The answer is yes, if you believe their latest television commercial. In it, a old, very unhip guy with a German accent In reality, it’s a desperate attempt from a failed enterprise. Non-SEO types may appreciate Ask for its “appreciation of concepts.” Me, I happen to appreciate a search engine that understands the words I’m searching for.

Not only that, but as a search marketer and public relations “specialist” (whatever that really means), I appreciate a search engine that actually drives traffic. For example, my personal blog has NEVER received a single visit from anyone through Ask.com. I might have received one visit from a MSN searcher. For every 20 visits from Google, I receive one or two visits from Yahoo!.

Of course, Ask.com doesn’t actually have to provide anything it claims to provide. All they have to do is make cool commercials that convince people that using Ask.com is cool. Funny isn’t it? In order for Ask to grab attention, they have to advertise on television. Though truthfully, Google did the same in movies ten years ago.

For what it’s worth, Ask will have a very difficult time spreading through word of mouth. It’s easy to say “Ask”, but it’s not as unique and cool to say “ask it” as “google it.” Everybody knows what you mean when you say “google it”, but ask is so generic that the term would be misunderstood.

So, for all they have to say about being the “pimped out” search engine, don’t believe the hype. Let’s pretend that we’re still living in an age where people question whether what they are told is true. Let’s pretend that we can’t be fooled by an old German guy pounding fists with some random dude off camera.

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