Thoughts on Some Recent New Search Features...

At the Search Engine Strategies conference in NYC last week on the Blended Search Panel, I spoke about one way that Ask categorizes user search sessions. This categorization model includes:

 o Discrete Task Completion - where the user is undertaking a one-and-done transaction, expecting the search engine to have the correct result or answer at the top of the search reply page.

 o Investigation/Research - the user is in a focused activity, with a succession of deep dives into information, cross-checking various sources, and searching FAQs.

 o Entertainment/Exploration - the user is searching with an open mind, and interested in increasing general knowledge or to be entertained.

 o Ask.com has focused intently on the user, and for years we've offered a variety of features specifically designed and targeted to assist users in these categories of searches.

So it was timely, as I was speaking about the above at SES-NY, that Google and Microsoft announced new search releases which align with long-standing Ask.com features in these areas.

Google announced that it was implementing search refinements on their SERPs. You can read about this on SearchEngineLand, which describes how this technology was brought to Google through the acquisition of Orion. Providing refinements are important to users who are doing Investigation/Research and Entertainment/Exploration activities, and Ask.com has understood the importance of this feature for many years.

For the query "Call of the Wild", Google has added the following search refinement at the bottom of the SERP:

  
These refinements help a student who needs to explore deeper into the topics covered by the novel, i.e. research. For this same query, Ask provides this feature with Related Searches on the right panel of the window, visible at the top of the page. We're extremely confident in this prominent placement, because we have years of experience with users interacting with this feature.

Ask's Related Search feature delivers important "drill in" capability, as is exemplified with the "Klondike Gold Rush" suggestion, which is a topic that is central to the novel:

 

Ask's Related Search is available on the vast majority of user queries, and supports both Investigation/Research, as well as Entertainment/Exploration searches. You can see how your exploration can be enhanced by viewing the Related Searches for the query "Australia Beaches".

We at Ask were also encouraged and heartened to see last week’s announcement of Instant and Active Answers by Microsoft. This feature is largely focused on Discrete Task Completion tasks, where the user is seeking a quick piece of information or a quick solution to a problem. You can read about Microsoft's release on Search Engine Journal.

Ask has been providing this important capability, called Smart Answers, for almost a decade. We've focused the technology on providing functionality that is integral to the lives of our users. Some examples include:

What time does the sunrise in Sydney Australia

 
 
What is the State Motto for New Hampshire

 
 
Weather next week in Paris France

 
 
I hope that you'll take advantage of the rich feature set provided by the Ask search engine. We’ve been at it for a while, and we’d like to think we’ve blazed a trail on unique and core search features. If you do, you'll find that Ask gets your answers quicker, that it speeds up your research tasks, and that you'll learn more while exploring the Internet...

Thanks for reading!
- Keith Hogan, VP, Technology, Ask,com