Shakeup At Ask.com Not As Big As Many Thought

Earlier this week, many in the mainstream press had Ask.com throwing in the towel on its Teoma search algorithm technology, and going the way of a Q&A engine for married women. However, the shakeup at Ask.com isn't as big as many thought.

To be sure though, there is a new sheriff in town. Jim Safka is Ask.com's new CEO, and popular Ask.com boss Jim Lazone is on his way out come August this year. Too, there were a total of 40 layoffs, or 8% of the company's employees, once Safka took the reins. Just these two developments, alone, could be enough fodder to get bloggers, search and otherwise, and mainstream media, leaning toward such a revolutionary change in the Ask.com's strategy and position.

Blogs like that of Bruce Clay Inc, Internet Business Consultants, and posted by Lisa Barone, "Goodbye Ask.com: A Brand Evangelist Hangs It Up," and Metamend's SEO blog, posted by Jim Hedger, "7 Reasons We Will Miss Ask.com," among others, already had the much-loved Ask.com buried six feet under.

Who can blame them when you read a short report out of Reuters, "Ask.com Search Site to Cut Jobs, Realign Strategy," and Wall Street Journal's "What is Ask.com's New Strategy," of which, both, could be, and were, misconstrued as meaning the company was, more or less, abandoning it's much-envied, and now mimicked by the "Big Three" search engines, innovative 3-paneled Ask3D search technology and going the way of a simple Q&A for women, in particular.

Add to that, how quickly news, true or false, accurate or inaccurate, travels on the Internet, and it becomes clear how such a large flubbing about Ask.com could have taken place.

However, Ask.com spokesperson Nicholas Graham, quoted by Search Engine Watch's Kevin Newcomb, vehemently denied the rumor that the company was about to become a women's site.

According to Newcomb, Graham went on to explain that while the company recognizes that its core users are women, they would continue as a search site destination for all seekers of "answers" through "Ask.com." Further, its Teoma technology wasn't going anywhere, and the company's new strategy was to focus more so on its core users, again women, and the answers that would most help them, rather than trying to generally accommodate everyone.

Lisa Barone, Bruce Clay Inc blog, Goodbye Ask.com: A Brand Evangelist Hangs It Up, www.bruceclay.com/blog/archives/2008/03/goodbye_askcom.html

Jim Hedger, Metamend SEO blog, 7 Reasons We Will Miss Ask.com, www.metamend.com/blog/2008/03/05/7-reasons-we-will-miss-askcom/

Michele Gershberg; editing by John Wallace, Reuters, Ask.com Search Site to Cut Jobs, Realign Strategy

Jessica E. Vascellaro, Wall Street Journal, What is Ask.com's New Strategy,