Quora answer ranking

My post here on IH doesn't really answer your questions, but gives you some good best practices. Happy to answer your questions though:

1. I don't see upvotes mattering. Too many answers with very few upvotes are way above answers with good number of upvotes. Apparently, this is to ensure that new answers don't suffer from existing ones.
   A: My previous answer to this is incorrect. My answer is only correct based on people's feeds and Quora Digest, not on how well the answer ranks within the question page.

My old answer: That's because Quora ranks answers based on upvote:view ratio. An answer with 10,000 views and 50 upvotes has 1 upvote for every 200 views. But, an answer with just 1,000 views and 25 upvotes has a 1:40 ratio. That's how Quora ranks answers.

2. They say quality of the answer. I see pathetic answers ranking above really well-written ones.
   A: This answer is also wrong, this only matters for getting people to your answer outside of Google.
   Old answer: That's because people buy upvotes on Quora. This increases the upvote:view ratio so they'll rank well above the good answers.

3. It could be based on author reputation. I am not sure whether this is verifiable and if it is, how to establish in a short period of time.
   A: And again this wasn't correct. Only matters for getting answer views through Quora's feed and Quora's Digest. Reputation is a factor when it comes to the rank of the answer on the question page.
   Old answer: Not really a factor as far as I know. But, having a lot of followers will help you get more upvotes. They can get notified when you publish a new answer plus it's more likely that the answer will be featured in the Quora Digest newsletter.

What you are saying can easily be disproven. There are hundreds of answers that rank in better position than other with higher upvote:view ratio.

https://www.quora.com/What-10-things-can-I-do-now-to-have-a-better-life?top_ans=125070558

Just the first random example I found.

You can add links as further readings for example. They should be relevant to the topic.

There are no best practices. I used to add a list of sources at the end of the answer, connecting my points to a specif source, like scientific papers do.

In your case, a simple list should be enough.

Honestly, yoy would get more traction focusing on the engagement side of the algorithm. The reason is quite simple: the vast majority of Quorans consume content in their feed passively. They follow topics and users and read what Quora suggests.

The best way to have a viral answer is to get a good number of upvotes in a short amount of time after its publication, so you should share the answer with people you know that are on Quora.

The numbers of upvotes needed vary based on the competitiveness of the topic.

Another aspect to consider is that most people on Quora are Americans, followed by Indians, so you shoukd try to publish your answer when those demographics are active on the website.

A2D then :)