Google Business Profile Q&A: Where Questions Show Up Now

You search your own business on your phone and the Questions and Answers area you remember is gone, or something with an AI label sits where it used to be. That is a bad moment if a customer asked about your hours, your booking rules or wheelchair access and you have no idea what Google told them. The Google Business Profile Q&A you used to answer by hand has changed, and the answers customers see now are built from facts you can control. This post shows where questions get answered today, which facts to fix first, and what to do when an answer is wrong. You can do most of it from your phone in one sitting.

Customers now ask their questions through Google Maps and Search AI

As of mid-September 2026, this is where things stand. Google discontinued the Business Profile Q&A API on November 3, 2025, according to its own developer change log, so software can no longer read or post Q&A for you. Google's Maps help page still describes answering questions about a place, and says the feature is available only in certain countries and regions. Google's Ask Maps help page documents an AI-powered question experience in Maps. Search has AI features of its own, which Google describes on its AI features page.

What that means for you: a customer may type a question into Maps or Search and get a generated answer, a link to your website, or a user-submitted question, depending on the country, the device and the account. Write-ups that say Q&A vanished everywhere at once are describing a trend, and Google's own pages show an uneven, region-by-region state. Treat any broader claim as reported, and check your own listing from the market where your customers live.

The old habit of logging in to answer questions one by one is no longer a dependable plan. The better plan is to put the right facts where Google reads them, which the next sections walk through.

A ten-minute phone check shows what customers see

Before you change anything, look at your business the way a customer does. Search the exact business name on your phone and open the profile, then open the same listing in Maps. Then repeat in a private browser window, which shows what someone without your owner account sees.

Go down the listing in this order and write down anything that looks wrong:

• Basics: Name, category, phone number, website link and booking link.
• Hours: Regular hours and any special hours, including holidays.
• Place: Address or service area, and where the pin sits.
• Offer: Description, services, products and attributes.
• Customer prompts: Any "Ask a question," "Answer questions" or AI prompt that appears, and what it says.

Then click through to your website and compare the key facts. If the hours on the listing say one thing and the contact page says another, a generated answer can repeat either one. Accurate, complete information is the part you control, and Google's help for checking and updating a listing is where to start.

Take a screenshot of anything that is wrong. You will use it if you need to report it later.

Your profile fields feed the answers Google gives

Google says Business Profile information is compiled from several places: details the business supplies, public web content including the official website, licensed third-party data, user contributions such as reviews and photos, and Google's own interactions with a place. That is laid out on its Business Profile information page. Google does not promise that your fields always win over every other source, so the goal is agreement across all of them.

To edit your own fields, find your profile in Search or Maps, choose Edit profile, and work through the sections. Google's description help shows where the description lives under Edit profile. Its help pages for services and products cover the other fields where they are available for your business type.

Our posts on writing the profile description and on what to do when edits are not showing go deeper on two of those fields. If you are still hunting for the right screen, where to edit your Google Business Profile walks through the entry points.

A plain FAQ on your website gives Google clear answers to pull

Your website is one of the sources Google can read, so give it the answers customers keep asking. Google's AI optimization guide describes how its AI features draw on pages in the Search index and says ordinary SEO fundamentals still apply.

Set up the FAQ so a person and a crawler can both read it:

• Visible text: Put each question and answer on the page as normal text, not inside an image or a PDF.
• Direct answers: Start each answer with the fact, then add one sentence of detail.
• Real questions: Use the questions customers call about, such as parking, hours on holidays, deposits, walk-ins and what to bring.
• One home for each fact: Keep the same wording as your profile for hours, service area and booking steps.

Do not spend time hunting for special markup. Google says no special schema.org markup or extra technical requirement is needed to appear in its AI features. If your site already carries FAQ markup that matches the visible page, fine, but it is not a switch that guarantees a particular answer.

Keep the page current. A customer who finds an old holiday schedule in your FAQ will get the wrong answer from you and from Google. Our post on the FAQ page for a small business website covers how to organize one.

Wrong answers get fixed at the source, then reported

When you find a wrong answer, resist fixing only the symptom. Start with where the fact lives.

1. Correct the profile. Open Edit profile and fix the field. This is the first stop in Google's help for fixing incorrect information.
2. Correct your website. If a page says the old hours or the old price, update it so Google reads the same fact in both places.
3. Suggest an edit for place details. If the wrong detail shows in Maps or Search, Google provides a Suggest an edit route for incorrect place information. Owners can also review some suggested updates to their profile.
4. Report a bad question or answer. For a question or answer still displayed in Maps that breaks policy, use Report question or Report answer where the option appears. Google explains it on its Maps help page.
5. Use the feedback control on an AI answer. If the AI answer is wrong while your profile and website are right, use the feedback or reporting control shown with that answer. Google describes the process for Search in its help for reporting problems with AI answers.

Edits can take time to show, so while a correction is pending, make sure customers can confirm the fact by phone or your booking channel. If an edit will not publish at all, read our post on edits not showing on a profile.

Some fixes are yours and some are worth handing off

You can run the ten-minute check and fix one wrong field without paying anyone. A changed phone number, a new holiday schedule or an outdated description is a small job when you have access to the profile.

Outside help starts to pay for itself when the work is spread out or the stakes are higher:

• Several locations: Each listing needs its own hours, services and pin, and the facts drift apart quickly. See our post on adding a second location for the basics.
• Edits that will not stick: Changes keep reverting or never publish.
• A suspended or duplicate profile: Recovery involves verification and appeals. Our post on a suspended profile covers the steps.
• A website that contradicts the listing: Someone has to reconcile both and decide who approves changes.
• Conflicting third-party listings: The same wrong fact keeps coming back from outside sources.

What you are buying is diagnosis, cleanup, a record of where each fact lives and who approves changes, and ongoing monitoring. Google lays out the rules for editing and the common problems on its Business Profile help pages, and you can read our breakdown of what profile management costs before you decide. If your main goal is to appear in more nearby searches, how to show up in near me searches is a good next read.

Frequently Asked Questions About google business profile q&a

Is Google Business Profile Q&A gone?

Google discontinued the Q&A API on November 3, 2025. Maps still documents answering questions about a place in certain countries and regions, and it documents Ask Maps separately. Check your listing in the market where your customers are.

Where does Google get answers about my business?

Google says profile information comes from the business, public web content including your website, licensed data, user contributions such as reviews and photos, and Google's own place information.

Can I add my own questions and answers?

Do not count on the old owner-created Q&A workflow. Put the important answers in your profile fields and in a plain FAQ on your website.

How do I fix a wrong Google answer?

Correct the profile and your website first. Then use Suggest an edit, Report question or Report answer, or the feedback control shown with an AI answer.

Does FAQ schema guarantee an AI answer?

No. Google says no special schema is required for its AI features, and markup does not guarantee a particular answer.

Will updating my description change what Google says about me?

It can change the facts Google has to work with, along with your other fields and your website. Google does not promise that one field decides an answer, so keep every source consistent.

Final Thoughts

Questions about your business are still being asked on Google, only through different doors. The Q&A API ended on November 3, 2025, some Maps regions keep an Answer questions feature, and Ask Maps and Search AI generate answers from your profile, your website, reviews and other sources. Your job is to keep those facts accurate and the same everywhere, and to correct a wrong answer at its source.

Each correction you make once tends to stick across every place Google reads from, so the ten minutes you spend checking your listing pays off every time a customer asks. Put a reminder on your calendar to repeat the phone check after any change to hours, services or pricing.

If you want a second set of hands, Web Leveling can audit your listing and website, fix conflicting facts and keep them current through our Google Business Profile management work. We work with small and medium businesses across the country and overseas. Contact us about your Google Business Profile.

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