Google Pulls Question About Google From Google Answers
Peter Da Vanzo reports on an individual who posted a question on Google Answers that was removed by Google. The question was, “What percentage of Google searches are contextual?” Specifically, the person wanted to know what percentage of Google searches give back results based on the content of a page someone is reading.
You can see the thread title in the cache or via this image capture, at this moment in time, where the poster was willing to pay $20 for the answer. A Google editor removed the question, stating:
Hello hallsteve11-ga,
Thank you for your question ID 739118, titled “Percentage of Google searches that are “contextual”.” We’ve removed your question because you can find the answer on our main site, free of charge. All publicly available information about Google is available at: http://www.google.com/about.html.
For additional questions about Google, please visit: http://www.google.com/support
Thank you for your interest in Google Answers. Please visit us again.
Sincerely,
The Google Answers Team
Is this a case of Google censoring a question that they don’t feel comfortable being answered?
Postscript From Danny: I don’t think there’s anything “uncomfortable” about the question, especially since Google doesn’t really contextually create search results anywhere. It does put ads on pages that are based by analyzing the content/context of those pages — but those ads are not searches. Still, pulling the question makes no sense. If someone wants to ask a question on the service, let them answer it. And pointing at the Google About page doesn’t answer the question at all!