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