New Ask, Google search platforms are compared

Just about one month ago, Ask.com redesigned their search results pages, offering results from across the Internet spectrum - blogs, news hubs and product pages. Some say, the redesign offers much cleaner results.

by Kristina Knight

Around the same time as the Ask.com launch, Google launched a revamp of its own called Universal Search, which also offers search results from across the online spectrum. However some tech writers say, Ask's new portal is better.

Google's Universal platform offers results from blogs, product sites and news hubs mixed together in one results silo. Ask's program offers the same results but leaves the results within specific silos - blog results are listed together, news hubs are together and so on.

Though some are saying that the Ask.com results are cleaner and easier to navigate, it appears that users haven't caught on. According to the latest search share results from comScore, Google remains on top of the search pack with Ask.com bringing up the rear.

In May, Google rang up roughly 50% (4 billion) of search queries while Ask.com brought in only 5% (384 million).

Users are always looking for easier ways to find the products they are researching, however, Google has been a go-to source for users for such a long time that it may be hard to convince them to switch. Even with a simpler interface, many users have Google's toolbar installed and some even start online sessions with Google.

Still, it is a good idea for paid search campaigns to cover the gamut of offerings and with Ask's new offering this may be a good time to switch some of the paid search budget to Ask's platform.