These days, it seems that requesting for a single and simple answer to questions that drive users to browse the internet is just too much for search engines. But a three-year-old engine strives to change the way search engines are perceived by providing straightforward answers to questions in the user’s own language. This, according to Answers.com is their way to get their internet users keep coming back to the site.

Robert Formenton, vice president of advertising sales at Answers.com says that there has been a change in how users search for information these days. People have gone back to the basics and are looking for basic information on whatever it is that they are searching for. This is what makes information portals such as Answers.com attractive.

But the question still remains: do you really get the answers that you need as the website claims?

The claims were put to the test by asking a certain question and comparing the search results with that of what Google can come up with. It seems that Google was able to outperform Answers.com with regards to providing relevant answers. For instance, on the question ‘Who were King Henry VII wives?’ Answers.com failed to provide definitive answers but instead provided information on who the king was and enumerated at least two wives including Ann Boleyn. Google produced a better result with one of them being exactly what the search was after – information on the king’s wives and thumbnail portraits to boot.

Given this kind of searching, it seems that Google does better at dealing with natural questions. This should provide an input at how search engine marketers should tweak their sites. User behavior, after all, is an important element in Search Engine Optimization. One needs to understand how users look for information if he is to make sure that his site is visible to his targeted audience.

On the whole, Answers.com still needs a lot of work done with regards to its results generation. It seems that it still has a long way to go if its goal is to beat Google as far as user support is concerned. At this point it is still difficult to classify Answers.com as a search engine based on how it fared on the simple test of generating relevant results. The site is more like an information portal in its behavior and even on that regard, there is still a lot that needs to be improved.