Google is pulling the plug on Google Answers, a service that allows people to submit questions over the Internet that researchers answer for a fee.The search giant didn’t say why it was closing the service, which launched about four years ago and was one of Google’s first non-search projects. Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of SearchEngineWatch.com, said the service never achieved the popularity of Yahoo’s rival offering, Yahoo Answers. Google Screenshot Google will stop accepting new questions for the service later this week, it said in its official blog late Tuesday. It will accept new answers to questions until the end of the year, and it will maintain the archive of questions and answers online for browsing.“Google is a company fueled by innovation, which to us means trying lots of new things all the time—and sometimes it means reconsidering our goals for a product,” the company said. Google Answers started as “a rough idea” from cofounder Larry Page and was brought to fruition after four months’ work by a team of four developers, the company said.The service allowed users to submit a question and specify how much they would be willing to pay for an answer, which could be anything from US$2 to $200. Any of about 500 researchers selected by Google could then go to work on the question. Some researchers had noted a decline in the service. In October, one of them posed his own question to Google Answers: “What has happened to Answers?” Some replied that the service had declined because it was not linked anymore from Google’s homepage. Others said Google had stopped notifying people when their question had been answered, leading to dissatisfaction with the service.Sullivan said Google Answers never achieved the success of Yahoo Answers, which managed to generate more of a “community” feel among its users. Yahoo Answers is free, and questions can be answered by any registered user. Google said its paid service offered better answers because they came from hand-picked researchers.Google’s retreat “feels like an odd, almost surrendering move in the face of Yahoo Answers being such a success,” Sullivan wrote. But killing the service is probably a smarter move than allowing it to languish online, he said.Microsoft launched its own offering, Windows Live QnA, in August. The service is in beta and, like Yahoo Answers, is free to use.-James Niccolai, IDG News Service (Paris Bureau)Related Link: Google Shares Break $500 Mark for 1st TimeCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content brandpost Who’s paying your data integration tax? Reducing your data integration tax will get you one step closer to value—let’s start today. By Sandrine Ghosh Jun 05, 2023 4 mins Data Management feature 13 essential skills for accelerating digital transformation IT leaders too often find themselves behind on business-critical transformation efforts due to gaps in the technical, leadership, and business skills necessary to execute and drive change. By Stephanie Overby Jun 05, 2023 12 mins Digital Transformation IT Skills tip 3 things CIOs must do now to accurately hit net-zero targets More than a third of the world’s largest companies are making their net-zero targets public, yet nearly all will fail to hit them if they don’t double the pace of emissions reduction by 2030. This puts leading executives, CIOs in particul By Diana Bersohn and Mauricio Bermudez-Neubauer Jun 05, 2023 5 mins CIO Accenture Emerging Technology case study Merck Life Sciences banks on RPA to streamline regulatory compliance Automated bots assisted in compliance, thereby enabling the company to increase revenue and save precious human hours, freeing up staff for higher-level tasks. By Yashvendra Singh Jun 05, 2023 5 mins Digital Transformation Robotic Process Automation Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe