...have surfaced at Webmasters World reporting, that such an update has indeed taken place. Here are some interesting posts, to make you a believer:

We have seen large jumps from Ask the last two weeks, most significantly this last Friday. About a 40% increase in traffic since Friday. Ask normally makes up about 8% of SE traffic but has jumped up to 12% to 14%. We are #1 and #2 (we have both at the same time) now for hundreds of longer tail queries where before we were #4 and #5 (that I have tested for).

More then enough to notice (perhaps its our industry), plus the traffic has great "time on site" and very low abandonment rates.

Its not a huge amount, but every little bit helps. I do see direct conversions from there and from a number of other smaller traffic sources.

I don't believe in relying just on Google (PPC or SEO) for my traffic or income.

Not detected any changes in our Ask traffic, but it is highly valued because the search terms are more focused, and their users more intelligent.

When there was a bug in Ask a few months ago, I reported it to them directly, and got a personal, helpful, reply from their main Technical bloke.

Well as long as the Webmasters are happy and satisfied, there is no point in making a big deal about it. Good work Ask.com!

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