Ask.com gaining ground after relaunch
Ask.com’s recent revamp of its search service is increasing their US market share, according to the latest figures from Internet metrics firm Compete.
Their share of the search market in October ‘07 was 3.9%, up from 3.6% in the previous month, hinting that the new Ask 3D service and its accompanying ‘Can your search engine do this?’ advertising campaign is paying dividends.
It will be welcome news for the company, who have pinned future hopes on the success of their new Ask 3D layout (rumoured to be so-named to reflect the three columns of results).
Ask 3D is an information rich search engine, meaning that in addition to a list of relevant websites, a search also returns results like images, videos, encyclopedia entries and related search suggestions. Among the other new features is a useful ‘binoculars’ page preview option, which not only gives you a peek at the site but also tells you its size and if it uses Flash or not.
The new service has been generally well received by the industry, with the main gripes being that the results page is cluttered and the video results are unnecessary, though this is perhaps to be expected from users who have been used to Google’s brand of minimalism since 1998.
Ask may feel they now have the edge on Google as far as functionality goes, but the fact remains that their market share is tiny when compared to their major rivals. Although Ask have increased their slice of the market, in the same period Google managed to move even further ahead, capturing 68% of the US market, up from 67% in September.
It will be interesting to see if Ask can build on their recent gains and continue to catch MSN and Yahoo. An increase in market share of 0.3% might not seem like much, but when every 1% share in the search market is worth $1 billion it goes a long way towards paying for those TV adverts and billboards.
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