Are you getting targeted traffic from Ask.com ?

Some of you may have noticed the traffic coming in to your site from ask.com. Although the traffic is “just a trickle” compared to traffic from Google, Yahoo, and MSN, it is extensive compared to other search properties.

In this post, we’re going to talk about why it’s important to pay attention to and begin optimizing for Ask.com We will give you some information about how their algorithm works and tell how you to do SERP research to improve your rankings.

First of all, it is important to know that Ask Jeeves was recently purchased by Barry Diller’s InterActiveCorp, making them “players” and giving them more funding and a wider reach than they’ve had before. IAC has plans for Ask.com:

Ask Jeeves is one of four world-class search technology providers, with approximately 42 million U.S. unique monthly users, and is one of the largest generators of online advertising in the world. Barry Diller, Chairman and CEO of IAC, said, “Ask Jeeves was founded almost ten years ago based on the idea that simple text search results alone are not sufficient or satisfying - but, rather, that consumers want answers to questions - and questions posed in natural language and answered with spot-on accuracy were especially desired and appealing. Of the many search engines launched during that time, Ask was one of the very few that established itself … and we believe that in the future it has the potential to become one of the great brands on the Internet and beyond, and by beyond we mean in wireless, in the search for anything on any device. It is that belief, powered by IAC’s wealth of resources and thriving businesses, together with the continuing strong management of Steve Berkowitz and his team, that is the impetus for this transaction.”

http://www.irconnect.com/askj/pages/news_releases.html?d=74889

Additionally, although Ask only has a small share of search traffic, it is enough to warrant some attention:

http://searchenginewatch.com/reports/article.php/2156451

Including Ask owned properties Iwon and MyWay, Ask represents 5.3% of searches, just behind AOL. This could result in decent traffic, especially if you are already well established in Google, Yahoo and MSN and are looking for additionally sources of relevant visitors. Also, if you offer a niche product or have a very large website, Ask can result in more traffic to your site.

How does Ask.com rank websites?

First, we have to establish that Ask.com uses technology that they purchased from Teoma. Teoma’s claim is that although it scans only a fraction of the content covered by major engines like Google, it produces well ordered and relevant search results by initially eliminating all the irrelevant sites and then considering the popularity of only those that relate to the search subject in the first place. It also provides other ways to sort through thousands or millions of search results by allowing users to refine or expand their search. Teoma was created initially from research derived from Jon Kleinberg’s HITS. The HITS algorithm focuses on identifying communities, and and authorities within those communities. You can read our review of HITS here: Hubs and Authorities.

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