Search Engines: Cool, New Features vs. Trusted, Familiar Results

Are the new features some search engines are announcing enough to win over loyal searchers from trusted engines?

Ask.com, among other search engines, has announced some more significant changes recently. Retiring their familiar mascot, Jeeves, in 2006, Ask.com offers features like Smart Answers for your search at the top of pages (key information to answer the questions in your search with links to more details) and binoculars site previews. Earlier this year, they unveiled Ask3D, a re-engineered version of Ask.com with a three panel design, new search technology, and customized information.

This month, Ask.com announced AskEraser, a privacy feature that, when enabled by searchers, will delete search activity from the company's server. As debates about the privacy of search records continue and we question whether or not we really want customized results based on our past searches, Ask.com is offering us an option. If you're concerned about the privacy of your search queries and how they're used, simply search using Ask.com, enable AskEraser, and rest easy that no one will know what you've been looking for.

It seems we see TV ads featuring new Ask.com features fairly regularly now and think the monkeys introducing the binocular previews last year and KT Tunstall introducing supplementary information for your search, like song samples and concert dates.

Many of us recall these commercials and are aware of some of these changes with Ask.com, but have they prompted us to start searching with the engine? Statistics show that Ask.com has only about a 20% loyalty rating and searchers will stay with the search engine for future searches. Google, whose changes in methods and features are far less publicized to their general audience, has about a 70% loyalty rating, though. (Followed by Yahoo with just under 50% loyalty.)

Will any amount of features cause loyal searchers from one engine to search using another? Maybe the case is that searchers are most concerned with the relevant results they know they've gotten with an engine in the past. Perhaps no amount of new features will convert a searcher, and an engine must prove the relevancy of their results.

Or, maybe the issue is simply of familiarity. Do users really feel Google's results are more relevant or are they just accustomed to using it? Is it just a matter of time for new features to change the world of search from domination by Google?

August Ash, Inc offers a Site Copy Evaluation to help assess how your current keywords are ranking in different search engines and new opportunities for keywords.