Google Q&A Is Being Shut Down: What You Should Do Now

A guest looks up your restaurant on Google Maps and wants to quickly know whether it’s wheelchair accessible. A year ago, they might have found that in the Questions & Answers section, or asked it themselves. That section no longer exists in its old form. What replaces it works by entirely different rules.

What happened to the Q&A feature

The shutdown followed clearly documented steps. In September 2025, Google announced it would rebuild the Q&A feature. On November 3, 2025, Google officially retired the underlying API: “On November 3, 2025, we will be discontinuing the My Business Q&A API as we are in the process of updating the Q&A functionality and user experience.” (Source: Google for Developers: Q&A API Change Log) In December 2025, Google confirmed the feature was changing overall, and since then the publicly visible Q&A sections have been disappearing from Search and Maps step by step. (Source: BrightLocal: A Guide to Google Business Profile Q&A)

Neither guests nor businesses can create or manage new questions or answers through the old feature anymore. This explicitly affects restaurants that used to actively maintain the section, for example with pre-answered questions about reservations, parking, or dietary options.

What’s taking the place of Q&A

Google is replacing the crowdsourced questions section with Ask Maps, a Gemini-powered feature. The difference is fundamental: with the old Q&A feature, guests or you yourself wrote the answer text. With Ask Maps, the AI generates the answer in real time, drawing from your Google profile, your reviews, and your website. (Source: BrightLocal: A Guide to Google Business Profile Q&A)

You no longer answer the question directly, you only supply the raw material the AI builds its answer from. More on the Ask Maps rollout itself, so far only available in the US and India, and the related “helpful tips” feature, in our article Google Now Summarises Reviews With AI: What Restaurants Need to Know.

This is the same shift we already saw with AI review summaries: control moves from the direct text to the underlying data quality.

What this means for existing questions on your profile

The available sources are inconsistent on what happens to existing Q&A entries, some profiles apparently still show old entries, while the feature overall is considered frozen. Do not assume that well-maintained old answers will keep showing prominently. Check your own profile directly to see its current state, there is no reliable blanket answer available right now.

What you should actually do now

Since you no longer write Ask Maps answers directly, your job shifts from “write the answer” to “supply good sources”.

1. Keep your Google profile description complete and specific. The exact information that used to live in Q&A entries, accessibility, parking, reservation policy, now belongs in your profile’s description and attributes. More in our guide Writing Your Google Business Description for Restaurants.

2. Maintain a real FAQ section on your own website. According to BrightLocal, Ask Maps also draws on the website as a source. Common guest questions that used to end up in Q&A now deserve a place on your own site, not just on Google.

3. Take reviews seriously as an information source. Since Ask Maps also evaluates review text, it helps when guests mention concrete details. This matches what we already described for “helpful tips”.

No reason to worry, but a reason to act. Your guests’ information needs stayed the same, only the channel shifted, from a section you could write directly to an AI that assembles from multiple sources.

In short

Q&A is disappearing, but the need behind it is not: guests want concrete answers before they visit. Keeping your Google profile complete, maintaining a real FAQ on your own website, and treating reviews as an information source means the transition costs you nothing, it just relocates where that information lives. That same combination, a complete profile, active reviews, and consistent website information, is exactly what SupaPresence handles for restaurants. Join the pilot for free.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did the Questions & Answers section disappear from my Google profile?

Google has been phasing out the Q&A feature. The API was retired on November 3, 2025, and since December 2025 the public display has been disappearing gradually too. An AI-powered feature called Ask Maps is taking its place.

Can I still add new questions and answers?

No. Neither guests nor businesses can create or manage new entries through the old Q&A feature. It has been technically shut down.

What is Ask Maps, and does it fully replace Q&A?

Ask Maps is a Gemini-powered feature where Google generates answers in real time, based on your Google profile, your reviews, and your website. Unlike old Q&A, you no longer write the answer yourself, you only influence the underlying data the AI draws from.

What should you actually do now?

Since you no longer control the answers directly, what matters now is the quality of the sources the AI draws from: a complete Google profile description, current attributes and opening hours, and a website with a real FAQ section covering common guest questions.