Short answer: Google Business Profile Q&A is gone. Google discontinued the Q&A API on November 3, 2025 and removed owner questions and answers from Business Profiles in December 2025. In Google Maps, Gemini-powered Ask Maps now answers place questions from Maps place information and reviews. Move your old answers into profile fields, a website FAQ and review replies.
1. What Google removed, and why it matters
The Q&A box was the one place a local business could publish official answers directly on its listing. Seeding it with real customer questions was a common conversion tactic - which is why this guide existed. With the section retired, that control point is gone: the answering is now done by AI, from sources you maintain but do not author directly.
If you invested in Q&A, that work is not wasted - the research (knowing exactly what customers ask) is the durable asset. Only the publishing surface changed.
2. The 5-step migration
Step 1 - Save your Q&A content. If you kept your seeded questions and answers, collect them now. If not, rebuild the list from your inbox, phone notes, and review responses - the ten questions customers repeat are the ten that matter.
Step 2 - Publish them on your website as a real FAQ. Question-phrased headings and direct 40-60 word answers. FAQ markup is optional: Google says its AI features need no special schema. A clear FAQ page gives search engines and AI assistants that read the web your own wording for the questions customers ask. Google has not said Ask Maps reads your website, so do not rely on the FAQ alone.
Step 3 - Push factual answers into profile fields. Anything that was a Q&A fact - parking, payment types, walk-ins, service specifics - belongs in GBP attributes and service descriptions, where Google shows it as structured profile information. A full Business Profile optimization pass is the fastest way to find the fields you left empty.
Step 4 - Let reviews answer the subjective questions. "Is it good for families?" now gets answered from review text. Ask for reviews consistently and compliantly: Google's April 2026 review policy update rules out incentives, review gating, staff review quotas and staff-named review requests. Respond to every review, or hand it to a review management service if replies keep slipping.
Step 5 - Test what the AI says about you. Ask Maps your own top-10 customer questions (Google is rolling Ask Maps out in the US and India on the Android and iOS apps). Wrong or thin answers point at exactly which source - profile, site, or reviews - needs work.
3. How answers work now
For the full picture of Ask Maps - where it pulls data, how conversational follow-ups compare you against competitors, and the complete optimization checklist - read our Google Ask Maps local business guide.
Not sure what the AI currently says about your business? Request a free audit and we will test your category's top questions against your listing and your three strongest competitors.
Frequently asked questions
Is Google Business Profile Q&A gone for good?
Yes. Google discontinued the Q&A API on November 3, 2025 and removed owner Q&A from Business Profiles in December 2025, so owner-seeded questions and answers no longer display. In Google Maps, Gemini-powered Ask Maps, launched in March 2026 in the US and India, now generates answers instead.
What happened to the questions and answers I already had?
They no longer display to customers. If you saved them, they are still your best content asset: republish them as an FAQ on your website where AI systems can read them. If you did not save them, reconstruct the list from your inbox and phone logs - the questions customers repeat are the ones that mattered.
How do customers get answers about my business now?
Where Ask Maps is available, they ask it in natural language, and Gemini composes an answer from Maps information about places, including your Business Profile, and community reviews. You influence the answer by improving your profile and earning detailed reviews, not by filling in a Q&A box.
Should I still monitor questions somewhere?
Yes - watch your reviews, calls and emails: those are now the channels where confusion shows up (Google removed Business Profile chat in July 2024). Recurring questions there signal gaps in your profile or website content that Ask Maps is likely answering badly too.
Related guides: Google Ask Maps guide · GBP attributes complete list · How to get more Google reviews
Updated October 9, 2026: added the December 2025 removal of owner Q&A and the March 2026 Ask Maps launch, corrected what Ask Maps draws on, and replaced chat monitoring with calls and email. Sources: Google: Business Profile API deprecation schedule · Google: Ask Maps announcement · Google: chat removal.