Google to shut down ‘Q&A’ search feature by June 30: Report

If you have contributed to any questions and answers over the past couple of years, the company says you can head over to Google Takeout to export your search contributions before they disappear from the site at the end of June.

This useful feature will be shut down on June 30. (Unsplash)

Google's “Question & Answers” section, the never-ending section of Quora-like quick information snippets that were so popular on multiple search results page is reportedly set to be retired by the company after two months.

According to a report by Android Police, Google will shut down the feature that showed answers to questions that were somewhat related to the search term, by June 30. The company has updated its support page for the topic, informing users that the feature is going away on that date.

The feature itself wasn't a very old one and seems to have been introduced a couple of years ago. Tapping or clicking on one of the questions and results usually populates the list between search results with a few more “related questions” and answers below them. Google also appears to have allowed publishers to reply to questions posted by users.

Some of Google's Q&A entries among the search results. (HT Tech)

Some of Google's Q&A entries among the search results. (HT Tech)

The report seems to suggest that Google had developed the feature primarily for the Indian market, but the company's own website does not mention this as an India-specific feature. “On Google Search, you can ask and answer questions about what you search. Contributions on Google Search don't work in all languages and all countries/regions,” is what Google's own documentation has to say about the feature.

However, the questions and answers may not always have the best results – at least in our experience. Google also currently allows users to ask questions and answer questions from both the Google.com webpage and the Google app on smartphones. 

If you have contributed to any questions and answers over the past couple of years, the company says you can head over to Google Takeout to export your search contributions before they disappear from the site at the end of June.