Searching For Earthquakes

This morning at 5 am US Pacific time there was a magnitude 4.2 earthquake in the Oakland, California hills where I live. Danny found the earthquake by doing a search on Ask simply for “earthquakes.” The example highlights the value of Ask 3D, the inclusion of more “vertical” structure in search results, and how the […]

Chat with SearchBot

This morning at 5 am US Pacific time there was a magnitude 4.2 earthquake in the Oakland, California hills where I live. Danny found the earthquake by doing a search on Ask simply for “earthquakes.” The example highlights the value of Ask 3D, the inclusion of more “vertical” structure in search results, and how the new Ask really shines in certain situations vs. the other engines.


Compare results:

Impressively, the correct result on Ask appears without using a geographic modifier, but there’s also a box to refine by geography within the body of the search results if the desired information isn’t present. On the other engines you could get to the same information but you’re at least a couple of clicks away from the SERPs.

Here’s our previous write up Ask 3D when it launched early last month.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Greg Sterling
Contributor
Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.

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