For years, anyone could ask a question on your Google listing: “Do you cover Dunfermline?”, “Do you take card?”, “Is there parking?” You could answer it, and that answer sat on your profile for every future customer to read.
That feature has been retired, and Google’s AI now answers questions about businesses instead.
What changed
Google shut down the Q&A tools for developers in November 2025 and began removing the public section from listings from December 2025. Reports on the exact rollout vary, so you may still see old questions on some profiles, but the feature is no longer something you can rely on or add to.
In its place, Google’s Gemini AI answers questions about a business using whatever it can find online: your website, your reviews, your listing details, and mentions elsewhere.
Why this matters
With the old system you could spot a wrong answer and correct it. Now the answer is put together without you seeing it. If the information about your business is thin, out of date, or different in different places, the AI fills the gaps with whatever it finds.
Google has not published exactly which sources it uses, so treat the list below as sensible housekeeping rather than a guaranteed formula.
What to do instead
- Save your old Q&A. If your profile still shows questions and answers, copy them into a document now. They are a ready-made list of what customers actually ask.
- Add an FAQ section to your website. Answer real customer questions in plain sentences: what you charge (or a from-price), which areas you cover, how long jobs take, what guarantees you offer, how to book.
- Complete every section of your Business Profile. Services, opening hours (including bank holidays), service area, phone number, website link and attributes. Blank sections are gaps the AI has to guess at.
- Use the Services section properly. Add a short description to each service, and from-prices where you are comfortable giving them.
- Reply to reviews with useful facts, not just “thanks”. A reply such as “Glad the bathroom turned out well, Sam. A full refit like yours normally takes five days” adds real detail to your listing.
- Keep your details identical everywhere. Name, address, phone number and opening hours should match across your website, Google, Facebook, Bing Places and the directories you appear in.
- Check what Google says about you. Once a month, search your business name plus the questions customers ask, and note anything wrong or missing. Fix the source, not just the symptom.
None of this is complicated, but it is the kind of upkeep that slips. The businesses that keep their information complete and consistent are the ones the AI has the most accurate material to work with.
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