Ask Jeeves has introduced new search features which it says will make it easier and more intuitive for users to find information online. AskJeeves has expanded its Smart Search features, to enable users to conduct more effective searches by helping narrow, broaden or more directly answer user queries. SmartSearch utilizes Ask Jeeves' proprietary combination of Teoma search, natural language, and structured-data search technologies.

Ask Jeeves' also beta-launched a patent-pending site preview tool called Binoculars. With Binoculars, a small binoculars icon appears next to most Ask Jeeves search results. When a user's cursor is moved over the icon, a small window instantly appears above or below the result, featuring an image of the end site. By scrolling through a series of Binoculars images, a user can evaluate the quality of a search results set without "pogo-sticking" between the Ask Jeeves results page and the results themselves. When a desired result is found, a user can directly click-through.

The company says the tool will enable users to quickly and easily preview their search results before clicking-through to visit the end pages themselves. According to an independent user study conducted by VeriTest, the testing division of Lionbridge, binoculars reduced the number of clicks required to find relevant results by 50%-70% per search.

Jim Lanzone, Senior VP of Search Properties says Binoculars was "designed to be a visual aid to help determine the relevance of web results more effectively.It is meant to give users an additional piece of information. And its implementation is optional which allows people to access it when they want."

With the continuing "need for speed" demands made on search engines by users, Lanzone says there tool will demonstrate "there’s more to speed, than just download speed. You still need to get the most relevant results."

Lanzone reflects that in surveys, users have again and again identified their top three most pressing requirements for search engines as "relevance, speed and ease of use."

"Ask Jeeves' goal continues to be helping users find what they need in a smarter and more intuitive way, and these new features do just that. The Binoculars feature allows users to say good-bye to pogo-sticking; that time-consuming process of repeatedly returning to the results page. Whatever information searchers need, Ask Jeeves will find it," said Jim Lanzone, Senior Vice-President of Search Properties for Ask Jeeves.

Earlier this month, AskJeeves continued its desktop search expansion with the purchase of Tukaroo Inc., a San Jose-based desktop search technology company.