Ask.com (ask.com)

Member Name: Nic25

Product:	ask.com
Date:	09/01/09 (22 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fairly competant, user friendly

Disadvantages: Not the best searches, lots of sponsored links

www.ask.com is a main search engine, slightly less well known than it's fellows at Yahoo and Google. It used to be called www.askjeeves.com, and featured the fictional butler character who answered your query for you.
Obviously though, those extra 6 letters were just too much for some people to type, as it was re-introduced as the simple ask.com

The actual website itself is set out well. It is very plain, and easy to use, with a simple white background, with the single search box in the centre. It has a series of links above the search box to allow you to search for webpages, images, videos or answers. This is well done, as it allows you to narrow your search quite efficiently.

You also have the option to search UK only, or worldwide - another feature I find very helpful, and saves you getting lots of US sites etc when looking for something UK based.

The search functions quite well, bringing up a good range of items related to your search, with sponsored links generally at the top, normal links underneath, and 'related searches' to one side.

My main problem with the site is that the sonsored searches tend to have nothing to do with the item I'm searching for, and are clearly just flashing up each time as they are paid searches.
I can usually find what I'm looking for, but this is eventually, usually after trawling through a good few pages of unrelated items.

The image search is much the same as the main search, and the engine brings up pages of images in thumbnail size, which can then be clicked on and enlarged to see the full picture, with a link to the original website also available, which is quite useful.

Overall, although perfectly up to scratch and very user-friendly, the website just isn't on a par with it's main competitors at the thing which counts the most - the actual searches. Definately not one to forget, but if you want to save time, Google it first!

Summary: An average search engine, not the best