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Ask Jeeves Trials Graphic Preview in Search Results
Monday, June 14, 2004
Ask Jeeves is conducting a limited test of a new search preview feature
offering searchers a graphical peek at their results, no clicking
necessary.
Search result pages reflecting the trial feature were discovered
by Andy Beal, VP of search marketing for WebSourced and editor of
search-focused blog Search Engine Lowdown.
An Ask Jeeves screen grab posted on Beal's blog reveals a page
of search results in which a tiny set of binoculars appears next
to each link. Rolling over the binoculars causes an image preview
of the linked-to page to appear.
Further searches on Ask Jeeves did not turn up the graphical preview
feature, but technology companies commonly test new features on
a subset of Web site visitors.
Ask Jeeves representatives declined to comment on any wide rollout
of a "look ahead" feature, saying it regularly conducts
trials of new product ideas that may or may not be pursued.
"In the normal course of product development, Ask Jeeves tests
products with a limited number of users from time to time,"
said an Ask Jeeves spokesperson. "Andy simply stumbled across
one of these tests, but we have no product announcements in this
regard at this time."
A graphic preview such as that being tested by Ask Jeeves offers
users the benefit of no-click peek at the Web content that lies
beyond a search engine's results page. Catching such a glimpse into
landing pages could shorten the time it takes searchers to find
relevant results, as they wouldn't have to load an entire page's
content to assess its relevancy. The method would also decrease
surfers' reliance on the back button when they encounter non-relevant
content.
New York-based Viewpoint Corporation is offering similar "graphically
enhanced search" technology in the form of a toolbar plug-in.
It launched in March 2004, and uses search results from Yahoo! Canada's
Smartdevil has long been pushing graphical previews, which it calls
Thumbshots, in Web search results.
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