Ask.com, the site originally known as Ask Jeeves, has closed its search service. The Ask.com homepage, quoted by The Register, Mashable, and Search Engine Land, posts that “As IAC continues to sharpen its focus, we have made the decision to discontinue our search business, which includes Ask.com,” and that the service “officially closed on May 1, 2026.” Sources note the brand dates to the mid-1990s (Search Engine Land cites June 3, 1996; Mashable cites 1997) and that IAC acquired the business in the 2000s. Editorial analysis: Industry reporting frames this cultural end-of-era moment alongside a broader revival of conversational, AI-driven “chat-to-search” experiences from major vendors, which has renewed practitioner interest in answer-focused search interfaces.
