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Will Baraza questions and answers be ranked higher than Quora and Stack Overflow in Google search? When Google starts adding more services with content created

Will Baraza questions and answers be ranked higher than Quora and Stack Overflow in Google search? When Google starts adding more services with content created by users, will it be harder to rely on Google search?

joelrunyon 13y ago
This is a good question. At one point is google "impartial" search engine or when does it become a funnel to their own services? You can see it started to happen with the ITA flight software acquisition a few years back (http://www.google.com/press/ita/ http://www.google.com/press/ita/) - now google flights now beat out every booking engine for any flight query.
- lopatin 13y ago
  I doubt that Google will ruin the integrity of their search results because they want to push Baraza. They do have widgets such as Google Flights pop up when it is clear the user if looking for airline tickets but that's not an indication that Google funnels all their own services for the heck of it. First of all, the widgets such as Flights and People Bios are not in the actual search results, but appear as separate sections. I believe the actual search results are sacred and are exempt from being tampered with, even for Google's motives. Second, flights are a very specific and objective thing which makes their Flights widget extremely useful. If I'm searching for "flights from lax to ord", I'm going to get all flight times available without even leaving Google. The same cannot be said for most services such as Baraza, where the quality of answers/questions is very incomplete and subjective.
  - joelrunyon 13y ago
    Their flight widget is the second thing in the search results (right under the ads) and above any actual results. That alone - says they're prioritizing the money-making options.
    - lopatin 13y ago
      The place under the ads and above the search results is just where they put stuff like the calculator, sports stats, and other easter eggs. Yes they make money off the Flights widget, but that doesn't automatically mean it's bad for the user. My point was that the Flights widget is great and more useful than the actual search results when you query for "flights to lax" just like the calculator widget is more useful than the search results when you query "sin(50)*1234". They are prioritizing useful widgets, and this one happens to make lots of money.
srikrishnan 13y ago
The fact that 3 years after it was started, most of us still don't know of it means Baraza questions are clearly not ranked higher than other results :)

joelrunyon 13y ago

This is a good question. At one point is google "impartial" search engine or when does it become a funnel to their own services? You can see it started to happen with the ITA flight software acquisition a few years back (http://www.google.com/press/ita/ http://www.google.com/press/ita/) - now google flights now beat out every booking engine for any flight query.

lopatin 13y ago
I doubt that Google will ruin the integrity of their search results because they want to push Baraza. They do have widgets such as Google Flights pop up when it is clear the user if looking for airline tickets but that's not an indication that Google funnels all their own services for the heck of it. First of all, the widgets such as Flights and People Bios are not in the actual search results, but appear as separate sections. I believe the actual search results are sacred and are exempt from being tampered with, even for Google's motives. Second, flights are a very specific and objective thing which makes their Flights widget extremely useful. If I'm searching for "flights from lax to ord", I'm going to get all flight times available without even leaving Google. The same cannot be said for most services such as Baraza, where the quality of answers/questions is very incomplete and subjective.
- joelrunyon 13y ago
  Their flight widget is the second thing in the search results (right under the ads) and above any actual results. That alone - says they're prioritizing the money-making options.
  - lopatin 13y ago
    The place under the ads and above the search results is just where they put stuff like the calculator, sports stats, and other easter eggs. Yes they make money off the Flights widget, but that doesn't automatically mean it's bad for the user. My point was that the Flights widget is great and more useful than the actual search results when you query for "flights to lax" just like the calculator widget is more useful than the search results when you query "sin(50)*1234". They are prioritizing useful widgets, and this one happens to make lots of money.

srikrishnan 13y ago

The fact that 3 years after it was started, most of us still don't know of it means Baraza questions are clearly not ranked higher than other results :)