Google Ask Maps: Where It Gets Answers About Your Business

The Q&A section on Google Business Profiles is gone. In its place is Ask Maps, a Gemini-powered feature in Google Maps that answers customer questions about your business on its own. Testing suggests it builds those answers mainly from your Business Profile, your reviews, your photos and your website, and only then from other sites. You cannot edit what it says. You can only fix what it reads.

That last point is the one that changes how you manage a listing. For years, Q&A was a box you could fill in yourself. Plenty of businesses seeded it with their own questions and answers. That option no longer exists. The answer a customer sees is now written by Google, from material you mostly control but rarely look at as a whole.

This guide covers what changed and when, where Ask Maps looks for answers, what we saw when we tested it on a real listing, and a practical checklist for making sure it says the right things about you.

What changed, and when

This happened in stages over about a year, which is partly why many owners missed it. Here is the sequence, each step taken from Google's own announcements or developer documentation.

If you used to manage Q&A through a listings tool, the API shutdown is what broke it. If you used to answer questions by hand in the Google app, the removal of the public section is what ended it.

What Ask Maps actually is

Ask Maps does two jobs, and it is worth separating them because they matter to a business in different ways.

It answers questions about one business

On a business listing, a customer taps Ask and types something like "Is there parking?" or "Do you do same-day repairs?" Google writes a short answer about that place. It also suggests questions: on the restaurant we tested, one was "Are there vegetarian options?"

It decides which businesses to recommend

Ask Maps also takes open questions that are not about any one place. Google's own launch examples include "My phone is dying, where can I charge it without having to wait in a long line for coffee?" and "Any spots with a cozy aesthetic and a table for 4 at 7 tonight?" Here, Google is choosing which businesses to put in front of the customer, and it describes them while it does.

Google says Ask Maps draws on information from over 300 million places, and input from more than 500 million contributors, and personalises answers based on places the user has searched for or saved. That second job is the bigger one for most businesses. The question is no longer only "what does Google say about me?" It is also "does Google pick me at all?"

Where Ask Maps gets its answers

Google has not published a list of the sources Ask Maps uses, or the order it uses them in. What we have comes from people testing it. The most useful testing so far is by local search analyst Mike Blumenthal of Near Media, who ran it across several categories and locations and concluded that Google relies first on the business profile, reviews and the business website, before it reaches for third-party content. Photos are not part of his finding; we include them because of what we saw in our own test.

1. Your Business Profile

Categories, services, attributes, hours, description. This is the first place it checks, which makes sense: it is the structured data Google already trusts most. The attribute checkboxes that most owners skip, such as parking, accessibility, payment types, outdoor seating and appointment requirements, are exactly the things customers ask about. An empty attribute is a question Google has to answer from somewhere else.

2. Your reviews

Not the star rating. The words. If several customers mention that the staff are patient with children, that becomes an answer. If several mention that it is hard to find a parking spot, that becomes an answer too, whether or not it is still true.

3. Your photos

Google reads images. A photo of a menu, a price board or the sign on your door is evidence it can use. In our test, covered below, Ask Maps answered a question and then showed the listing's own photos as the proof. Google is also now able to pull business hours from a photo when someone submits an edit, which tells you how seriously it takes what is in your pictures.

4. Your website

Particularly pages that answer specific questions clearly. In Blumenthal's testing, a question to a jeweller about custom ring design produced a 118-word answer drawn from several sections of the jeweller's own website. A clear FAQ page or a well-written service page is now a direct input to the answer customers see on Maps.

5. Other sites

Directories, review sites and other listings. Testing suggests Google goes here after your own sources. This is where inconsistent listings hurt. If one directory still has your old hours, that is a version of the truth Google can find.

What we saw when we tried it

We opened a busy restaurant listing in the Google Maps app and used it the way a customer would. We have hidden the business name and blurred its branded photos, because the point is the behaviour, not the business.

A review complaint now sits above the opening hours

The first thing on the Overview tab, before the hours, was a "Know before you go" box with two tips. One was positive: people say the pizza is crispy and tasty. The other was not: visitors mention the indoor area can be warm during hot days. That line came from reviews. It is a small thing, but it is now one of the first things anyone reads about this restaurant, and the owner did not write it and cannot remove it.

It answered with evidence

We asked one of the suggested questions: are there vegetarian options? Ask Maps said yes, the restaurant provides an extensive array of vegetarian options suitable for a full meat-free meal. Directly under the answer it showed the listing's own food photos. The answer was right, and it was right because the listing gave Google enough to work with.

Both behaviours point the same way. Reviews and photos used to be social proof that customers scrolled through. Now they are the raw material for the answer itself.

What this means for your business

Your reviews are now your FAQ

Whatever customers repeat in reviews is likely to become an answer. That includes complaints you have since fixed. If you added parking last year but a handful of older reviews say there is none, the old version can keep answering for you.

Replying to reviews matters more, not less

A reply that says "we added a parking area behind the building in March" puts the current fact on the record, right next to the outdated one. It is also what a human reader sees when they open the review.

Customers can now change your listing by talking to Maps

Since August 2026, users can suggest edits conversationally, with Google's own example being "more parking is available behind the building." Suggested edits from the public are not new, but they are now much easier to make. Google's help documentation says you get 4 days to accept or reject a suggested edit, and some edits go live without review, so check the Google updates on your profile regularly rather than finding out from a customer.

Thin profiles get guessed at

When Ask Maps cannot find the answer in your profile, reviews or website, it goes looking elsewhere, and it may not find the right version. Every blank field is a question you have left Google to answer from someone else's data.

Every location is answered separately

For a multi-location business this is the part to plan for. Each listing has its own reviews, photos and attributes, so each one gets its own answers. A brand can be described well in one city and badly in the next, and nothing at head office will tell you which.

How to check what Ask Maps says about you

1. Open the Google Maps app on your phone. Ask Maps is built into the mobile app.
2. Search for your business and open the listing.
3. Read the Overview tab first. Look for a "Know before you go" box near the top. Read every tip and check where it came from.
4. Tap Ask. It sits in the row of action buttons under your business name. Try the suggested questions first, because those are the ones customers see.
5. Ask what your customers actually ask. Pull the last 20 questions from your phone calls, WhatsApp messages or front desk, and type them in.
6. Write down every wrong or vague answer. Each one points to a gap in your profile, your reviews, your photos or your website.

Some questions worth testing for almost any business: Is there parking? Are you open on Sundays? Do I need an appointment? Do you accept cards? Is it wheelchair accessible? Is it good for kids? How long does a typical visit take? What does it cost?

How to fix a wrong answer

You cannot edit the answer, so you change the inputs. Start with the sources you own.

Then wait and test again. Google does not publish how quickly Ask Maps picks up changes, so re-check your questions after a couple of weeks rather than expecting an instant result.

How BizLoc8 helps

Everything Ask Maps reads about a location is something you can manage. The hard part is doing it for every location, consistently, without it becoming someone's full-time job.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ask Maps in Google Maps?

Ask Maps is a conversational feature in Google Maps, powered by Google's Gemini models. People type a question, either about a specific business or a general one like where to eat tonight, and Google writes the answer. Google announced it on 12 March 2026 and expanded it to over 150 countries and territories in August 2026.

What happened to Q&A on Google Business Profiles?

Google discontinued it. The Business Profile Q&A API was shut down on 3 November 2025, and the public Q&A section was then removed from profiles. Customer questions are now answered by AI through Ask Maps instead of by the business or other users. Testing has found that old Q&A content does not show up in Ask Maps answers.

Where does Ask Maps get its answers about a business?

Google has not published an official list. Testing by local search analyst Mike Blumenthal found it leans first on the Business Profile, Google reviews and the business website, and goes to third-party content after those. Photos are also used: in our own test it showed the listing's photos as evidence for its answer.

Can a business owner edit what Ask Maps says?

No. There is no setting to write, approve or remove an Ask Maps answer. The only way to change an answer is to change what it reads: complete and correct the Business Profile, earn reviews that mention the details customers ask about, upload clear photos, and answer common questions on your website.

How do I see what Ask Maps says about my business?

Open your listing in the Google Maps app on your phone. Look for the Ask button in the row of action buttons under your business name, and for the Know before you go box on the Overview tab. Ask the questions your customers actually ask, and compare each answer with the truth.

Sources

Dates and product details come from Google's own announcements and documentation. Where Google has not said something, such as the order of sources, we say so and attribute the finding to whoever tested it.

• Q&A API change log, Google Business Profile APIs for the 3 November 2025 discontinuation.
• Google Maps launching insider tips built with Gemini, Google Blog, 19 November 2025, for "Know before you go".
• Ask Maps and Immersive Navigation, Google Blog, 12 March 2026, for the launch, the example questions, the 300 million places and 500 million contributors, and personalisation.
• 9to5Google, Ask Maps global rollout, 6 August 2026, for the 150+ country expansion and conversational edit suggestions.
• Mike Blumenthal, Search Engine Journal for the testing on source order and the custom ring design example.
• Understand Google updates on your Business Profile, Google Business Profile Help for reviewing changes made to your profile.

Our own test was run in the Google Maps app on 13 October 2026. This article reflects Ask Maps as it stood on that date. Google changes these features often, so check the current behaviour on your own listing before relying on any detail here.