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Search Engine Comparison Chart:
Ask.com, Exalead (December 29, 2009)

[To Print - click in this frame and select Print from the Browser toolbar or File menu. ** marks significant changes since March 2009]

Feature Ask.com Exalead
Address www.ask.com www.exalead.com/search
Size ? 8 billion (Oct 2006)
File Types web, pdf web, txt, ppt, xls, doc, pdf, rtf, swf, wpd
Levels Simple, Advanced (form) Simple, Advanced (form)
Basic Syntax - to exclude, "phrase" for words together.
Note: + doesn't seem to have any effect.
- to exclude, "phrase"
Boolean OR in uppercase. Doesn't nest concepts. AND, OR, AND NOT in uppercase. ( ) Nesting.
Proximity Higher ranking
NEAR within 16 words
NEXT within 1 word
NEAR/2 within 2 words
Eg., market NEAR/2 share
Truncation/ stemming Automatic singular, plural and some variants. Use * to get variants -- invest*
Restrict by date Advanced - page modified - last week, 2 weeks; last month, 3 month, 6 months; 1,2 years Advanced - Search before a date or after a date. Or use syntax before:yyyy/mm/dd or after:. Also Sort:new to reorder results. **
Field Search Advanced: Filters for title, url, domain / site, country. Advanced: Filters for title, url address, country, site. (Dropped file format and language) **
Site site:au- find pages with country code for Australia
site:utoronto.ca - find pages at utoronto.ca
country:au- find pages with country code for Australia

site:utoronto.ca - find pages at utoronto.ca
Title or Text intitle:solar energy looks for all words in title. intitle:"solar energy" looks for all words or phrase in title.
URL inurl:solar energy looks for all terms in the url inurl:solar energy looks for solar in the url and energy anywhere
Feature Search No Find pages that have links to audio or video files. Click on multimedia options in right panel.
Filetype No filetype:pdf Finds pdf files. Also use Filetype in right panel.

sitetype:Blog - searches only blogs. Can select blog or forum from right panel blog or forum. **
Link to Page No link:www.utoronto.ca - pages that point to URL
Group By Web Site No No
Cached Page For some pages. Shows date. Yes - click on Cached or the thumbnail. Shows date. **
Search w/in No No **
Topical Grouping No - has related searches instead. Related Terms - groups by topic, geographic location of site, document language.
Real Time No No
Search Aids Spell check
Search suggestions as you type.
Customize (Settings) - limited
Binoculars - preview thumbnails, site statistics.
Smart Answers for definitions, conversions, maps, weather, movies and many more. Information capsules on popular topics and famous people.

Spell check
Phonetic Search - soundslike:
Approximate Spelling - spellslike:
Thumbnail shots of pages


Add-on for Firefox searchbar
Translate Yes ** No **
Personal Search Tools Search History - for that browser session. Personal account doesn't work. **
AskEraser - privacy feature
Shortcuts on front page - use to save links for running searches at other databases.
Configure Refine Search side panel.
Bookmarks - save to a personal account. **
Verticals & Tools Q&A - question and answer sets found on the Web
Images - filters and related search
News - groups stories, scores for newness and impact
Shopping Deals in the US
AskCity Local Search - US businesses and addresses.
Maps - US, Canada, UK - from Microsoft
Blogs and Feeds
Video


More on Site Features
Images - recognizes faces - several filters on type, colour, size, orientation.
Video - view by source. Has categorization. **
Wikipedia search - shows tag cloud of relevant entries.

More on search syntax
Toolbar Ask Toolbar Desktop search
Subject Directory None Open Directory
Sponsored Links Ask Sponsored Listings, Google AdWords Google AdWords, Exalead Ads.

Where to Next?

Search Engine Comparison Chart 2 to visit other resources on the Web.


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