InterActive Corp.'s (NASDAQ: IACI) search engine and information portal Ask.com continues to try and re-invent itself to compete more heavily with search leader Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). With Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) being such a large distraction over this past summer, the time seemed appropriate for Ask.com to try -- again -- to take some steam from Google. From anyone, for that matter.

It still won't happen. Here's why: Google's search product still is compelling to all that use it, even with marginally better search products. Google also has its hand in news, email, documents, spreadsheet, blogs, etc., and continues to recruit the customer that uses Google for everything possible on the web.

Its main product is search and that also provides almost all its revenue. But how can Ask.com compete with something like this? A better product, faster search results, or a more intuitive experience won't cut it any longer. What Ask.com would need is a disruptive product to even think about competing with Google. It's been over a few years since I've written on Ask.com's foray into competing with Google. In many ways, it's superior. That's, unfortunately, no longer enough.

Is Ask.com trying to win a losing battle? Perhaps. When Ask.com CEO Jim Safka says that Ask.com can recruit web searchers from Google with a 30% speed increase in search results, he's deluding himself. I'm not sure where that research came from, but Ask.com may be on its last stand. The search engine is pulling in ad revenue from the use of its products, and it may be content to grow steadily in that arena for the time being. But if it really wants to attack Google's ad revenue cash cow, something completely innovative and fresh needs to be forthcoming.

Will InterActive Corp. (NASDAQ: IACI) be dumping its search and information portal Ask.com? Sort of, according some insider accounts. It wouldn't be jettisoning Ask.com entirely -- it would just be getting rid of the technology that powers the search engine's results. The engine behind Ask.com, Teoma, could be taken out and replaced by Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)'s technology.

Google already has a stranglehold on internet search. It's been suggested for quite a while that Yahoo, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) dump its pride in its search engine technology (known as Project Panama for the last few years) and just use Google instead for powering its search engine. Does Google have that much power -- one that would make competitors use its search engine technology to power their own sites? Yes, it does.

If Ask.com were to switch to just using Google, then the search service really would hold little value to the customers using it. Sure, Ask.com would wrap Google search results in its own brand and customer interface, but would there truly be a compelling reason to use Ask.com at that point? Not really. Just like Yahoo!, Ask.com has spent huge amounts of cash to improve its search technology with little to show for it.

That's the first-mover advantage Google has. Even if either had a better search service, that wouldn't mean more search customers. Then again, does either have a superior search service? I personally use Ask.com daily in addition to Google -- it's great. For my sole search engine service, though, it's not that good.

IAC/InterActiveCorp.'s (NASDAQ: IACI) Ask.com is becoming a nice competitive force, it seems, in the tertiary market for Internet search services. I personally use Ask.com everyday for certain things, as it offers some features that Google, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) lacks and seems more suited to my work flow in certain instances.

While I still prefer and use Google for most Internet searching, I can see why the Ask.com is making a run to recruit more and more customers. In fact, it may overtake Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE:TWX) AOL Search (powered by Google) as the fourth-largest search product soon.

Is the product that good? In many respects, yes it is. The massive marketing campaign that the company has waged since the summer is dovetailing a little bit, and although Ask.com's market share is piddly compared to Google, Yahoo!, Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), the product stands up there with the best of them.

Although in all likelihood Ask.com won't ever displace Google, it will continue to be a player in this field I'll bet. It doesn't need to be the market leader to get revenues and grow them. Even a small half-percent usage gain in customers translates to huge numbers in the total available market, I would suspect.

So, it's a battle between Ask.com and AOL Search for the fourth spot in the Internet search realm. Stay tuned for all 13 rounds of this prize fight.

Ever hear of Ask.com? The search website formerly known as Ask Jeeves was purchased by Barry Diller's InterActive Corp. last year. IAC has a habit of turning around distressed companies in the throes of losing marketshare. Can it work the same magic with Ask.com any time soon? This Fortune article, "Ask.com: Google's up-and-coming rival," seems to think it can.

But while Ask.com may display all relevant content to the web searcher before displaying any kind of advertising, does this make a business model work long-term? Google has success by displaying ads (very relevant in many cases) directly next to content after a search is performed. But the ads are non-obtrusive and in most cases, very relevant to the search at hand. Hence, they work as a business model -- a billion-dollar business model.

Ask.com's search features intuitively are better than Google's. A search brings up a good list of close-context search results that the searcher may be interested in, as opposed to a simple index of the entire web that Goggle produces for a search result. But Google's becoming more personalized as well -- search for the word "recipes" and you'll see some new drop-down boxes that allow the searcher to drill further into a specific search.

Ask.com wants to build a "better car" instead of Google's "faster car." Instead of "more revenue per search", Ask.com wants to make "more money through more searches." This is well and good. But taking marketshare from Google while branding Ask.com as a superior service is not going to be easy. This may be one of Diller's hardest battles to date.