Ask Jeeves, Inc. today announced the addition of Smart Search(SM) for Products to Ask.com, the latest in a series of “smart” searching tools designed to make it easier and more intuitive to find information online. Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Smart Search for Products supports a variety of shopping categories across multiple stages of the consumer buying cycle.

On average, and compared to other search engines, Ask Jeeves currently receives the highest proportion of “Shopping” category searches, according to a Fall 2003 report from @Plan.

Ask Jeeves’ Smart Search for Products is the result of a comprehensive study of online and offline shopping needs and behaviors commissioned by the Ask Jeeves product team. The study determined that consumers have different information needs at different points of the shopping cycle, including reading reviews, evaluating features, identifying similar items, comparing prices, and finding stores when they’ve decided to make a purchase. Interestingly, research-based information, such as reviews and features, was found to be more important to searchers than price comparisons, which are commonly the default product search result offered by other search sites.

“Smart Search for Products furthers our mission of making it easier for people to find relevant information online,” said Jim Lanzone, vice-president of product management for Ask Jeeves, Inc. “Product-related searches require a different approach than general Web searches. Our intuitive new shopping tool guides users directly to the right product information at the right time.”

Ask Jeeves’ Smart Search for Products is powered by a unique combination of Teoma technology, third-party product search tools, and Ask Jeeves natural language processing algorithms. Unlike other search engines which require users to click on a shopping tab or enter a specific shopping channel, Ask Jeeves automatically delivers the searcher to a Smart Search results page when it identifies that a query is shopping-related.

Ask Jeeves then leverages its natural language capabilities to recognize where the user is in the shopping cycle — finding, researching or buying — and adjusts the search according to the users intent. For example, if you type “camera” in the ask.com home page, clarification tools will help you narrow your query by prompting you to sort by types of camera or camera accessories. If you know you want to search for “digital cameras,” Smart Search for Products lets you browse brands, features, reviews and information on where to buy digital cameras. Lastly, if you know you want a specific camera, Ask Jeeves Smart Search for Products will guide you directly to information on that particular product.

“We developed Smart Search for Products to be a logical and comprehensive way to find the product information that people actually need,” added Lanzone. “Just as there’s more to general search results than a list of 10 blue links, there’s more to product search than price comparison. Consumers felt that search engines can do much more to help them through the shopping process, and that’s what we’re responding to.”

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