Ask.com believes it could profit from Yahoo and Google's activity outside the search space in recent months, as it seeks to take market share from its arch rivals.

Cesar Mascaraque, European managing director at Ask, told vnunet.com at the launch of the firm's new web site today that it has been working on reducing latency, and improving the relevancy of searches and the user interface.

"We have been working hard while our competitors have been mapping the Moon or fighting aggressive takeovers," he explained. "Our focus on search and understanding our core users is key and has helped us over the last 12 months."

Mascaraque said that Ask is not concerned about Yahoo and Google's large presence on toolbars, which are pre-loaded onto certain devices, and added that the firm is seeking to expand its own distribution channels in the coming year.

"The toolbar is dead. It's a 1990s product [and] the new world is slightly different," he argued.

"We have an amazing brand, which is a very strong thing to have. But I don't want to rely on that strength alone. I want us to be more aggressive with distribution."

Key enhancements to the new Ask.com site include a 67 per cent reduction in loading times for new pages, and the blending of video, images, news, blogs and other results categories onto one page.

Ask has also unveiled new technologies - Direct Answers from Database, Direct Answers from Search and AnswerFarm - which it said will help provide relevant answers and responses directly from sources such as Wikipedia.

"We are a search [service] that can deliver relevant answers to any questions. If the queries are business related we can answer them too," said Mascaraque.