The End of GBP Q&A: How to Optimize Your Business Profile for the AI Era

Google Business Profile is undergoing one of its most significant changes in years. The familiar Q&A section that allowed customers and businesses to publicly ask and answer questions is being retired. In its place, Google is rolling out AI-powered, conversational experiences that fundamentally change how customer questions are answered.

For businesses, this is not just a feature removal. It is a shift in how visibility, accuracy, and brand narrative are managed in local search. Here is what’s changing, why it matters, and how to optimize your Google Business Profile for what comes next.

Google Has Officially Retired GBP Q&A

On November 3, 2025, Google officially discontinued the My Business Q&A API. This meant third-party tools could no longer manage or monitor questions and answers programmatically. While API access to the Q&A feature ended in November, the public-facing Q&A section remained visible in some listings while Google began a phased removal that rolled out through late 2025 and into early 2026.

Google has stated that the motivation is to streamline the Business Profile experience and reduce the presence of outdated, unmoderated, or misleading information. Over time, Q&A had become difficult for users to navigate and risky for Google to maintain at scale.

Meet the Replacement: AI-Powered Answers in Google Maps

Google is rolling out a new generation of AI-driven features, most notably the conversational “Ask Maps” experience in Google Maps. Powered by Google’s Gemini large language model, this feature allows users to ask natural language questions such as “Does this place have outdoor seating?” or “Is this business good for large groups?” and receive instant summarized answers.

This trend of moving to AI-powered search results increases the importance of structured, accurate, brand-controlled content because AI will pull answers from your digital footprint, not a public Q&A box. Your ability to influence answers now depends on the quality and consistency of your underlying data across platforms.

The critical difference is control. Answers are no longer written by the business owner or another user in a visible Q&A box. Instead, Gemini synthesizes answers automatically using multiple data sources. Those sources include:

• Your Google Business Profile data, such as hours, services, attributes, and amenities
• Customer reviews, including sentiment, keywords, and recurring themes
• Structured website content, especially FAQ pages marked up with FAQ schema

How to Optimize Your Google Business Profile for the AI Era

With Q&A gone, it’s crucial that businesses adapt their optimization strategy. These five steps are now essential.

1. Fully Audit and Complete Your Google Business Profile

Start with the fundamentals. Every field in your Google Business Profile should be complete, accurate, and up to date. This includes services, service areas, business categories, hours, contact info, and description. If a field is empty, the AI may fill in the gaps using reviews or external sources that you don’t control. Your profile data is now a primary source for AI-generated answers.

2. Use FAQ Schema to Feed AI Directly

One of the most effective ways to influence AI answers is through structured data on your website. Identify the most common questions customers ask about your business. Many of these likely came from your old Q&A section. Create a dedicated FAQ page that answers these questions clearly and accurately, then mark the page up with FAQ schema. This gives Google a clean, structured source of truth and allows the AI to pull branded, intentional answers directly from your site.

3. Repurpose Your Best Q&A Content

If your Q&A section is still visible, act quickly. Manually export or copy your most valuable questions and answers. This content still has value and should not be lost. Identify the questions your potential customers are asking on other platforms like Yelp, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. and repurpose them across channels, including:

• Google Posts that answer common questions
• Your Google Business Profile description
• Website FAQ content that can be marked up with schema

This ensures your institutional knowledge continues to shape how your business is represented.

4. Double Down on Review Management

Customer reviews are now an important source for AI-generated answers. Reviews that mention specific services, products, amenities, and experiences will be a huge asset to feed the AI. 

Respond to every review to reinforce accuracy and add context where appropriate. Keyword-rich, detailed reviews help the AI understand what your business actually offers. Over time, this directly shapes the summaries and answers customers see in Google Maps.

5. Monitor Your Brand’s AI Narrative

Businesses can no longer assume accuracy. Regularly search for your business in Google Maps and use the “Ask Maps” feature when available. Test common customer questions and review the answers the AI provides. If you spot inaccuracies, the solution is not correcting the AI directly. You must update the source data the AI relies on, whether that is your Business Profile fields, website content, or review responses.

The Future of Local Search Is Data Control

The removal of Google Business Profile Q&A signals a broader reality. Local search is becoming more AI-influenced, and visibility is now driven by structured, consistent, and well-managed data.

Businesses that proactively control their information across platforms will be the ones that appear clear, confident, and trustworthy in AI-generated answers. Now is the time to audit your profile and take ownership of how your business is understood by Google’s AI. The questions didn’t go away, but the rules for answering them did. 

If you need help with optimizing your profile for the new age of AI, reach out to us at Socius. We’re happy to help.