Compete Gains Distribution With Ask, But I Must Ask Ask Why?

Ask.com announced this morning that they have partnered with Compete to add a new tab to their "binoculars" service which previews a Web site in search before you jump to it. Frankly I've never understood why anyone would care about a preview in a box of 100x100, but now you not only get the preview, you also get the stats about the site from Compete.

This is a great deal for Compete to gain distribution for their analytics service. In addition, the distribution will also help Compete with reaching a new audience and could create more loyal users over time.

Search Engine Land's Barry Schwartz notes on the deal, "Why did Ask.com add this? It helps the searcher not only preview what the site looks like but also tells the user how popular the site is." Why do I care how popular the site is? I will tell you why. It's because I don't. If Ask tells me that x result is the best one for my query, then why does it matter how popular the site is?

ReadWriteWeb's Marshall Kirkpatrick gets excited about this deal showing just how open search is in terms of ability to innovate in the space.

At the end of the day, it's a good distribution move for Compete. Ask adds a feature but they really need a lot more innovation if they plan to come back from the "xyz hates the algo" ads from last year.

I've provided Ask with suggestions last year that could easily get them going in terms of market share growth. It sure feels like Ask isn't interested in growth. I've never heard from anyone at Ask regarding my suggestions. I am still open to a discussion CEO Safka, give me a ring.