OntoSearch

Ask.com appears to have gotten a lot smarter after loosing its butler in 2007, bucking the trend of full automation of computing search engine outcomes. Ask launched a new version of its search engine on Monday that has further refined its search terminology, allowing users to get answers by typing in questions the way they’d ask a real person rather than a collection of keywords.

The search engine was first launched in April 1997 and has since added several other engines to its stable, such as a UK version. The service attempts to supply info in simple question-and-answer format and avoid the Boolean strings which give thousands of matches, quite a few specious, to users of other search engines. Utilizing natural language processing technology and human editorial skills, the programmed attempted to establish both the semantics (the meaning of the words) and syntactic (the meaning of the grammar) of every question.

The revamped search engine consists of a new user interface with three new technologies — DADs (Direct Answers from Databases), DAFS (Direct Answers From Search) and AnswerFarm that supply users the capability to search the Web utilizing commonly spoken language. The new technology is created to serve up answers quicker in a bid to improve its share of the marketplace dominated by Google.

Ask.com’s uniqueness lies in its ability in field questions from web users as they would ask when speaking to a individual. For example “what is the search engine optimisation?” The new technologies are intended to produce much more relevant results so users click less. “Our objective is to return the best answer the first time, each time. We feel its a greater approach. We make your search faster and we’re trying to decrease the amount of clicks it takes for you to come across what you’re searching for,” said said Erik Collier, vice president of product management at Ask.com.

“The Ask.com redesign is not a game changer. Google has incredible brand recognition. An incredible number of U.S. consumers are in the habit of Googling. We know that media habits are tough to change. According to IDC’s recent U.S. consumer on-line attitudes survey, 75 percent of on the internet Americans said they had used Google.com in the past 30 days whereas only 15 percent said they had utilized Ask.com,” she concluded.