Editing Google Answers (section)

== History ==
Google Answers' predecessor was Google Questions and Answers, which was launched in June 2001. This service involved Google staffers answering questions by e-mail for a flat fee (US$3.00). It was fully functional for about 24 hours, after which it was shut down, possibly due to excessive demand and the tough competition that [[Yahoo!]] set in place.<ref name = "pred">{{cite journal
| first =Jessamyn
| last =West
| date =October 1, 2002
| title =Information for sale: my experience with Google Answers
| website =infotoday.com
| url =http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/oct02/west.htm
| access-date =November 21, 2006
| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110408183844/http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/oct02/west.htm
| archive-date =April 8, 2011
| url-status =live
}}</ref>

Google Answers was launched in April 2002. A month later, a search feature was added.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://searchengineshowdown.com/2002/05/google_answers_searchable/|title=Google Answers Searchable|website=Searchengineshowdown.com|date=31 May 2002|access-date=15 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701175729/http://searchengineshowdown.com/2002/05/google_answers_searchable/|archive-date=1 July 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

Google Answers came out of beta in May 2003. It received more than 100 question postings per day when the service ended in December 2006. According to [[Danny Sullivan (technologist)|Danny Sullivan]] of Searchenginewatch, Google Answers was not solid enough to compete against [[Yahoo! Answers]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2548611/google-questions-need-for-google-answers.html|title=Google questions need for Google Answers|website=Computerworld.com|date=29 November 2006|author=James Niccolai|access-date=10 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410214609/https://www.computerworld.com/article/2548611/google-questions-need-for-google-answers.html|archive-date=10 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

In late November 2006, Google reported that it planned to permanently shut down the service (except for the Hong Kong and Arabic versions). No new questions were accepted after November 30, 2006, and no new answers were accepted after December 31, 2006. It was fully closed by late December 2006, although its archives remain available.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/adieu-to-google-answers.html |title=Official Google blog post announcing the closure |publisher=googleblog.blogspot.com |access-date=2019-04-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407223000/https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/adieu-to-google-answers.html |archive-date=2019-04-07 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Google opened related sites, one in [[Russia]] also called Google Questions and Answers in 2007, and one in [[China]] called Tianya Answers, in reference to [[Tianya Club|its Chinese partner site]].  In September 2009, Google launched an [[Arabic language|Arabic]] version called Google Egabat or Google Ejabat (إجابات Google), meaning ''Google Answers''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.startuparabia.com/2009/09/google-launches-egabat-new-arabic-questions-answers-service/ |title=startuparabia.com |date=8 September 2009 |access-date=2009-09-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090914045941/http://www.startuparabia.com/2009/09/google-launches-egabat-new-arabic-questions-answers-service/ |archive-date=2009-09-14 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, in late May 2014, this service was announced to be read-only starting from 23 June 2014.<ref>[http://ejabat.google.com/ejabat/ Ejabat Google] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140626135117/http://ejabat.google.com/ejabat/ |date=2014-06-26 }} - main page shows a site notice about service change to read-only.</ref>

In an email sent to registered researchers announcing the closure, Google wrote:

<blockquote>We considered many factors in reaching this difficult decision, and ultimately decided that the Answers community's limited size and other product considerations made it more effective for us to focus our efforts on other ways to help our users find information.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.metafilter.com/56634/Google-loses-one-battle-to-the-competition |title=Google loses one battle to the competition |publisher=metafilter.com |access-date=2007-06-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605232615/http://www.metafilter.com/56634/Google-loses-one-battle-to-the-competition |archive-date=2011-06-05 |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>