Ask.com Homepage Content Strategy

The Project

Historically, Ask.com’s homepage featured only a search bar, offering little incentive for users to linger on the site. The business wanted to increase engagement and repeat visits by introducing curated editorial content and a daily interactive quiz across the Entertainment, News, Culture, and Lifestyle verticals. The challenge was to create a homepage experience that balanced Ask’s legacy as a search engine with its new goal of becoming an engaging content destination.

What I Did

As the project’s editorial lead, I partnered with the design and product teams to conceptualize and launch a new homepage layout that highlighted fresh editorial content while maintaining a seamless search experience. I developed the backend structure in our CMS to tag and schedule featured articles, enabling editors to easily manage homepage updates. I also wrote and implemented homepage style guidelines to ensure consistent tone, imagery, and formatting across all content. To support engagement, I led the team responsible for the “Ask Question of the Day,” creating unique, trivia-based questions that tied into trending topics and drove repeat user visits. I trained editors and writers on the new system and workflows, ensuring a smooth transition to the updated content model.

Results

  • Successfully launched the redesigned Ask.com homepage, transforming it into a hybrid content and search experience.

  • Achieved a 47% increase in average session duration and a 35% boost in homepage click-through rate within the first quarter post-launch.

  • The “Ask Question of the Day” feature became one of the site’s most visited elements, generating over 500K daily interactions at peak engagement.

  • Reduced content publishing time by 40% through the CMS tagging and scheduling system I developed.

  • Established homepage editorial standards that have been adopted across additional Ask Media Group properties.