What a relief. Google is finally trimming its product line, closing down Google Answers. This is, as far as I can tell, the first time the search company has ever shuttered a service, if one doesn't count Google X, a Google search page redesigned in the style of the Macintosh operating system, which popped up as a Google Labs experiment, and then disappeared a day later. Google has renamed or merged several other products. So, what's the measure of the new, lean Google look like? 85 identifiable specialized search engines, web apps and other products; and fewer than five of them provide any meaningful revenue. For three implications, and the announcement notice:

1. Yahoo. Google Answers offered 500 screened researchers, contacted over the web, available to answer questions for $2.50 and up. But it was always dwarfed by the competing service from Yahoo. Expert advice has long been a strength for Google's Sunnyvale rival, although it lags so badly in search advertising, and the reputation of its search results. Yahoo, which has claimed 60m unique users of Yahoo Answers, just did a deal with Answers.com, cementing its position. Chalk up a rare victory for Yahoo.

2. Google. What does this say about Google? Well, maybe, belatedly, Google's management is imposing a little discipline on the search company's wayward staff. Google's engineers enjoy 20 per cent time, in which they can pursue personal projects. Too many of these emerge as products. It isn't so much the waste of resources, because these projects are thinly staffed, typically. But this experimentation attracts more than its fair share of external attention. Half-baked products confuse Google's central search mission, and compromise its reputation.

3. Startups. Yahoo's already looking to focus its efforts, in response to criticisms of the kind expressed in Brad Garlinghouse's peanut butter memorandum, in which the Sunnyvale exec said the internet corp was spreading itself too thinly. It would be good news, too, if Google, too, focused on its strongest products. Except for weaker startups, which have often relied on the copycat strategies — oh, we need a Mars map too — of acquiring internet and media companies.

From: The Google Answers Team <answers-editors@google.com>
Date: 29 Nov 2006 04:31:23 -0000
Subject: Important Announcement Regarding Google Answers
To: XXXXXXXX@XXXXXXXX

Dear Researchers,

Over the past year, many of you have written to ask about the future of
Google Answers. Today we can finally offer a definitive response: after
four and a half years, we're closing up shop. We considered many factors
in reaching this difficult decision, and ultimately decided that the Answers
community's limited size and other product considerations made it more
effective for us to focus our efforts on other ways to help our users find
information.

So November 30th, 2006 will be the final day that users can post
questions, and December 30th will be the final day that you can post
answers. The existing site content - questions, answers and comments -
will remain posted for now, and while you won't be able to earn money by
answering new questions, we'd like to share with you the AdSense
revenue generated by questions you've already answered; over the next
few weeks, we'll send along more details as to how this will work. Please
feel free to send any further questions to
answers-editors+questions@google.com. We'll try to post the answers to
frequently asked questions to the Google Group so that everyone can see
them.

Finally, we'd like to express our gratitude to all our researchers for your
tremendous contributions and dedication to Google Answers over the
years. Through your passion for research and information, you've built a
service that has been of great benefit to thousands of web surfers as well
as the group of loyal Answers fans who've contributed regularly to the
site. We hope you'll continue to work to help make the world's information
more accessible, and we'll strive to do the same.

Sincerely,

The Google Answers Team