Google’s search engine division, in the past few years, has been dedicated primarily to figure out ways it can move beyond being just a list of links. The company has brought comprehensive knowledge panels, summaries from the top-performing blog post for a specific query, user reviews, stories from celebrities, and much more. Google, however, is looking to add another one and is apparently testing a new QandA carousel.
Simply titled “QandA on Google”, the new section comes up when you look up a particular question and for now, is placed somewhere between the search results (on both the mobile and desktop versions). It houses a row of related and probably the most searched questions under which you will find the answers if someone has replied. Unlike the company’s previous efforts to bring QandA to Google, this one is entirely crowdsourced and the answers are not being pulled up from blog posts.
In addition, you can tap the attached arrow keys to view the rest of the questions and even quickly answer if you’d like to by tapping the Answer button. Plus, there are options to like or dislike them and if none of them match with your query, you can ask a new one through the bottom text bar.
There’s no way currently to post anonymously, which essentially means you will have to be logged in for asking new questions. Because of that, Google also notifies you when your post has a new comment and the same applies when you follow a particular question. What’s more, these contributions can be viewed by Googling “my questions” or “my questions”.
Google has gradually brought a QandA functionality to a bunch of its services before such as for places on Google Maps and Google Search. In addition, select personalities can answer fan questions through the dedicated Cameos app.
Incidentally, Google recently acquired a QandA startup known as Superpod. Superpod’s mobile apps allowed users to ask any sort of questions and get replies from a group of experts. The app, since the acquisition, has been discontinued.
Google seems to be testing the new feature only with a handful of users and we’re not sure when will it be available for everyone. Although the Help page has been updated with it. One of the answers we came across was a month old, therefore it’s clear Google has been experimenting it for a while now and it should be ready for mass rollout in a few weeks.
Shubham started as an intern with Technology Personalized and later graduated to be a full-time author. He dabs with both features and news posts....