Google Question Hub collects ‘unanswered’ Search queries for publishers, now in beta

Despite the corpus of websites and information that Google Search indexes, “unanswered questions” remain online. Google wants to collect those standing queries and give them to content creators through a new Question Hub tool that’s launching in beta today.

Sometimes a search on Google will not yield an answer or link because the content simply does not exist. To help fill those “content gaps online,” Google’s Question Hub collects those unanswered queries and categorizes them.

There are many questions lined up waiting for answers, from debunking myths such as “Do mermaid tears really turn into pearls” to everyday useful information like “vegan south indian recipe with no eggplant”.

For example, a user might search “How many revolutions does Chandrayaan 2 [a recently launched Indian spacecraft] make around the Earth?” Given the newness of the subject, content creators might have not published articles that include an answer. Question Hub will sort that query into a “Science” topic and make it available to online publishers.

We provide those questions to publishers, so they can use these insights to create richer, better content for their audience. This benefits the publishers who can identify content gaps online, and everyone searching for content on the web.

Google has been testing this tool for several months now with journalists and bloggers. “To grow the product in collaboration with a broader group of publishers,” a beta version of Question Hub is launching today.

Question Hub is now available in India, Indonesia, and Nigeria, in English, Hindi and Bahasa Indonesia, and we plan to introduce it in other countries and languages in the future.

Publishers in those three countries can access Question Hub by linking their accounts to verified properties in Search Console. Google plans to improve the experience and add additional features over time.

Once they’ve created an account, they can explore topics relevant to their work by either searching for keywords or browsing categories (e.g. Beauty & Fitness). Once a topic is added, they can view unanswered questions asked by real people.