WebProNews

Ask.com Search Engine - A Brief History

As of this writing, there are five top Internet search engines: Google, Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, and Ask.com, and while Google and Yahoo! get a lot of the press (particularly lately), the Ask.com search engine is a rather interesting engine that deserves a closer look. This article will cover some of the highlights in its 12-year history, from its start as Ask Jeeves to its innovations, as well as the most recent developments behind the scenes.The Beginning

Search Engines Shaky In February

February's over, and according to new comScore statistics, almost all of the major search engines should be glad to put it in the past.  Microsoft and Yahoo both saw a shrink in market share, and Google's query growth was less impressive than it's been in previous periods.

No Stopping Google's Domination

So Jason is predicting that “Google will have 90% search market share in the US one year from now“, and while people may cringe at that thought, I don’t think it’s a completely unlikely scenario.

Ask.com Follows Jeeves Into Exile

The search engine Ask.com will be repurposed into something resembling its earliest days as a place to ask questions.

Anonymous Source Shoots Down Ask Rumors

Amid blog-driven hype over possible layoffs at Ask and the abandonment of the search engine in favor of Google comes a rebuttal of those potential moves by Ask parent IAC.

Bloglines Users Abandon Ship

When a company's last press release was put out in June of 2005, it's probably wise not to expect a quick response.  Still, users of RSS reader Bloglines are disappointed (and increasingly angry) following a long outage.

Search Share Stays Steady In January

comScore's first search share report of the year looks a lot like the last report of last year, except that only Yahoo is a loser. In January, Yahoo lost 0.7 percent of the search market, dropping from 22.9% share to 22.2%. Everybody's favorite juggernaut? Google picked up part of what Yahoo dropped—a small part. Google's share of the search market increased from 58.4% to 58.5%.

Not President's Day At Google, Apparently

Ready the vegetable-tossers, conspiracy theorists, and patriotic guillotiners: Google and Yahoo have snubbed President's Day.Google especially (in part because nobody pays attention to Yahoo unless Microsoft tries to buy them) is known for spicing up its logo on special days, to commemorate artists, historic accomplishments, and often, national holidays.

Digg This: Ask Opens BigNews

A joint project by Ask and Digg led to the opening of BigNews, a service for tracking important and widely discussed news stories.

Google Holds On To Search Share

US search market share for Google held in place from December 2007 to January 2008, while Yahoo and Ask gained at Microsoft's expense.