Robert_Charlton - 7:06 pm on Jun 10, 2007 (gmt 0)

Ask results can be very much skewed by the "peer group" from which Ask takes its reference links.

I occasionally try searches I do for myself on different engines for comparison purposes, and make notes about those that are particularly revealing. This search highlights many of Ask's problems, and I've looked at it from time to time over the years. I trust it's OK to post here....

on Ask:
how can I tell if a fluorescent tube is bad [ask.com]

on Google:
how can I tell if a fluorescent tube is bad [google.com]

First, as now compared to Google, Ask has gotten much better on this search.

Initially, when Teoma launched and I tried it, all the results were basically listings of Asian manufacturers of fluorescent tubes. The reason, it occurred, is because fluorescent lighting is much more common in Asia than in the rest of the world, so the inbound link sources in the fluorescent lighting sector that Asks uses for evaluation would be skewed in that direction.

About a year ago, Ask results were predominantly skewed toward aquarium lights and grow lights.

Now, Ask is returning at least some results that are relevant, but, IMO, on this search, they still fall short of Google's. I feel that Google's results have gotten a bit worse on this search as Ask's have improved.

On other searches, Ask is extremely good. In several highly competitive areas that I monitor, they are not returning the big sites with many purchased backlinks I'm seeing currently on Google... but on some of these searches they still aren't satisfying user intent as well as Google is.