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1996 - 2006
Ask Jeeves
“Jeeves is fetching your answer.”
- Birth year
- 1996
- Shutdown year
- 2006
- Lifespan
- 10 years
- Peak era
- 1998-2004
- Company
- Ask.com
- Category
- Search Engines
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What Was It?
Ask Jeeves invited the web to phrase searches as questions, with a fictional butler standing by.
The butler made searching feel like asking someone for help. That presentation mattered on a web where newcomers were still learning what to type into a search box and how to judge the results. A question offered a friendlier starting point than a list of carefully chosen keywords.
This entry remembers the Jeeves-branded experience. The retirement of the character did not mean that every service using the Ask name vanished at the same time; the memorable loss was the personality that had made the search page immediately recognizable.
Things You Probably Forgot
- Complete questions
- The butler mascot
- Search suggestions
The Story
- 1996 Ask Jeeves launched.
- 2006 The Jeeves branding was retired.
How It Died
The Jeeves character was retired during a rebrand, ending the original question-answer search era.
What Replaced It?
Memories
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