Jim Lanzone shared a number of interesting stats from Ask:
- The money is still in the head: 30% of searches drive 70% of revenue. However over time there will be more competition in the tail.
- Average word count varies as one would expect. In the head: 1.57 words vs. tail: 5.01 words.
- The most popular sites in the search index take the lions share of the usage(25% of clicks on just 0.35MM sites, 50% on just 6MM, 90% on 250MM pages)
- The myth of Advanced Search: 10% “say they want it”, but only 1% use it. People refine their search using keywords as only 30% of visits have just one query
- Where to people click: only 2% click on link-tabs, 35% on selected pictures shown at top of page, 45% on the 10 blue links, 15% on search refinements (add/replace words). Google: 1-2% click on text ads vs. 15% on related search links on Ask.
- Last if you haven’t tried Ask.com lately you should give it another spin. They definately have a unique take on how to run a search engine.
More stats up on the Ask Blog.
