GMB Q&A

[TomGuard]

Can a business owner ask and answer a set of questions on their own profile without penality or suspension?

I'm having trouble locating any specific GMB guidelines on this. Thanks in advance.

 

[Annika Neudecker]

Yes, they can. I looked into this when the Q&A feature first came out and everyone was advising to do exactly that. Here's a piece from BrightLocal about it. We posted three to five relevant questions to all of our locations and haven't experienced any issues with them being removed or our listings being penalized for them.

A few tips from my experience:

• Don't rush posting them rapid-fire. A few people have noted a bug (or possibly a spam filtering feature, it's not clear) where your questions may become invisible to other users if you post them too quickly.
• Expect that customers will attempt to answer your questions. Users get notifications when new questions are posted to locations they've reviewed or spent time at recently. They will put up their own answers.
• Don't thumbs up your own questions or answers.

 

[TomGuard]

Thank you Annika. Your response has been super helpful.

 

[Artem Okhrei]

I'm using the technique of self-asking and self-answering widely and no penalties. But still I suggest not to ask and answer all the questions at one day. Use some schedule of posting.

 

[BenFisher]

We do this for 100's of listings, and we do them all on the same day/time with no problems at all.

 

[Artem Okhrei]

we do them all on the same day/time with no problems at all

Thanks, Ben for sharing your experience! That's valuable information.

 

[Jen Currier]

@BenFisher - Is it ok to post as the Owner and Answer as the Owner? This is where I get stumped.

 

[BenFisher]

Absolutely!!!

 

[Jen Currier]

Thank you for confirming, Ben!