Questions and Answers - Q&A - in Google Business Profiles - What is the current status?

[Tim Colling]

From reading a number of posts and articles, it sounds like Google is beginning to remove the Q&A feature from some Google Business Profiles. Is this happening more and more often? Has Google announced anything about removing them altogether now or in the future?

 

[keyserholiday]

Google has not removed Q&A, but it is not visible on the Knowledge Panel (KP). However, when you view the GBP on maps, you will still see it.

 

[Tim Colling]

Google has not removed Q&A, but it is not visible on the Knowledge Panel (KP). However, when you view the GBP on maps, you will still see it.

Thank you!

 

[JS Girard]

Google has not removed Q&A, but it is not visible on the Knowledge Panel (KP). However, when you view the GBP on maps, you will still see it.

is this a "Google has explicit stated this is a bug and they aren't removing it" thing (if so, where?) or just "Google has not confirmed anything about this"?

Those are very different things, especially when it comes to Google, who has killed GBP functions silently in the past on multiple occasions.

 

[Tim Colling]

is this a "Google has explicit stated this is a bug and they aren't removing it" thing (if so, where?) or just "Google has not confirmed anything about this"?

Those are very different things, especially when it comes to Google, who has killed GBP functions silently in the past on multiple occasions.

Amen to that!

 

[keyserholiday]

This is one of the dumbest items Google has rolled out. I don’t see it properly being used. I’d be happy if Google killed it.

 

[Tim Colling]

This is one of the dumbest items Google has rolled out. I don’t see it properly being used. I’d be happy if Google killed it.

I agree with that assessment, but until we know for certain that they are killing it, we have to be aware of it and utilize it effectively.

 

[georgenenni]

From reading a number of posts and articles, it sounds like Google is beginning to remove the Q&A feature from some Google Business Profiles. Is this happening more and more often? Has Google announced anything about removing them altogether now or in the future?

Hi @Tim Colling, yes, almost did a LinkedIn post yesterday on the topic, but worried I was going crazy. I checked multiple browsers, hit a few dozen new car dealerships’ GBPs (our exclusive market), only about 10 to 20% showed up. I didn’t do a lot of testing in Google Maps, but will do some of that today. We would be fine if they removed it, they’ve been moving it down on the panel for years, low impact for our industry.

 

[Tim Colling]

I would fine if they kept it AND if they removed the ability for anyone other than the GBP users to post questions and answers. Then it would be a useful FAQ tool.

 

[JoyHawkins]

I started seeing them again recently. Google hasn't stated anywhere publicly that they are going to be removing the feature so it's possible they were just missing due to a technical issue. I agree with Jason - it's one of the stupidest features GBP has.

 

[fisicx]

Google tells me the Q&A section is part of Google Maps not the GBP:

https://support.google.com/maps/answer/7421661

The guidelines for GBP don't mention Q&A:

https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en-GB

Whilst the two are integrated they aren't the same thing. Which is maybe why it's not always visible as it depends on the path you take to access the content.

 

[JS Girard]

I started seeing them again recently. Google hasn't stated anywhere publicly that they are going to be removing the feature so it's possible they were just missing due to a technical issue. I agree with Jason - it's one of the stupidest features GBP has.

Well, at least we're able to see the damn things on the dashboard now. As much as I dislike NMX in general, the old dashboard did not let you know when you had questions.