the search company as a major up and comer. As I mentioned before, Ask's search share's still in double digits and they're advertising widely.

Here's Mossberg's anecdotal reasoning for preferring Ask:

"Here's an example. I searched for Ted Williams, the Red Sox outfielder who was the greatest hitter of all time. In Google, I got a plain results page topped by a link to the official site on Williams, with a few ads down the right side for Williams-related items.

In Ask.com, the top of the page, above the ads, featured a Smart Answer box that included a picture of Ted, an excerpt from a biography, direct links to his official site, an encyclopedia article and other images of him.

Down the side, where Google ran ads, Ask.com had links to many related topics that could narrow or broaden my search, a feature called Zoom. These suggested topics included the Red Sox, Fenway Park and even Cryonics, a controversial technique for freezing the dead that was used on Williams after he passed away. There were also entries for Ted's rivals, like Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle."

Why's Mossberg so impressed? Ask's delivering the STORY behind the search terms, which is the search term's context. That's a powerful and engaging way to present search results.

One SEL reader believes that "they [Ask.com] suck. i equate them to the crappy phone book that gets dropped off in my driveway."

I would invite you to give Ask another shot. Do searches on your hobby, not searches for the products you're trying to rank in Google. It's the search term context that Ask's bringing to its results that make for a more engaging search experience.

Disclaimer: Ask pays SEL for sponsorship. (The money goes to MSI, not me personally. My pay at MSI is NOT based on SEL sponsorship, but rather the number of monitors I wipe down after 5pm.)

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Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |

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