Glossary of Ask.com Search Results Terminology

Web Results

Search results that appear under this heading are generated by Ask Search Technology, which uses sophisticated algorithms and Subject-Specific Popularity^SM data to generate the most relevant and authoritative results on the Web. Relevancy is the prime driver of these results.

Smart Search

Ask will often present additional information related to the subject matter you are seeking. These items appear at the top of the page, above the search results. For more information on Smart Search features, go here.

Sponsored Results

Ask.com's advertising customers and partners provide results that are associated with sponsorship attribution. The advertisements appear when contextually relevant to a search query. Some results that appear under this heading are provided by Google, a third party provider of pay-for-performance search listings. Google generates highly relevant sponsored results by allowing advertisers to bid for placement in this area based on relevant keywords.

Cached

This is a very useful feature that allows you to find the information you were looking for even if the target web site is temporarily unavailable. When you click on the "Cached" option, it brings up a copy of the web page that was locally saved by Ask.com. In addition to bringing up the saved page, the feature also highlights your search terms so that you can easily locate the information that is of interest to you.

Save

Allows you to save and organize your results and searches for when you need them most via our MyStuff feature. Go here to learn more.

Binoculars

The binoculars icon provides a preview of the associated web result without having to download the page. There is no need to click on the symbol. Just mouse over the symbol to get a preview. It is particularly useful when you are looking for a specific page and you have an idea what the page looks like. Clicking on the symbol will take you to the actual page.

Did You Mean...

Our useful spellcheck feature will suggest spelling suggestions in an effort to ensure that you are receiving the best search results possible.

Your Settings

Quickly personalize your search experience on Ask.com with basic preference controls. Go here to directly control your search experience.