If you’ve opened your listing lately and wondered where the questions went, you’re not imagining it. Google Business Profile Q&A was the public section where anyone could ask a question about a business, and anyone could answer. In Google Maps, it is being replaced by an AI-powered “Ask” feature built on Gemini. Customers now get an instant answer written by AI instead of waiting for a reply.
That changes the job. You no longer win by answering each question first. You win by making sure every source the AI reads, from your profile to your reviews to your website, already holds the right answer. In my view, that is a better job anyway.
What Happened to Google Business Profile Q&A
Q&A launched in 2017 and became one of the messiest parts of a local listing. Questions sat unanswered for months. Competitors and strangers posted answers, and spam was hard to keep out. Google had already switched the feature off in some regions, including India, during 2024.
The shutdown happened in three stages. It helps to keep them separate, because they affect different people.
Stage 1: The Q&A API Was Switched Off
On 15 September 2025, Google told developers it would shut down the My Business Q&A API because it was “in the process of updating the Q&A functionality”. The API was then switched off on 3 November 2025, as shown in Google’s Q&A API change log.
From that date, tools could no longer read or post questions and answers automatically. If you used a listings platform to watch or bulk-answer Q&A across many locations, that sync stopped. Brands with many locations felt this first. See our guide to managing many Google Business Profiles.
Stage 2: Public Q&A Gave Way to “Ask” in Maps
Through 2025, Google tested an Ask button on business listings in Maps. Sometimes it sat right in the main row of action buttons. In early December 2025, a Google Product Specialist confirmed in the Business Profile Help Community that the Q&A experience in Maps was being replaced.
Google explained that as Q&A grew, customers struggled to find answers in good time. Under the new approach:
- Customers type a question into Maps and get an instant answer based on the business’s answers and relevant reviews.
- Owners no longer answer dozens of one-off questions. They answer grouped questions that Google builds from what customers ask.
- Google reuses those answers to respond to other customers who ask similar questions.
- Owners can still answer existing questions in the Q&A section. Google said published questions and answers still feed its understanding of the business.
Google did not give an end date. Expect a mixed picture for a while. Some profiles still show bits of old Q&A, while others only show the Ask option.
Stage 3: Ask Maps Arrived
On 12 March 2026, Google announced Ask Maps. It is a chat-style feature that answers complex, real-world questions with a map made for that question. It began rolling out in the US and India on Android and iOS. Google said desktop was coming soon.
Google says Ask Maps looks at information from more than 300 million places, and reviews from a community of over 500 million contributors. It can also personalise results using places a person has searched for or saved. People can then book a table, save a place to a list, share it or start directions from the answer.
This is a bigger change than the Ask button on one listing. Someone can now ask “where can I get a quiet table for a work lunch near here that takes walk-ins?” and Maps decides which businesses fit. The details on your profile and in your reviews decide if you are one of them.
| Old Q&A | Ask and Ask Maps | |
|---|---|---|
| Who answers | Owner, customers or anyone | Gemini, generated on the spot |
| What it draws on | Whatever someone typed | Owner answers, reviews and place information |
| Speed | Hours, months or never | Instant |
| Owner control | Direct reply to each question | Indirect, through the sources it reads |
| Bulk management | Via API until 3 Nov 2025 | No API |
How AI Answers on Google Maps Use Your Information
Google has not published a full list of every signal Ask uses. I’d be wary of anyone who claims to have one. But what Google has said is clear enough to act on: answers come from the business’s own answers, relevant reviews and the place information Maps holds.
In practice, that place information is mostly what you and your customers have already put on Google:
- Core profile fields: categories, hours, special hours, address, service area, phone and website.
- Services, products and menus: what you sell, what’s included, and price ranges where you give them.
- Attributes: simple yes/no facts such as accessibility, parking, payment options, outdoor seating and appointment-only.
- Reviews: what customers say, including details you would never think to add yourself, such as “they fitted us in the same day”.
- Photos and the description: visual and written context about the place.
- Your answers to Google’s grouped questions: the closest thing left to the old Q&A.
Your website matters too, even if Google hasn’t said exactly how Ask uses it. Google’s wider AI features rely on web content, and your site is where you can explain things in full. For the background on how Google finds and uses pages in AI answers, our guide to how Google Search works in 2026 covers crawling, indexing and AI features from start to finish.
The weak spot is the gap. If your profile says nothing about parking and three old reviews complain about it, the AI only has the reviews to go on. If nothing anywhere mentions weekend opening, the answer may be vague or wrong. These gaps are the first thing I look for on any profile.
What Businesses Should Do Now About Google Business Profile Q&A
The work is mostly an audit, then filling in the gaps. Start with what customers really ask. Then make sure the answer exists in a place Google reads.
1. Rebuild Your Question List
Before old Q&A disappears from view, copy every question and answer you can still see on your profile. Then add questions from:
- phone calls and emails your staff answer every week
- chat and contact-form messages
- review text, especially complaints that start with “I wish I’d known…”
- reasons people hesitate to book, such as deposits, cancellation rules and waiting times
Group them by theme: pricing, availability, access, process, policies and who the service suits. A dental practice might end up with “do you see emergency patients?”, “is there step-free access?” and “do you offer payment plans?” A plumber’s list might be about call-out fees, response times and areas covered.
2. Answer the Facts in Structured Profile Fields
Anything that is a plain fact belongs in a structured field (a set box on your profile, like hours or attributes), not buried in a paragraph. Google can read structured fields with more confidence. I always fill these before writing anything longer.
- Check that your primary and secondary categories match what you really do.
- Set regular hours. Then add special hours for holidays before they arrive.
- Fill in every relevant attribute. If you have step-free access, a car park or contactless payment, say so.
- List each service or product with a short, plain description. “Boiler servicing, including flue gas check, typically 45–60 minutes” answers more than “Boiler services”.
- Write a description that covers who you serve, where, and what makes you different, without stuffing in keywords.
3. Answer Google’s Grouped Questions
Where Google shows you grouped customer questions in your profile, answer them. Google has said these answers are reused for similar questions. So one good answer can help many customers.
Keep each answer factual, specific and lasting. “Yes, we have free parking for 12 cars behind the building” will stay true. “Ask us about this month’s offer” will not, and it doesn’t answer anything.
4. Put the Longer Answers on Your Website
Some questions need more than a sentence: how a process works, what’s in a package, what to bring to an appointment. Those belong on your site.
- Build a proper FAQ page using the real questions from step 1, not made-up ones.
- Add the most important answers to the relevant service pages, where they make sense.
- Keep the facts exactly the same as your profile. If your site says you open at 8am and your profile says 9am, you’ve given the AI two answers. This is the mistake I see most often.
FAQ markup is still valid structured data. But since August 2023, Google only shows FAQ rich results for well-known, trusted government and health sites. Don’t expect a visual boost from it. The value is in the content itself, and in clear, consistent LocalBusiness details. Our schema markup guide for 2026 explains which types still earn rich results.
5. Treat Reviews as Part of Your Answer Bank
Because Ask uses relevant reviews, what your reviews say now matters as much as the star rating. You can’t write reviews for customers, and you shouldn’t script them. But you can make detailed feedback more likely.
- Ask for reviews soon after the visit or job, while details are fresh.
- Ask about the experience, not the rating: “If you mention what we did for you, it helps other customers know what to expect.”
- Reply to reviews with facts. If someone says parking was a nightmare, a reply saying “we’ve since added eight spaces at the rear” puts the correction in public view.
- Never offer rewards for reviews, or only ask happy customers. Both break Google’s policies.
6. Keep Photos Current
Upload photos that answer questions by showing: the entrance, parking, the inside of the room, a menu board, accessible facilities. A clear photo of a ramp answers “is it wheelchair accessible?” better than a sentence ever could.
What to Do About Wrong AI Answers
Most guides skip this part, partly because Google hasn’t given owners a direct edit button for AI answers. At the time of writing, you cannot rewrite an AI answer yourself. You fix it at the source and report it.
Find the Source of the Error
Ask the same question yourself in Maps, on a phone, both signed in and signed out. Then work backwards. Most wrong answers come from one of four things:
- Outdated profile data, such as old hours or a service you stopped offering.
- Old reviews that describe something that has since changed.
- Conflicting information between your profile, website and other listings.
- Missing information, where the AI fills a gap with a guess or a vague answer.
Fix It in the Right Place
- Profile error: edit the field in your Business Profile directly. If an edit won’t stick, or Google keeps overriding it, contact Business Profile support.
- Error caused by a review: reply to the review politely with the current facts. Don’t argue. If a review breaks Google’s content policies, report it.
- Website conflict: update the site so it matches the profile exactly. Then check your main directory listings for the same detail.
- Missing information: add the attribute, service or description that answers the question. Also answer any related grouped question Google shows you.
Report the Answer
Google’s AI answers in Maps include feedback buttons. Use the thumbs-down option under the answer and pick the reason that fits. Google is open that AI answers can sometimes be wrong, and this feedback is how it hears about specific cases.
Keep a simple log: the question, the date, a screenshot of the answer, what you changed and when. Check again after a couple of weeks. Changes don’t always show at once, and the log gives you proof if you need to escalate. I’d keep this log for every location you manage.
A Worked Example
Say a café’s Ask answer says it doesn’t take card payments. The owner checks and finds two reviews from years ago that mention “cash only”, and no payment attributes on the profile.
The fix takes ten minutes. Add the payment attributes. Reply to the old reviews, noting that cards and contactless have been accepted for some time. Mention payment options on the website’s visit page, and send thumbs-down feedback on the answer. Then test again.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Posting fake questions. Some businesses used to post their own questions to the old Q&A. There’s no value in that now, and it was always a poor tactic.
- Stuffing keywords into answers. The AI matches meaning, not phrases. Clear facts beat repeated city names.
- Letting data drift across locations. With no Q&A API, each location’s profile and page needs regular checks. One wrong set of holiday hours can repeat across many answers.
- Ignoring negative patterns. If reviews keep mentioning the same problem, the AI will repeat it. Fix the problem, then let newer reviews show that.
- Waiting for a dashboard. Google hasn’t shown owners, in any detail, what questions people ask through Ask. Build your own picture from calls, messages and reviews.
How to Measure Whether It’s Working
You won’t get a report that says “your profile answered 400 questions”. Look at the results instead:
- Business Profile performance: calls, direction requests, website clicks and bookings over time.
- Fewer repeated phone questions about basics like parking or hours.
- Your own spot checks of Ask answers for your top 15–20 questions each month.
- Website traffic and engagement on FAQ and service pages. For quicker ways to slice that in Search Console, our walkthrough of the Search Console AI report builder shows how.
Conclusion
Google Business Profile Q&A is really over. The API ended on 3 November 2025. Public Q&A is giving way to answers powered by Gemini. And Ask Maps now lets people in the US and India ask Maps open questions about where to go.
The businesses that do well will be the ones whose profile, attributes, services, reviews and website already answer the questions customers ask. My advice is to start this week. Collect your top 20 customer questions, check where each answer lives, fill the gaps, then test what Ask says about you.
