Ask Jeeves buys Teoma

September 11 2001

Ask Jeeves, a search engine company known for its ability to interpret natural language queries, has now acquired the privately held Teoma Technologies, Inc.

Although 2001 has been the year of search engine death and despair, we have also seen the birth of two new promising search engines: Teoma and Wisenut. Both of them have tried to copy the success of Google, giving strong emphasis to site popularity in their ranking algorithms.

Teoma was started by scientists at Rutgers University, and the search engine has been hailed in recent months as "the next big thing in search engines".

The name derives from the Gaelic word for "expert," and the search engine determines results by ranking a site based on its subject-specific popularity (the number of Web pages about the subject that reference this page) as well as its general popularity (the number of all the Web pages that reference this page).

Teoma also presents so-called "communities" of expert sites, i.e. relevant knowledge hubs that may guide you in your search.

Ask Jeeves will integrate Teomas search technology across its Web properties, including Ask.com. It will also integrate the Teoma technology in its corporate search and syndication products. Today, companies like About.com, iWon, MSN and Lycos use Ask Jeeves technology.

"After email, search continues to be the most popular activity among online users. By combining Teomas technology with Ask Jeeves automated search technology, extensive reach and user-friendly interface, we will create the best overall search experience on the Web," says Skip Battle, CEO of Ask Jeeves, Inc.

"This should make our media properties even more valuable to users who want the most relevant results; advertisers who want to reach consumers in a highly contextual environment; and companies who want to offer the best Web-wide search technology for their sites."

He is probably right. In a search engine environment where many companies -- with Excite in front -- are facing great technological and financial difficulties, the acquisition of Teoma does strengthen Ask Jeeves' position in the market.

Moreover, Ask Jeeves should be able to improve their own search engine at ask.com, which at the moment is not that impressive, to say the least.

The Ask Jeeves logo has already been included at the Teoma home page.

Press release
Articles about Teoma
Teoma beta test demonstration site Ask Jeeves

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