- Google discontinued the old Q&A section, so you can no longer post or seed your own questions and answers.
- It is being replaced by "Ask Maps," an AI that answers customer questions using your profile, reviews, posts, photos and website.
- You now shape those answers indirectly: keep your profile complete and accurate, collect reviews, and build an FAQ page on your site.
- Adding FAQ schema to your website helps Google's AI pull correct answers from a source you control.
The way you answer customer questions on your Google listing has fundamentally changed: the old Questions and Answers section has been discontinued, so instead of posting answers directly, you now influence an AI called "Ask Maps" by feeding it accurate information through your profile, your reviews and your website. The tactic of seeding your own Q&A is gone, and the new approach is about controlling the sources the AI draws from.
What changed, and when
This is a real, recent shift, not a tweak. Google discontinued its Q&A functionality, with the underlying feature retired from late 2025 and phasing out across listings through 2026, and newly created profiles no longer include a Q&A section at all. Existing seeded questions may still show on some profiles for now, but no new ones can be added. If you built a local strategy around posting keyword-rich questions and answering them yourself, that tactic no longer works. Keeping the rest of your profile strong matters more than ever, as our guide to improving your profile's visibility covers.
"Ask Maps" is Google's AI answer feature that generates responses to customer questions about a business by drawing on its profile, reviews, posts, photos and indexed website content.
How Ask Maps answers for you
The AI composes answers from what it can find. When a customer asks about your parking, hours, services or policies, Ask Maps synthesizes a reply from your Business Profile details, your reviews, your posts and photos, and the content on your website. You do not write the answer, but you do control most of the inputs. That means a complete, accurate profile and a strong body of reviews are no longer just ranking assets; they are the raw material for the answers customers see about you.
You can no longer post your own answers. The AI writes them from your profile, reviews and website, so those sources are now your real levers.
Lever one: a complete, accurate profile
Start by making sure the facts are all there. Fill in every field, hours, services, attributes, address or service area, and keep them current, since the AI leans on this structured information first. Gaps or outdated details leave the AI guessing, or pulling from less reliable sources. Choosing the right posts and keeping information fresh gives Ask Maps a clean, authoritative base to answer from, and reduces the odds of a wrong answer reaching a customer.
Lever two: reviews as an answer source
Reviews now do double duty. Because the AI reads your reviews when composing answers, a steady flow of detailed, recent feedback shapes how your business is described, not just your star rating. Reviews that mention specific services, strengths and experiences give the AI accurate, positive material to draw on. This is one more reason to collect reviews consistently, and our guide on replying to reviews helps you keep that body of feedback active and well-managed.
Since AI answers draw on your reviews, collecting them matters more than ever. An NFC card makes every happy customer a source of good material.
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Lever three: an FAQ page on your website
Your website is the source you fully control. Building a dedicated FAQ page that answers the questions customers actually ask, parking, pricing, booking, policies, services, gives the AI clear, authoritative content to pull from. Adding FAQ schema markup helps search engines identify and use those answers, effectively letting you write the responses in advance through a channel Google trusts. It is the closest thing to the old seeding tactic, done properly: publish the answers on your own site and let the AI reference them.
Bottom line
Answering customer questions on Google is no longer about posting in a Q&A box, since that feature has been retired in favor of AI-generated answers. Your job now is to control the inputs: complete and update your profile, collect detailed reviews consistently, and publish a clear FAQ page with schema on your website. Do those three things and the AI answers about your business will be accurate, positive and drawn from sources you shaped, which is a stronger position than the old manual Q&A ever offered.
Can I still add my own questions and answers on Google?
No. Google discontinued the Q&A feature, so you can no longer post questions on your own listing and answer them, a tactic once popular for adding keyword-rich content. Existing entries may still show on some profiles, but no new ones can be added, and new profiles have no Q&A section. Influence is now indirect, through your profile, reviews and website.
What replaced the Google Q&A section?
An AI feature often called "Ask Maps" replaced it. Instead of user-posted answers, Google's AI generates responses to customer questions by drawing on your Business Profile details, reviews, posts, photos and indexed website content. You no longer write the answers directly, but you control most of the sources the AI uses, which is how you shape what customers are told about your business.
How do I make sure Google's AI answers correctly about my business?
Control the inputs. Keep every profile field complete and accurate, collect detailed recent reviews consistently, and publish an FAQ page on your website covering common customer questions. Adding FAQ schema helps Google identify and use those answers. Together these give the AI clean, authoritative material to draw from, reducing the chance of a wrong or vague answer reaching a potential customer.
Does an FAQ page on my website really help?
Yes. Your website is a source you fully control, and a clear FAQ page gives Google's AI authoritative content to pull answers from. Adding FAQ schema markup helps search engines recognize and use it. This effectively lets you write likely answers in advance through a channel Google trusts, which is the modern, compliant version of the old Q&A seeding approach.