Ask.com v. 11 tries new search technologies

After some re-organization in parent company IAC, perennial runner-up search engine Ask.com today announced it had also re-organized its search technology.

In August, Match.com's Jim Safka became CEO of Ask.com in a reorganization that saw parent company IAC spin off into three sub-companies, the "New IAC", LendingTree, and Interval Leisure Group. Now, the company is hoping users will hop on and try out Ask's proprietary search mechanisms.

Called DADS (Direct Answers from Databases), DAFS (Direct Answers from Search), and AnswerFarm, Ask will be employing these three technologies for an improved search experience.

DAFS is Ask's first genuine attempt at delivering semantic search results. Unlike its algorithmic counterparts, DAFS attempts to yield answers to questions rather than search for the same words in the question. While this technology is currently usable on Ask.com, there is not yet a gauge for the accuracy of answers. For example, in BetaNews tests this morning, one of the questions we entered was "Who said I regret that I have but one life to give for my country?" and Ask immediately returned one answer: Patrick Henry.

...Unfortunately, this quote is largely attributed to patriot Nathan Hale.

DADS aids in providing schedule-based results. For example, if a user types in "What time does Bones come on TV?" Ask yields a zip code- and carrier-based answer first, followed by the algorithmic answers. A user's location is ascertained through his ISP's location, so these results may also vary in accuracy.

AnswerFarm culls its results from user-supplied answers, such as Yahoo Answers, MetaFilter, or WebMD.

Safka said in a statement today that user satisfaction for his search service is already up 16%, and that results are delivered 30% faster than just one year ago.