In one of the more surprising moves of 2005 (so far), Ask Jeeves announced they would be launching an Ask-owned advertising service, while slowly moving away from their previous ad partner, Google’s AdWords service.
The move was surprising because not only will Ask be providing their own advertising (ending the lucrative Google partnership, albeit, slowly), they will also be reducing the amount of ads users see when conducting a query. The latter move should improve the user experience… provided the user is primarily looking for organic results as opposed to sponsored listings. Some see this has a risky move on Ask’s part, especially when it involves leaving a proven commodity. However, since the IAC purchase, it appears as if the Ask brand is determined to forge their own path.
Since the announcement of Ask’s own search engine advertising service, many have been waiting for Ask’s ads to appear. According to a report found by SearchEngineRoundtable, the wait may be over. Rusty’s post reveals Ask’s sponsored listings have been showing up in the Sponsored Results section of certain online shopping-related queries. These ads are mixed in with Google AdWords listing, however; signifying their partnership with Google still has some life. Users can determine the difference by mousing over the paid listing link and observing the URL. This reveals the origin of the ad in question.
There are a number of queries that trigger the appearance of Ask’s sponsored listings like:
These queries contain both Google and Ask ads. There has been no word concerning when Ask’s ads will be shown exclusively and because of this, users can expect to Google’s ads mixed in… at least for the time being.
Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest search news.
