Google has changed Business Profile Q&A rather than removed every way of answering questions. The public questions-and-answers section was missing from every profile we checked, and Google now points customers to asking in Google Maps. But Google also says owners can still answer existing questions in their Business Profile, and that published answers may still be shown in Maps.
So the practical job hasn’t changed much: make sure the answers customers need are accurate on your profile and on your own website.
Checked against Google’s announcements and help pages, and a sample of UK profiles, on 14 October 2026.
Business Profile Q&A, Ask Maps and Search AI explained
“Google Q&A” now gets used for several different things. They aren’t interchangeable.
| Feature | What it is | Position we could confirm |
|---|---|---|
| Public Q&A on a profile | The familiar section where anyone could ask a question and anyone could answer it | Missing from all four UK profiles we checked. Google’s December 2025 announcement directs customers to ask in Maps instead. |
| Owner Q&A in Business Profile | Where owners answer existing questions, and, according to Google, “aggregated questions” from customers | Google’s help page says it’s “available only for select business categories and regions” and may change |
| Ask Maps | Conversational answers and recommendations from Gemini inside Google Maps | Launched in the US and India in March 2026, expanded in August 2026. We couldn’t confirm UK availability. |
| AI Overviews and AI Mode | AI-generated answers in Google Search | Separate from Maps and from Business Profile Q&A. See how AI Mode shows local businesses. |
What Google changed and when
Google has made the changes in stages, and there’s no single “removal date” for every profile:
- 15 September 2025: Google announced it would discontinue the My Business Q&A API “as we are in the process of updating the Q&A functionality” (Google for Developers).
- 3 November 2025: the API was discontinued. Software and agency tools can no longer read or post questions and answers through it.
- 3 December 2025: a Google employee announced changes to the Q&A feature in the Business Profile Help Community (Google). Customers can “ask their question directly in Google Maps and get an updated, instant answer based on your answers and relevant reviews”. Owners can answer “aggregated questions”, and those answers are used to respond to similar questions.
The same announcement says owners “can continue to answer existing questions about their business in the Q&A section” of their Business Profile. It also says published questions and answers “will continue to power Google’s understanding of the real world and may be shown in Maps”.
Google’s current help page on editing a profile still has a Q&A entry (Google). It says the feature is available only for some business categories and regions, and that “its appearance and functionality might change”.
So the evidence doesn’t support saying all existing answers were deleted, or that owners can never answer a question. What has gone, on the profiles we checked, is the public section where customers asked and answered questions in full view.
What a missing Q&A button does and does not tell you
If the Q&A section or “Ask a question” button has disappeared from your profile, you can conclude that the public Q&A feature isn’t being shown there. That matches Google’s announced change.
You can’t conclude that:
- your profile has been suspended, restricted or penalised;
- Google has deleted every answer you published;
- Google has stopped using information about your business to answer questions.
If your profile really has been suspended, our suspension appeal guide explains what to do.
If your business has disappeared from Maps altogether, that’s a different problem. Our guide to not showing on Google Maps covers the likely causes.
Why owners and customers can see different Q&A options
The owner’s view and the customer’s view are different products. When you manage your profile, you may see a Q&A area or a prompt to answer questions that customers never see laid out as a thread.
What a customer sees can also vary with:
- the country they’re in and their language;
- whether they use the Maps app, a mobile browser or a computer;
- whether they’re signed in to a Google account;
- whether a feature has reached their account yet.
Google rolls features out gradually and doesn’t always publish a list of where each one is live.
What we checked on four UK business profiles
On 14 October 2026 we opened four UK business profiles, signed out:
- three on Google Maps on a desktop browser: an accountant, a city-centre hotel and a dentist, all in Nottingham;
- one in Google Search, viewed at mobile size.
None showed a public questions-and-answers section. The profile tabs were Overview, Reviews and About, plus Prices for the hotel and Services in the Search panel.
That’s a small sample viewed under specific conditions, not a survey. Our browser’s Maps view also placed us outside the UK, and we didn’t check the Maps app. So the sample can’t show what every UK customer sees, and it can’t show that public Q&A has gone from every UK profile.
Is Ask Maps available in the UK?
As of 14 October 2026, we couldn’t confirm that it is. Google hasn’t said it isn’t, either.
What Google’s rollout announcements confirm
Google launched Ask Maps in March 2026 in the US and India, on Android and iOS, with desktop “coming soon” (Google).
On 6 August 2026, Google said Ask Maps was rolling out in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Japan and Mexico, “along with over 150 countries and territories in English” (Google). That announcement doesn’t list those countries or name the UK. Google’s help pages for Ask Maps give no country list either (Google Maps Help).
Some features named in the August announcement are US-only for now. These include ordering food, finding hotels and events, and adding tips or edits through a conversation.
How to check your UK Maps app
Google’s help page explains how to open Ask Maps in the app: it sits under the search bar. To see whether your customers have it:
- Open the Google Maps app on a UK phone, signed in.
- Look under the search bar for Ask Maps.
- Note the date, the device, the app and whether you were signed in, because availability can differ by account.
Where UK businesses should publish customer answers now
Whatever happens to Q&A, the questions customers ask haven’t changed. Answer them where Google shows them reliably and where you control the wording. If you haven’t set up your profile yet, our guide to how to set up a Business Profile covers each field.
| Business question | Best place to answer it | What to verify |
|---|---|---|
| When are you open, including bank holidays? | Business Profile hours, special hours and, where relevant, “more hours” for things like delivery times | Regular and special hours match your website and what staff actually do. Google suggests confirming holiday hours even when they’re unchanged (Google). |
| Do I need to book, and how? | Profile booking or appointment link, if available for your category, plus a clear booking page on your website | The link works on a phone and leads straight to booking, not to a homepage |
| Do you offer this service, and do you cover my area? | Profile services and service areas, plus a page for each main service on your website | Services are ones you actually provide, and service areas reflect where you genuinely work |
| Is it accessible? | Profile accessibility attributes, where Google offers them for your category | Only select attributes that are true. Some attributes come from customers, and some can only be changed in certain countries or categories (Google). |
| How much does it cost, or how do I get a quote? | Your website’s pricing or quote page, plus the services or menu price fields on your profile where they’re available | Prices are current, and any “from” prices or quote steps are explained honestly. Google asks that the business description focus on the business rather than prices or promotions (Google). |
| Where do I park, and where do I go when I arrive? | Your website’s contact or visit page, and profile photos of the entrance where you have customer-facing premises | The pin, entrance and parking details are right. If you don’t receive customers, your address is hidden and you don’t imply that you do. |
| Questions customers have already asked about your business | Owner Q&A in your Business Profile, if it’s available in your account | Existing answers are still accurate. Update any that are out of date. |
| Anything else customers often ask | A frequently asked questions section on your own website | Each answer is accurate, current and written for customers, not for search engines |
What website FAQs and structured data can do
A useful FAQ section helps customers directly, whatever Google does with it. Google’s announcement says Maps answers draw on “your answers and relevant reviews”. It doesn’t promise that any particular page or answer will be quoted, so treat your FAQs as customer service rather than a way to control Google.
Adding FAQ structured data to your website doesn’t bring back Business Profile Q&A. It isn’t a substitute for accurate profile information.
How to correct wrong information in Google Maps
Start with your own profile, because that’s the information you control:
- Edit the profile. Correct the hours, services, attributes, links or description through Edit profile. Google reviews changes before they go live (Google).
- Check “Collected info”, if you have it. Google may confirm details through automated calls, texts or WhatsApp messages to your business number. Where the feature is available (Google says that’s in select regions, languages and business categories), you can review that information under Edit profile, then Collected info (Google). Deleting a record there removes it from Google’s records but doesn’t change details already shown on your profile, so edit those fields separately.
- Fix the source. If the wrong detail also appears on your website or in a directory listing, correct it there too.
- Report the answer. If an Ask Maps answer is wrong, use the thumbs-down under the response, choose a reason and describe the problem (Google Maps Help). For a wrong detail on a place, anyone can suggest an edit in Maps (Google Maps Help).
Google says AI-powered answers “can sometimes be incorrect” (Google Maps Help). Google’s documentation covers correcting the source information and sending feedback, rather than editing a generated answer directly.
What to avoid when updating your Business Profile
- Don’t write fake questions, or ask friends to post questions, to fill a gap.
- Don’t stuff keywords or town names into your profile description, services or business name.
- Don’t select attributes that aren’t true, such as wheelchair access you don’t have.
- Don’t post fake reviews, or create a duplicate profile for the same business location to gain visibility.
These break Google’s guidelines and can put the profile at risk.
Your next Business Profile and website check
Work through the table above. Check each answer on your profile and your website, and fix anything that disagrees. If you’d like a second pair of eyes, our Google Business Profile page explains how we audit and correct profiles. For how the profile, Maps and your website fit together, see how local search works.