Google is starting to roll out an AI-based Q&A feature to Google Business Profiles (GBP) on Google Maps for mobile.
This feature will very likely replace Google Q&A, which has silently gone missing on some listings.
The “Ask Maps about this place” AI feature was first announced in late October 2024, along with a number of other Google Maps AI enhancements, but has not been widely available or visible.
At the time, Google also noted that “you’ll also see similar experiences in the coming months on Search – including AI-powered review summaries and the option to ask detailed questions about places.”
Currently, the feature is available on the Google Maps app, buried on the profile in the Overview tab, beneath the basic business NAP details and the review summaries.
How Does It Work?
Ask Maps allows users to input open-ended questions into a query box. While it offers and suggests pre-formed queries tailored to the business, users can also ask specific questions.
Pre-formed queries can differ significantly by business location (for multi-location businesses), with businesses sharing minimal overlap. And sometimes, similarly formulated questions might deliver slightly different answers.
The query field allows for compound questions. Although, the more you ask, the more likely you will be told that there isn’t enough information about this place to answer your question.
Screenshot from Google Search, January 2025
Ask Maps often, but not always, suggests six pre-formed queries – a kind of local version of People Also Ask – to help the searcher more quickly get their potential questions answered.
Some listings have no questions, and a few have two to four of these suggested queries.
These pre-formed queries vary by location, with even locations tied to the same brand sharing minimal overlap.
In looking at four or five different store locations, there were only a few of these questions that were duplicated.
Screenshot from Google Search, January 2025
We were curious about whether the review corpus or previous Q&A answers were used to generate these pre-formed queries.
We downloaded and analyzed reviews and Q&A content using N-grams, word clouds, and ChatGPT. We found virtually no correlation between the existing Google Q&A or review content and the pre-formed queries presented.
Obviously, a searcher can ask any question of the AI.
As mentioned, however, if Google does not have enough data from the listing attributes, reviews, the business website, or trusted third-party sites, the user will be told: “There’s not enough information about this place.”
Not Every Category
Unlike the soon-to-be legacy Q&A feature, Ask Maps excludes some business categories and is only available in U.S.-based locations.
In our review, the feature wasn’t present on profiles for most healthcare providers, counseling, social services, pregnancy care, and drug rehab centers, although we did find it on dentist profiles.
The feature was also not visible on highly distressed and spammy categories like moving companies, locksmiths, and garage door listings. It was available in categories that are less spam-filled, like HVAC, roofers, and electricians.
Profiles of businesses in legally regulated categories like marijuana dispensaries, tobacco, guns, or dating services did not have the feature.
The primary category of the listing determines whether the feature appears or not.
YMCA locations in my area each have slightly different categories, and the one with social services as the primary category did not have Ask Maps, while all the others did.
Screenshot from Google Search, January 2025
Where Does The Information Come From?
Google says:
“All of these features are made possible thanks to Gemini’s powerful creation, reasoning and summarization capabilities — grounded in our trusted data about 250 million places around the world and insights from the Maps community.”
In answering Ask Maps questions, Google appears to rely first on content in the business profile, GBP reviews, and the business website before it will access third-party content.
When Google had images from GBP image uploads relevant to the answer, those were included as well.
While the source for these images, in the example we saw, was represented as the business website, the images all came from Google Business Profile.
Screenshot from Google Search, January 2025
Ask Maps will go out to third-party web sources if needed to answer a question, and the site is trusted.
In the following example, we asked about issues that customers had experienced with this dealership, and the response referenced Carfax.com and Facebook.
Oddly, Ask Maps is currently unable to answer product inventory questions even when Google clearly has the inventory uploaded to Merchant Center, and it shows elsewhere on the profile.
Screenshot from Google Search, January 2025
Reviews From The Web
It’s obvious that consumers value reviews, and Ask Maps gives them access to both summary of the worst and best of Google reviews, as well as reviews from around the web.
The query below, asking about Barbara Oliver Jewelry’s “rating around the internet,” surfaced the review summary (using Local schema) directly from her website with additional data from Facebook.
However, despite numerous attempts, it would not surface her Yelp reviews.
Screenshot from Google Search, January 2025
Your Website As Data Source
The following video demonstrates Ask Maps’ ability, in many situations, to answer questions that previously required a visit to a business website.
On the Barbara Oliver jewelry profile, we asked, “What’s involved in custom ring design?” and got back a 118-word answer that referenced multiple sections and pages from the Barbara Oliver website.