Signs of Desperation by Ask.com
Posted: September 11th, 2008
The lights have long been dimming Ask.com’s corner, as the layoffs in March had foreshadowed. More signs of desperation have surfaced last week as Ask began trading in goodwill and relevant search results for a little bit of cash. Sure, companies need to make money, but is their latest decision short-sighted and detrimental to their long-term success?
Ask.com has traditionally placed three sponsored ads at the top of its search engine result pages as a means to generate revenue. In February, they began testing out five sponsored listings for those using Internet Explorer (FireFox and Safari users still only saw three), and as of last week, everyone is subjected to five ads.
Coupled with the “products” results at the very top, natural organic listings are effectively pushed below the fold of the page, requiring people to scroll down just to see a set of viable results. Below is a screenshot from a query of “television.”
The unfortunate thing is, back in 2005 when Ask was still “Ask Jeeves,” they got it right by reducing the number of advertisements. In fact, the CEO of the company realized that “The company’s tests show that a smaller number of ads boosts the frequency with which people use the site and aids user retention.” This latest decision by Ask.com might improve short-term revenue, but will undoubtedly work to further lower Ask’s already dwindling share of the search market.
This is a horrible decision by ask, they obviously need to worry about making a profit, but if you have to do it by compromising the strength of your product you are going to lose in the long run.
Then again I can’t even tell you the last time I used ask so I guess they don’t have that great of a product as it is.
Adam
I do not think that Ask is long for this world. They should do their investors a service and sell the assets and technology they have verses spending every last dollar before they hit the wall dead broke. It is sad to see them fail but it is a market decision and they just are not competitive with Google, Yahoo, and MSN.