Ask.com’s parent company, IAC, released their second quarter earnings statement today.

Ask.com is bundled into the “Media & Advertising” category, which overall reported higher revenue than the previous year by 33%. However, Ask.com realized a “lower revenue per query since the launch” of Ask 3D in June. Why? Because the new interface requires less clicks to find what you are looking for, said IAC. Ask.com did notice a “higher frequency and retention,” they said. Find the full release here.

Note From Danny: I’m still scratching my head at that explanation. If Ask 3D is better in relevancy, it would result in fewer searches (not clicks), since people wouldn’t search, not find what they are looking for and search again. But fewer searches should mean revenue per query would rise, if they’re still clicking on ads at the same rate. Instead, it sounds like that relevancy has improved to the degree that fewer people are clicking on the ads. That’s still a good thing in the long term — better relevancy should mean more satisfied and long-term users

Related Topics: Ask: Business Issues

About The Author: Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here. For more background information on Barry, see his full bio over here. See more articles by Barry Schwartz