IAC's Ask.com has been mired in fourth position behind search's undisputed leader Google and runners up like Yahoo and Microsoft. To date, rolling out new search technology hasn't improved its lot, even if it has bettered the company's search results. But despite dismal returns on new search technology, Ask is once again betting on innovation.

The newest changes, which mark the first since Jim Safka replaced Jim Lanzone as CEO, will give users the regular web results coupled with an index of commonly asked questions and answers from sites like Yahoo Answers and WikiAnswers.

The so-called "structured" results are designed to get users to desired information in as few clicks as possible. So, for example, a search for "Miley Cyrus" would return results that include television listings for "Hannah Montana."