Accuracy aside, I find one of the biggest barriers to easy searching is content padding.

So many queries can be answered in a sentence or two but are spun out into an entire article so that it is more search engine 'friendly'.

Same goes for YouTube videos, pad it out so there's enough time for ads.

I think Google would like something like Pagerank but for authors. Unfortunately Google+ never reached critical mass. Structured data is more prevalent, though, but the accuracy/trustworthiness of it is something that'd have to be taken into consideration.