Google has announced the closure of its Answers function.

Previously the search engine giant allowed users to ask a team of researchers a question on any topic they wished for a 50 cent (25 pence) charge.

However, in a statement the company said: "We're sorry, but Google Answers has been retired and is no longer accepting new questions."

According to a report by Marketing Vox, rival search engine Yahoo's answers function was attracting 12 times as many visitors as Google.

The publication claims Answers attracted one million American users every month, compared to Yahoo's service which has 12 million visitors, with an additional 38 million using the service across the globe.

Meanwhile, the American Financial Times claimed Google executives had singled out the service as one that had failed to achieve mass popularity.

Earlier this week, the company announced it was to open an internet advertising branch in the Indian city of Gurgaon.