6 Responses to “Question: Why did Google Answers fail?”

1. mark evans Says:
   November 29th, 2006 at 8:07 am

   one word: you’re right. actually, it’s two but you’ve nailed it….:)

2. Google puts brakes on Google Answers » Make You Go Hmm Says:
   November 29th, 2006 at 9:17 am

   [...] Others are saying Mohamed Amine Chatti: “I would rather use Google or Yahoo! main search engine which are getting increasingly better to get a quick answer, or directly ask someone that I know s/he might have the answer.” A five star Google Answers researcher peers into how the system might have been flawed by not requiring a certaim amount of involvement and ongoing participation. Pramit Singh: “I was surprised to learn that only 800 or so people participated in Google Answers. Therein lays the answer. A recent Oprah Winfrey session on Yahoo Answers got more than 20,000 participants.” ZDnet’s Larry Dignan: “It shows the company can cut its losses on a project that may not be delivering–a critical skill for all companies. Cutting losses is a cog in solid project management.” Don Dodge: “Who wants to wait for an answer to a search query? Any wait beyond half a second becomes intolerable for most users. Secondly, how can an answer service be profitable and scale?” Mark Evans wonders if this is a sign Google will start nuking other projects: “Who knows, maybe this move suggests Google will be more pragmatic about rolling out new services rather than slapping stuff on the wall and seeing if it sticks.” Haochi Chen who also points to the Google Answers thread below writes on his Googlified blog: “It’s really sad to see Google Answers being shut down. Unlike Google X, Answers has been around for years, even though I don’t use it at all.” Via Google Answers bowler-ga on 23 Oct 2006 14:50 PDT: “The quality of GA has become diluted with spam questions that are conceivably attempts from credit card thieves to verify the validity of stolen credit card numbers, webmasters realizing that a mention of their website in a GA question may boost their ranking in the search results (although this may have been resolved), and the disappearance of researchers such as yourself.” Rex Hammock thinks Wikipedia is the main reason for GA demise. [...]

3. Richard Ball Says:
   November 29th, 2006 at 12:14 pm

   Interesting thought, but why is Yahoo Answers thriving? Yahoo’s recently integrated their answers product in their search results.

4. Mathew Ingram Says:
   November 29th, 2006 at 12:36 pm

   That’s a good point, Rex. But if that’s true, why has Yahoo Answers continued to grow exponentially?

5. Rex Hammock Says:
   November 29th, 2006 at 1:29 pm

   Good question, Matt. I go way-back in the whole Q-A format. I think Yahoo has done a better job integrating answers into their overall search — thus, raising its visibility. I believe people answer questions for visibility, moreso than for the money they can make directly. (Sorta like why a lot of people blog.) More visibility — more participation. is why Yahoo has done better.

   However, (and I don’t have the statistics so I’m breaking a rule I constantly complain about when others do this) I think when compared to the participation and growth in content, Yahoo Answers (and, for good measure, throw in all the other Q-A sites) have not grown with near the velocity as Wikipedia. Also (and this is my bias) I find “answers” easier to find what I’m looking for in an encyclopedia-type format than in the Q-A format.

   However, every once in a while I find myself at a dead end looking for an answer — I keep forgetting any of those sites exist. (Ironically, we’re about to offer an area on SmallBusiness.com where those who can’t find what they want can ask a question — however, answers will ultimately be edited together into a wiki entry.)

6. Mathew Ingram Says:
   November 29th, 2006 at 1:35 pm

   Thanks, Rex. That’s a good answer — or answers. I think you are probably quite right that Yahoo has done a better job of making their Answers more visible, and that Wikipedia is also in many ways a more appealing way of doing the same thing (although plenty of Answers would never make it through the submission process to become a Wikipedia entry).

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