Google Realtime Search Now Includes Quora

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:59:00 GMT

Google has added several new sources into its realtime search results including emerging Q&A site Quora, Gowalla, Plixi, Me2Day, and Twitgoo. If you're looking for opportunities to increase exposure, consider adding these sites (particuarly Quora) to your Web promotions list.

Google is indexing Quora activity such as asking Questions, adding Answers, upvoting Answers, and submitting Posts. If you're interesting in learning more about optimizing your exposure on Quora, read this February 2010 post: Quora Optimization - Write Great Answers.

The list of sources included within Google's real time search is growing rapidly. News and blog links from Google, new and fresh Web pages indexed by Google, updates from FriendFeed, Jaiku, Identi.ca and TwitArmy were all part of Google's Real Time Search when it launched in December 2010. MySpace and Google Buzz posts were added in February, as well as Facebook Fan Page updates.

Quora Optimization - Write Great Answers

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 18:00:00 GMT

Every once in a great while a new website emerges that warrants greater scrutiny – question and answer site Quora is one such player.

Whether you’re a fanboy or a basher of the service as it stands today, knowing how to optimize your experience certainly won’t hurt. What makes Quora interesting, particularly for Web marketers, is that much like a search engine ranks Web pages, Quora uses an algorithm to rank answers to questions. That means we can optimize!

Unlike its algorithmic cousins in the search engines, Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo explained recently the company’s ranking algorithm, providing some interesting insights into how you might be able to receive more exposure on the site.

As you might imagine, Quora rewards those who provide the best answers – answers with more upvotes are ranking higher, and answers with more downvotes are ranking lower. It is also interesting to note that users who have written good answers in the past carry more weight and will be ranked higher, and votes from users who have written good answers in the past are also ranked higher.

If you’re worried about spammers gaming the system, Quora has got you covered. D’Angelo indicated that votes from people detected to be gaming the system through vote collusion for example will be ignored or minimized. Finally, being an admin or reviewer will not affect the scores in the Quora system.

All in all it is a very welcome sign that Quora is open about how its’ systems works. In the end, if you want your votes to have more weight, write good answers.

'Net Features : quora

Google Realtime Search Now Includes Quora

Quora Optimization - Write Great Answers