Ask.com seems to have gotten a lot smarter after loosing its butler in 2007, bucking the trend of full automation of computing search engine results. 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, including a UK version. The service attempts to provide information in simple question-and-answer format and avoid the Boolean strings which give thousands of matches, many specious, to users of other search engines. Using natural language processing technology and human editorial skills, the programmed attempted to determine both the semantics (the meaning of the words) and syntactic (the meaning of the grammar) of each question. The revamped search engine includes a new user interface with three new technologies — DADs (Direct Answers from Databases), DAFS (Direct Answers From Search) and AnswerFarm that offer users the ability to search the Web using commonly spoken language. The new technology is designed to serve up answers quicker in a bid to increase its share of the market 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 person. For example “what is the search engine optimisation?” The new technologies are intended to produce more relevant results so users click less. “Our goal is to return the best answer the first time, every time. We think its a better approach. We make your search faster and we’re trying to reduce the amount of clicks it takes for you to find what you’re looking 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 hard to change. According to IDC’s recent U.S. consumer online attitudes survey, 75 percent of online Americans said they had used Google.com in the past 30 days whereas only 15 percent said they had used Ask.com,” she concluded.

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The new http://Ask.com search engine, minus Jeeves the butler, has a simple home page design along the lines of Google, with an unadorned list of major options along the right side. That list is headlined ‘Search Tools’ and includes:

* Web
* Images
* News
* Maps & Directions
* Local
* Weather
* Encyclopedia
* Ask for Kids
* Dictionary
* Blogs & Feeds

The main search feature (Web) turns up the usual list of keyword-inspired responses. An innovative touch in this section provides suggested phrases (clickable) to either narrow or expand your search. That’s an impressive concept, if it works well. It is all too easy to be led into the wilderness with search results; Ask is offering some tools to help short circuit that problem. The image section is similar to other search engines.

The News section shows signs of being a shallow concoction, in need of a full time editorial staff and perhaps some original content. For example, under world news there are three headlines that are nearly identical from three different news feeds – Reuters, CBS and MSNBC. The notion of defining a news story as “found” is a little disconcerting. As is problematic with many similar news searches, a click on one story originating from the Los Angeles Times led to a page demanding that you register as an L.A. Times subscriber (free) in order to read the story. Though frustrating, this can’t be entirely laid at the feet of http://Ask.com.

Their Local search is a well done and convenient feature. Enter a product or service (e.g. “tires”) and a zip code into a search bar, and Ask will bring up a list of local businesses that provide the product, addresses, phone numbers, websites if available, and a map to the location. Also included is an estimate of the distance between your zip code and the business establishment.

The Encyclopedia button will take you either to Wikipedia, or to a standard Ask search response, or both: the search results headed by a Wikipedia listing. Like the News page, this feature is a cobbled together approach to a service prominently displayed on Ask’s home page.

Ask for Kids is a well executed feature, although its news resources button takes you (or your child) to a menu of other sources, such as Yahooligan News, Time for Kids and CNN for Students. There is a search bar on the kid’s page that seems to work well. A random search for “dinosaurs” brought up referrals and links to several educational pages on dinosaurs and a drop down menu of dinosaurs by species inviting further research. A well designed feature.

Entering a term for search on the Dictionary page gets you an actual dictionary definition of the word at the top, followed by a standard list of search responses. If the definition feature is thorough, this feature functions just as well as going to an online dictionary such as Merriam Webster. The Dictionary option is a new and positive addition to search page design.

Their Weather button was baffled by my zip code, showing no returns. However the search results below listed a response to the zip code on http://weather.com. If Ask intends to offer a weather service, it should be as effective as the sites that come up on its search mechanism.

The Map service offers street, aerial and regional maps, which is a nice selection. However a random entry of my zip code brought up a map of a location in Poland. I’ve had this problem before with Google, so Ask may be getting their address data from similar sources. You have the option of entering two locations and asking for a map and driving instructions, as you would on other major search engines.

Overall, http://Ask.com is a standard search engine with some new features, some of which work well and some of which need further refinement.

Microsoft Redesigns Live.com
A redesign of the Live.com home page may not be quite what analysts had in mind last week when they asked Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer about how the software?from :http://www.china-computer-accessories.com/buy-software/? giant plans to streamline its online presence.
 
Starting Wednesday, visitors in the U.S. are being shown a new Live.com page — although they may not notice it’s new. The page looks mostly the same as before, except it now features a background photo that apparently will change periodically.
 
The photo features a few blurry squares that show up when a mouse passes over them. If the user hovers for an extra second, a box pops up with a message that, when clicked, brings them to a page with additional information, including maps and photos.
 
The current photo features a man on a long boat on an African river. The information squares point to photos of animals that live in Botswana and other facts about the country’s natural features.
 
The design was well-received among customers trialing it last month, according to a blog post by Chris Rayner, senior product(from: http://www.china-computer-accessories.com/Products/) manager, and Zach Gutt, senior program manager, both of Microsoft’s Live search user experience team.
 
Like the previous design, the page predominantly features the search bar and lets users choose to search images and videos. Links point to Web pages for Live maps, news and other Microsoft offerings.
 
“We think the new design is a great start, but there’s more to come, with lots of interesting directions that we’ll be exploring in our next releases of the home page,” the employees wrote on the blog.
 
Analysts who asked Ballmer last week how the company might fix its confusing online branding to make it easier for users to find Microsoft’s online services might be relieved to hear that there are more changes to come. Microsoft maintains both the MSN and Live online brands, and in some cases the same online services carry both names.
 
Ballmer said Microsoft has been working on a way to combine its online services under a single Web page. However, the new Live.com page includes links to MSN.com and the Windows Live home page, so the current redesign hasn’t addressed that problem.
 
Indeed, while the pictures might give the Live.com home page more aesthetic appeal, Microsoft is unlikely to gain ground against Google in online search and advertising until it clarifies its online services. In search, Google continues to hold a daunting lead over Microsoft, which runs a distant third even to Yahoo, the company Microsoft (from: http://www.china-computer-accessories.com/manufacturer-Microsoft/) failed to acquire after months of negotiations.

Almost 85% of all knowledge obtained online starts with somebody doing research on one or more search engines. Weather it be a product or a service, search engines are the most likely tool people are using to find what they want. You would benefit greatly to gain an understanding of how search engines can help grow your business.

Search engines have two basic styles - portal and search box focused. In either search style, results depend on inclusion within the engine’s extensive database, some using human editing and others fully automated, some requiring paid inclusion and others free. Search results listings are called SERP’s or search engine result pages.

Studies have shown that search engines and links are the most effective way to reach web users. While other successful internet marketing tactics include word of mouth and traditional direct mail advertising.

Search engine marketing is tiered, meaning one may promote a website on the search engines at various levels of visibility. Each level offers a distinctly different service than the next. At the most basic level of marketing is search engine listing which is simply registration in any given search database. This doesn’t guarantee or solidify ranking in the top results, but does obtain consideration. The next level is called search engine optimization, or improving a website’s ability to gain top rankings in SERP’s.

To rank relevantly within search engine results, websites must be considered relevant for a particular search algorithm for that particular keyword or phrase. This is a dynamic and growing strategy based on various tactics aimed to use search algorithms to the marketer’s best advantage. Currently, websites rank highest when each page is optimized separately. Metatags are thus developed with appropriate content.

There are countless search engines driving traffic to websites. Most of these are small, targeted and growing, while others have large, broad and loyal audiences. Just a few search engines control the majority of queries on the Internet. These leaders include: Yahoo, Google, Ask Jeeves, and AllTheWeb.

Other search sites compile results from multiple search engines into all-encompassing SERP’s. Finally, a one-of-a-kind undertaking, the Open Directory Project or DMOZ is a non-commercial directory focused on human-editing and free inclusion.

Studies also indicate search engines and links are the most effective method to reach users. According to GVU users survey, 85 percent of all new visitors currently arrive from search engines. Other strong marketing venues include word of mouth and print direct mail advertising.

Traffic Facts

The following shows the average reach. For instance, if you sampled a million Internet users, average reach states how many visit each of the follow (Metrics as of February 2005.)

Yahoo301,800 reach per million Internet users
Google170,650 reach per million Internet users
Ask Jeeves6,905 reach per million Internet users
AllTheWeb1,070 reach per million Internet users
Dogpile1,485 reach per million Internet users
DMOZ1,880 reach per million Internet users

Today Yahoo is the top ranked, highly trafficked website on the Internet. Word of mouth grew into what is now a publicly traded company. Yahoo listing is as important as that in the phone book.

Google.com open in a garage in September 1998 in Menlo Park, California. Google handled more than 100 million search queries a day by the end of 2000.

In February 2002, Google launched Ad Words, a self-serve cost per click advertising model. In December 2002, Google launched Froogle, a free product search service. 2004 brings Local Search and Gmail, as well as a public offering under the ticker GOOG.

No longer a garage business, Google reaches an average of 148,800 million users each day. Being included in the next Googlebot Internet crawls is as important as drinking milk.

Ask Jeeves Inc. was founded in 1996 and is now a publicly traded company with headquarters in California. Its syndicates search technology and advertising units to a affiliate partner network including Excite, http://Ask.com, Teoma, Ask Jeeves Kids, MyWebSearch, MySearch, MyWay, MaxOnline, iwon.

Ask Jeeves began as a human-edited listing but has since abandoned this for algorithmic search results. Smart Search allows users to search keywords such as celebrity names and receive an instant biography and photograph above results. Binocular icons next to certain results allow quick web page previews.

A Overture Services business, AlltheWeb’s index (provided by Yahoo) includes billions of web pages, as well as tens of millions of PDF and MS Word files. AlltheWeb offers specialized search tools for the major browsers and advanced search features, supporting searches in 36 different languages, news, images, audio, video and multimedia files.

AlltheWeb is powered by FAST and considered by some as a likely candidate to exceed Google’s success. The search engine’s strongest asset is fresh information, re-indexing sites and removing broken links every 7-11 days. AllTheWeb is also know for its SafeSearch filtering option that removes offensive content from SERP’s.

The information provided here should give you a good insight into understanding how the major search engines got their start. Market your website to these top search engines and improve traffic to your online business.

Don’t give up! If at first you don’t succeed, TRY, TRY, AGAIN! There is a lot to learn when starting a online business. Give yourself a break and don’t set unrealistic goals. Contrary to popular beliefs, having a successful, profit making, online business doesn’t happen overnight.

While Ask’s share of the search market is comparatively small, it offers some great features that are sure to catch on. Consider grabbing a good ranking now before the word gets out and a tidal wave of webmasters start clamoring for top spots.

While Google has been grabbing a lot of press recently for their new universal search model, Ask has been providing it since day one. So here’s a great place to get your feet wet and, shall I say, “practice” for optimizing for universal search. Consider these tips:

Optimizing images for Ask’s universal search model is a little more complex than simply adding an alt tag. Yes, you still need to use an alt tag, and the alt tag should contain the target keyword. But in addition, the image’s actual filename should also contain the keyword AND the page text near the image should include the keyword.

Create an account at Bloglines and add your blogs and feeds to your profile. Unlike most of their competitors, ranking in Ask Blogs is determined by relevance, not date. So be sure to maximize all your blog posts for your keyword phrases. Another feature of Ask Blogs is the ability to sort by popularity, so stickiness and incoming links become extremely important.

Ask Mobile is a neat feature that provides mobile users with search results by reformatting websites into one column. Ask Mobile returns local search results to cell phone users (genius, isn’t it?), so be sure to include your address with city, state and zip on every page of your site to improve your possibility of being listed. And get yourself listed in Ask City by sending an email to askcitybusiness (at) help.ask.com. The email should contain the subject “Ask City Feedback - Business” and should include your business name and full address, your area code and phone number, your web address, your business category, your name and email address. Expect about one month before your listing in Ask City is approved.

Be sure to submit your sitemap to Ask to ensure your site is thoroughly crawled. Without a sitemap, chances are your deep content will not be indexed by Ask. Put your sitemap in your root folder and add it to your robots.txt file. Then submit it to Ask by pinging it in your browser.

Ask provides users with a website preview, so they can glance at the site before clicking the link. To guarantee maximum clickthroughs, make sure your best content is above the fold and that your site preview looks compelling.

SearchBoth.com is introducing a new search type which facilitates the internet search at an extent. It’s offering web users to select any two search engines from the search engines list and view them side by side. Default setting is Yahoo.com and Google.com. SearchBoth.com is a complete search engine which previously displays search results for both Google and Yahoo search side by side on a split screen has expanded its reach and now includes an option to display search results from other search engines.

Users visiting to the website can choose results from major search engines which include Ask.com, MSN, Dogpile, Metacrawler, AltaVista, LookSmart and Websearch. Users can see, compare and then select the most suitable search results. After the sudden disappearance of GahooYoogle, internet users are relay missing a common platform for both Google and Yahoo search results. So here is SearchBoth.com displaying results for both Google and Yahoo.

Not only from these major search engines, SearchBoth.com also now includes the facility to display search results from two travel sites from 12 different travel sites included in the SearchBoth.com index. These travel sites include Hotels.com, Expedia, Travelocity, HotWire, CheapTickets, SideStep, Kayak etc.

It also facilitates the comparison of yellowpages.com and superpages.com. One has to enter the business name or category in the city zip and will be able to search the two most popular online yellow pages websites in the country. YellowPages.com by AT&T and SuperPages.com by Verizon. Each of them has different results to show and one need to check both for top to bottom information.

By all the above three major search facilities online SearchBoth.com is going to introduce latest search phenomena in the world of internet. Multiple search engines searching are now possible in a single browser with SearchBoth.com. Prior to it DogPile was providing complied mixed results of all the major search engines. Unlike to DogPile, SearchBoth doesn’t spit out all the results in a single stream. Instead, one can compare results side by side.

As the editor of DomainNameWire.com, I’m
frequently e-mailed by people asking for domain name advice.
Specifically, what should they look for when registering a
domain name for their company? This may be basic for some of
you, but I hope some of my readers gain value from this.
Let me start with the things to avoid when registering a domain
name that will be used for your main company web site.
1. Never use a hyphen. If your domain is some-name.com, many
people will forget the hyphen when typing your name into the
browser or sending e-mail to you. This can result in lost
business. 2. Avoid digits if possible. Using digits requires you
to spell the domain name out to people. For example2.com, you
need to tell people it’s the digit “2″ rather than the word
“two” or even “to”.
Here are the positive things to look for in a domain name.
1. .Com extension. It’s imperative that your domain name be
available with a .com extension. I’ve seen businesses and major
web sites try to get away with .net or .org, and perhaps half of
their intended visitors land on someone else’s web site. Or
worse, confidential e-mails are sent to the wrong domain. 2.
Easy to spell. Keep in mind that your spelling might be better
than most people! 3. Short. Try to keep it to 2 words, 3 maximum
and 20 characters or fewer.
These are general guidelines applicable to your main company
domain name. There are instances where hyphens, numbers, and
non-.com domain extensions are fine for secondary sites and
search engine-optimized sites. But your company’s main domain
should follow these general guidelines. Good luck