Discuss Sold! in the Ask Optimization forum on SEO Chat. Sold! Ask, formerly Ask Jeeves, Optimization forum discussing Ask.com. Discuss Ask, including how to achieve a high rank and get traffic from the engine.
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That's very sad news. I really like the people running AskJeeves right now, and I'll be sad to see them controlled by the people who run CitySearch & Match.com - which I believe are not great properties - profitable? yes, but not quality.
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I have to agree with you; this is not the best move for Ask Jeeves -- they would have been much better off under the AOL umbrella. But, when you're the owner and see all those dollar signs, it can be hard to resist.
The only good I could possibly see coming out of this is if the match.com et al sites use Ask as the search functionality, driving traffic to Ask...relevance will probably be secondary to showing "company" sites though.
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Sometimes change is a good thing. Ask has really lost forward momentum if you "Ask" me It's a good investment for someone provided they do something with it. Only time will tell.
Nice news find (Went to look and the article/release for that link was toastie.
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It is all part of business. If Ask had tried to survive on their own they would be totally forgotten in the not too distant future (in fact, almost forgotten today). All new industries usually follow the model of expansion then consolidation. Sorry to see them go, but it was time.
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I just hope Diller is in it for the long run and not a quick buck or the classic "sellout" route by selling top spots in the serps. This could be great for advertisers but in the long run a SE is only viable if they serve the users more.
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Got to agree with Luxury - my concern is that this move will take away from the technological and search enhancements of Ask, as well as the new Bloglines acquisition and make Ask a third-rate search engine. Many may not realize it, but the results, in my experience, have had a major upswing over the past 9 months and are not on par with MSN or Yahoo!
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According to many, there was a time Ask moved away from the technology side. They are back. The main issue they had yesterday was money. Now, just maybe, they can invest more in the technology and branding to make it possible.
Maybe even get rid of the sponsored results. Of course time will tell. I asked Jim Lanzone for a comment last night, but nothing to report back as of yet.
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I watched the interview with Dillar on CNBC this afternoon and am still not convinced that this really was the best move for Ask -- a reduction in sponsored links? I'm thinking the opposite will be true; Dillar is focused on monetizing the hell out of it.
It was interesting to hear him speak so regretfully over not getting Lycos a few years back -- he felt he really could have changed the fortunes of the company...so I suppose we'll see if he can do for Ask what he wanted to do for Lycos.
Needless to say I won't be buying ASKJ anytime soon, unless of course an arbitrage play opens up...and even then the money would be better spent on YHOO (valuation and long-term prospects).
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i think we will eventually see AskJeevee's site become filled with more sponsored links and graphical ads which will lead to its demise. Plus, 3 is already a crowd in the main stream search engine crowd so its hard for me to have any reason why AskJ would overtake any of the current search engines.
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It's a good investment for someone provided they do something with it. Only time will tell.
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