Ask's search algorithm -

What ASK looks for in order to rank a site well - well, while not a commonly raised topic, there are unique ways in which Ask.com indexes its results. It is the slowest out of the 4 major engines, with one pet peeve often being the speed in which pages get updated. Here are some of the factors in Ask's search engine algorithm.

1) First come, first served - Will often ignore domain and webpage redirects, preferring to stick with the first one it has seen

2) Grouping - Uses "clustering" technology to help determine visibility, meaning that instead of assigning link strength to each individual site, it sees what sites link to you and if they are sites about the same topic

3) Synonyms - Along with Yahoo, uses meta keywords to relate content to synonymous terms too

4) Slowest updating process of all engines (many new URL's can take over 6-12 months to update)

5) Cannot index several formats, has the smallest index overall

Guidelines for Ask are not available in many places - however their official list can be seen at
http://about.ask.com/en/docs/about/editorial_guidelines.shtml

Also, keep an eye on our SEO tips page and view our overviews of Google's Algorithm / Yahoo's algo / or MSN Live

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