Ask.com, formerly Ask Jeeves, has introduced a new look they are calling Ask 3D. It is not 3D as in three dimensional viewing, it is 3D as in the three dimensions of searching - query expression, investigating results, and digging deeply into content. 
The new look is a little confusing at first, mainly because we have all been conditioned to the "10 blue lines of search results" format of Google and other traditional search engines.
Query Expression - Ask has introduced emphasized lots of other features in the new UI. Things like "Narrow your Search" and "Expand your Search". Both features provide alternative search suggestions to help you focus or expand your search. Alternative search suggestions have been around for a while. We had them at AltaVista 10 years ago. But, the technology has improved significantly to the point where the alternative search suggestions are really good. It is a great feature.
Investingating Results - Ask has a little binoculars icon that indicates you can preview the page. Hover over the binoculars and the page pops up in preview mode. Another cool AJAX feature is the "roll over" on photo results that pops up a larger image.
Digging Deep Into Results - Another big change with Ask 3D is providing all the search result types on one page, meaning text results, photos, video, ecommerce links, etc. Again, we tried this at AltaVista and found that users didn't like it because it slowed things down. But, today high speed broadband and distributed data centers make it all happen in the blink of an eye.
The risky move in Ask 3D was moving the advertising out of the right column. Users have come to expect that the "organic" search results will be in the center pane, and the paid search results will be clearly separated. Advertising has always been on the right column pane. The right pane of Ask 3D is now devoted to images and video. If none are available for your search term it just remains blank.
Sponsored Results - It looks like all advertising on Ask is now in the form of "sponsored results" and appear at the top of the center pane along above the regular search results. It is a little tricky to see where the sponsored results end and the "organic" results begin. If you look really close you can see a very faint shadow around the sponsored results.
Ask made a good move with 3D. They needed to try something new to gain attention and more users. There are two immediate risks that I see. First, "look and feel" changes are easy to copy. The other search engines could introduce a similar look and feel within a very short time. No sustainable competitive advantage. Second, introducing new features and a new "look and feel" at the same time is very risky. USA Today made both changes at once and users revolted. The problem is too many variables make it hard to know if users are objecting to the new features or to the new look and feel.
Michael Arrington at TechCrunch has a nice review of the new Ask. I particularly liked this concise explantion;
The search results themselves are highly customized depending on what type of search is being conducted. Search for a music artist and see images of the artist along with clips from tracks via iLike in the right sidebar (Ask’s sister company, TicketMaster, recently invested in iLike). Search for a city and get different results in the sidebar - a map, weather information, the current time, photos and wikipedia information.
Jim Lanzone, CEO of Ask, is a smart guy. He tested these changes with users before implementing them. He will continue to tweak things and improve the user experience. Jim has said for a long time that even small search engines can be very profitable. I agree. remember my earlier post "Why 1% of search engine market share is worth over $1 billion" Ask currently has about 5% market share.
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Nice review. I put up one with a slightly different slant.
http://www.daviddalka.com/createvalue/2007/06/05/newly-relaunched-askcom-glimpes-of-greatness-and-some-problems/
P.S. Don - please email me. Thanks.
Posted by: David | June 05, 2007 at 11:34 AM