As Matt posted earlier this evening Ask is in beta on a new approach to search, or perhaps more accurately: a return to an earlier approach but with greater experience and sophistication. The IAC-owned company is returning, conceptually, to its origins as a question & answer engine, when human editors were involved. This has been in the works since last year when Ask was calling it "social search." The company is making a serious bet that "Q&A" can be a differentiator for Ask and provide new appeal for the engine, which has seen flat-to-modestly-declining traffic over the past two y [...]

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Ask.com was arguably the original Q&A engine. Now the site is seeking to introduce a new product, which leverages both its search assets and the community. We were approached but we've yet to formally speak to someone from IAC about the forthcoming launch. However, Silicon Alley Insider today exposes the PR email outlining the plan: On July 29th, Ask will announce a brand new product aimed at delivering the best answers to people’s questions through a unique hybrid approach (think: a little bit search, a little bit social) that is not available on the Web today. As you know, the se [...]

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Today is Father's Day in many countries and we wanted to wish you a Happy Father's Day. Here is a collection of the various logos from the search industry celebrating the day. Google: Yahoo Animated: Yahoo Static: Baidu: Sogou: DogPile: Bing: Ask.com: Cre8asite Forums: Search Engine Roundtable: [...]

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Today, Google is showing you two basic logos or "Doodles" based on the country you live in. Most people outside the U.S. are seeing a FIFA World Cup logo for the start of the tournament, while people in the U.S. are seeing Jacques Cousteau Doodle for his 100th birthday. The main FIFA Google Doodle is this one: But Google is showing a special FIFA Doodle in South Africa & France for Doodle 4 Google competition winners. Google France: Google Korea: Google South Africa: The Google U.S. Doodle for the 100th birthday of Jacques Cousteau looks like this: [...]

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Memorial Day is being celebrated and commemorated today in the United States. Since it is a holiday, please expect lighter coverage here today than on a normal day. Below are the logos, themes and the Google ribbon for the special day: Google's Ribbon/Badge: Yahoo (animated): Bing: Ask.com: DogPile: Cre8asite Forums: Search Engine Roundtable: [...]

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Today is Mother's Day in the U.S. and in many other countries, but it is also Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie's 150th birthday. To celebrate the day, Google has a Mother's Day logo in the countries celebrating Mother's Day today and Peter Pan logo (along with Wendy, John, Michael and yes, Tinkerbell) in other countries, such as the UK. Here are the logos: Here are some other Mother's Day Logos from around the web: Yahoo: Bing: Ask.com: Baidu: Orkut: Sogou: Cre8asite: Search Engine Roundtable: Also make sure to see Those Speci [...]

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Google posted their Earth Day doodle today and the overall impression from most people I see talking about it (via Twitter, forums and so on) is impressive. Here is a picture of Google's 2010 Earth Day logo. Google was not the only one with a special theme or logo for Earth Day. We have logos from Bing, Yahoo, Dogpile and others. Here is what I found today. Yahoo: Google's Orkut: Bing: Ask.com is running a full skin ad, which is earthy, but yet an ad for Avatar: Dogpile: Cre8asite Forums: Search Engine Roundtable: I also have an ar [...]

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If you visit Google.com today you may see a Google Doodle (logo) for St. Patrick's Day. Here is a picture of the special St. Patrick's Day Doodle for this year: Google is not the only search engine with a special logo. Yahoo, Bing and Ask.com all have logos. I have some additional logos from others in the industry at the Search Engine Roundtable. Also, if you want to see the St. Patrick's Day logos from the past 6 years or so, you can see them at 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 archives. [...]

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Ask UK (uk.ask.com) has a new game where you can dress up the lovable Jeeves character. Just search for [want to dress up jeeves] at Ask UK and you will be presented the opportunity to place khakis on the famous butler. You can dress up Jeeves at uk.ask.com/dressupjeeves. UTalkMarketing.com reported "Gieves and Hawkes together with Ben Sherman have supplied virtual outfits that allow users to transform butler Jeeves from his usual smart two-piece suit." The Flash dressup wizard was created by Framestore and Moonshine and offers 100,000 different outfit combinations. Here is a video o [...]

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Today is Martin Luther King, Jr day and the search engines are showing off their logos and themes for the special day. Below you can see logos from Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines. In addition, check out the 2009 and 2008 logos, if you missed them the previous years. Google's MLK Logo: Yahoo's Flash MLK logo: Bing's MLK Theme: Ask.com's MLK Theme: DogPile: Search Engine Roundtable: [...]

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Happy New Years! The Search Engine Land team would like to wish everyone a happy, healthy and successful 2010. Just for fun, I wanted to share the various logos from the search engines and also Google's surprise. Let's start with Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" count down to New Years. Remember when you hit the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button on Google.com, it would show you how many minutes to 2010? Well, when 2010 hits, it then shows you a fireworks display. Here is a video I made of it. Now for the logos, which is basically a repost of my listing from the Search Engine Roundtable: [...]

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As many of you know, Google started their holiday logo blitz earlier this week. Google has now posted four of (I believe) five logos they have for the holidays. We also have logos from Yahoo, Bing, Ask, DogPile, Baidu and many other search engines and search industry web sites. I wanted to share them with you today and update them tomorrow, as more come in. Here are the logos: [...]

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Today is World AIDS Day and Google, Yahoo and Ask.com all have the red bow on their home pages. In addition, Google has a blog post showing how they are supporting the day and asking everyone to either "include #red to turn your tweets the color red or if you like, follow @joinred." In addition, you can learn more on how Google is supporting the day at Google.org, Yahoo has their own page and Ask.com is the only one linking to a search result. Here are the red bows from the search engines, as I posted at the Search Engine Roundtable: Google: Yahoo: Ask.com: [...]

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I said from time to time, I'd highlight some bad search results I come across. Here's a killer -- a top ranking for us national anthem on Google that when you click on it brings up random web sites that have nothing to do with the song. Behind the scenes, there's an Ask.com connection. Let's dive in. Here's the listing: For those who can't view images, I'm pointing at the fifth listing, which says: gbjann.com Get an auto loan that's right for you. Compare auto loan rates of top lenders. ... Loan type : Sort by : State : City : New auto, 48 mo. New auto, 60 mo. ... gbjann.com/anthe [...]

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If you're the number four search engine in a market that is looking like it's going to be about two (maybe three) players in the long run, what do you do? If you're Barry Diller and running the parent company of Ask, the search engine in question, you're potentially looking at selling, with Microsoft as a logical buyer. That's all speculation at this point, however. In the meantime, Ask is doing and trying a lot of things to keep users and redefine its role in this new, contracting or consolidating search landscape. Most recently it made a major push into shopping with "deals search." Anoth [...]

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If you visit Google.com today, you will see a special logo for Veterans Day. The logo is less complex when compared to last years, where Google had to fix their Veterans Day logo. Last year, Google placed hats on top of each letter on the Google logo, the hats included Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. But they forgot one, the U.S. Coast Guard, which they added later. Google also has a logo on Google.co.uk for Remembrance Day: Bing has a Veterans Day Theme: Yahoo typically skips adding a special logo for today, which is what they have done today. But you can see more [...]

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There's a report from Reuters this morning that Microsoft and Yahoo are considering expanding the scope of their search deal "outside the United States": Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Thursday the company could look to extend its search engine partnership with Yahoo outside the United States, if it gets regulatory approval. Wasn't that already the intention? I thought it was a global deal already. European regulators wouldn't be considering it if it didn't apply to their markets; they wouldn't have jurisdiction. So I guess I'm a bit confused I guess. Regardless, if [...]

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Today is Halloween and the search engines have logos up for the special day. Before I post the logos, here are some posts from others in the community on Halloween. Matt Cutts of Google had a holy costume. Google Blogoscoped noticed Google added trick or treat to their robots.txt file. Bing has a special visual search edition for today. Bruce Clay's team dressed up and PPC Heros added some funk. Finally, the logos you see below is reposted from the Search Engine Roundtable. Google has four Doodles: Yahoo (Flash): AOL (Flash): YouTube: Bing: Ask.com: [...]

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Online coupons have been around for many years, at least a decade. Despite this no publisher or site has arisen to yet win the space. There's no Facebook of coupons, no Twitter of coupons and, dare I say it, no Google of coupons. Google itself would seem to have missed or mishandled the opportunity with its peek-a-boo approach to local coupons. Yet coupons and deals have become progressively hotter during the recession. And now there are a growing number of sites online and in mobile that promise access to offers and savings. Sensing a differentiating opportunity, Ask is today launching a [...]

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Happy Labor Day Search Engine Land readers! Due to the U.S. holiday, we will likely have limited coverage here today. Go out and enjoy the unofficial last day of summer! If you are stuck at work, like me, here are some logos from the search industry to hopefully brighten your day. Oh, yea - Google and Yahoo never have Labor Day logos. Bing: Ask.com: DogPile: Cre8asite Forums: Search Engine Roundtable: [...]

Related Topics: Ask: General | Channel: Consumer | Google: Logos | Microsoft: Bing | SEM Industry: General | Top News