Ask Search Engine: A Closer Look

Are you feeling a bit more confident? I hope you are, because we certainly feel you are. It is probably safe to say that a valid concern that you probably felt as you were introduced to search engines, metasearch engines, directories, etc., is how do I know where to look? Well the following is a guide to the most commonly used sites and after you finish reviewing these details, we are sure that you will feel more comfortable in selecting the best way to go. Since we are sure you have come across these at least once in your lifetime, the information you are about to receive should be a lot easier to digest.    Ask came about in 2001 and was purchased by Ask Jeeves later that year. A disadvantage that it may have is that it supports only limited Boolean searching but a definite plus is that it has recently added an advanced search page with improved searching features.  Ask also offers a new approach in displaying search results by putting them into what it calls Web communities: Results (relevant web pages), Refine (suggestions to narrow your search), and Resources (links to collections of experts and enthusiasts). This is what ASK does: SEARCHES IN: Own database for Web searches DEFAULTS TO: AND SEARCH OPTIONS: Main Search Page Supports (+) and (-) signs Supports double quotes (" ") Advanced Search Page Supports Boolean-type searches using drop-down menus for "all the words," "exact phrase," "Must have," "Must not have," and "Should have." Supports limited Boolean queries using operators "AND" and "OR" or  "ORR." (Operator must be in all upper case.) Allows searching "Anywhere on page," "In page title," and "In URL." Provides language search options with matching character sets  Allows domain or site searches  Supports geographic regional searches Allows searches by date page modified anytime within past two years OTHER SEARCH OPTIONS AND FEATURES: Does not support truncation at this time No case sensitivity; search terms entered in lowercase, uppercase, or mixed case all get the same number of hits Shows "Sponsored" links before listing search results Maintains a stop word list; will not search for stop words unless typed as part of a phrase within quotation marks or preceded by the (+) plus sign