Web & AI Solutions Google Retired Business Profile Q&A - Here Is How to Control What Ask Maps Tells Customers

**What Changed**

Google discontinued the Q&A section on Google Business Profiles and replaced it with Ask Maps, a Gemini-powered feature that generates answers on the spot. Customers now tap "Ask about this place" and receive an AI summary instead of reading questions other people typed years ago. Old Q&A threads that still appear on your listing are frozen, and new profiles never receive the feature at all.

**Why Michigan Business Owners Should Care**

Ask Maps does not read answers you wrote as the owner. The feature pulls from your profile fields, your reviews, your photos, and your website, which means incomplete listings produce vague or wrong answers about your hours, parking, pricing, and services. A customer in Royal Oak asking whether you take walk-ins will get whatever Google can assemble, accurate or not.

**Fix Your Source Material Today**

Feed Ask Maps better information by tightening the data Google already reads:

- Fill every service and product field with a full description, not a one-line label.
- Update attributes such as wheelchair access, parking, appointment requirements, and payment types.
- Post current hours, including holiday hours, so the AI does not guess.
- Add photos with clear captions of your entrance, parking area, and workspace.
- Ask recent customers to mention specifics in reviews, such as the service they bought and how fast you responded.
- Publish a plain FAQ page on your website that answers the ten questions customers ask by phone.

**Test the Answers**

Open Google Maps on your phone, find your listing, and ask the five questions your customers ask most. Write down every answer that is wrong or missing, then correct the underlying profile field or website page that caused the error. Recheck in two weeks.

**Your Next Step**

Run the Ask Maps test on your own listing this afternoon and fix the first wrong answer you find.

Want help auditing your local AI visibility? Book a free consultation at https://appwt.com/schedule or call +1 (888) 565-0171.