Industry-Leading Relevance and Image-Specific Zoom Related Search Provide Superior Image Search Experience
Ask Jeeves Inc. has a new image search engine and it is ready for its close-up, the Oakland, California, company announced recently.
The new tool includes Ask Jeeves’s internally created index of Web images, improvements to its image search ranking algorithms and Zoom-related suggestions for image searching. Zoom is Ask Jeeves’s proprietary concept for clustering results into topics to help user find what they want. Collectively, these improvements deliver a superior image search experience, helping people find the pictures they are looking for faster.
Ask Jeeves has fine-tuned its image-search algorithms. To rank image search results, Ask Jeeves measures their "authoritativeness" within their "topic community," and it employs image-recognition technologies to sharpen the relevance, according to the company. In addition, search suggestions specifically developed for image search offer users alternative terms related to their query, the company said.
Our new image search combines Ask Jeeves’ unique text ranking and clustering algorithms with sophisticated image recognition technologies and our new image index, Apostolos Gerasoulis, executive vice president of search technology for Ask Jeeves, said in a statement.
Ask Jeeves, owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp., said it invested in improving its image search because it is its second most popular type of search, accounting for 16 percent of queries on Ask.com.
Superior Relevance for the Image Web
Image search is the second-leading type of search on Ask Jeeves after Web search. The improvements we are introducing today move the needle for searchers where they really need it, said Jim Lanzone, senior vice president of search properties at Ask Jeeves, Inc.
The popularity of image searching will continue to grow as will usage of multimedia search engines as people increasingly browse the Web looking for songs, music videos, podcasts and television shows, he said.
Image Search accounts for 16% of all searches on Ask Jeeves. With the new image technology, Ask Jeeves is also expanding Image Smart Answers, so pictures can be saved in users’ personal MyJeeves folder by clicking the ‘save‘ link under each image, which appear at the top of the search results page for queries such as "pictures of Mount St. Helens" from the main Web channel.
Our goal is to give users the best technology and tools to get the most out of the Image Web.
New Zoom Related Search: Concept Navigation for Images
Zoom related search is a proprietary concept that gives users suggestions on how to narrow or expand their search. This concept, introduced for the Web Search channel in May of 2005, has now been expanded and tailored for the Image Search channel. As with Zoom for Web search, the product is derived from the Ask Jeeves’ search engine, which uniquely clusters the Web by topic as part of its relevance methodology. These topics are visually represented on the right side of the results page under the categories: Related Names, Expand Your Search, and Narrow Your Search. The Zoom suggestions proposed within the Picture Search channel on Ask.com will often differ from those in the Web Search channel, due to different methods used to calculate relevance and clusters on the Image Web.
For example, with the query "Bondi Beach" on the Pictures channel, zooming in with Narrow Your Search returns "Map of Bondi Beach" and "Bondi Junction."
Alternatively, by zooming out with Expand Your Search, suggestions include "Australian Beaches," "Byron Bay," "Taronga Zoo" and "Places to Visit in Australia" to help users clarify what they are looking for. Additionally, Related Names is able to isolate "Ayers Rock" and "Sydney Tower" as relevant suggestions.
Also Try: "Brooklyn Bridge," "Thomas Jefferson," or "Andre Agassi"
The Ask Jeeves Image Search with Zoom related search is an entirely new way to navigate and explore the Image Web, said Gerasoulis.
Considering that the image search engine fields such a large percentage of total queries, it makes sense for Ask Jeeves to enhance it, said Gary Price, news editor of SearchEngineWatch.com. "That is why it is such a high priority," he said.
It has been shown that many search engine users only use general Web search engines, even when Ask Jeeves, Google Inc. and the other major operators prominently feature tabs to conduct special searches of, for example local businesses, discussion groups, news and products, Price said.
Available at http://pictures.ask.com, the image engine is the first to use an index and technology developed internally by Ask Jeeves. Previously, Ask Jeeves relied on partner Picsearch AB to power its image engine.