If you wrote questions and answers on your Google Business Profile, that work is gone. The Q&A section has been removed from Business Profiles, and anything you pre-wrote is either deleted or frozen with no way to edit it.
Here is what to do instead, in one line: move those answers into your profile fields and onto a clear FAQ page on your own website, because those are the places Google still reads.
The rest of this post explains what happened, what replaced it, and exactly which fields are now carrying that weight for a UAE business.
What Actually Happened
The Section Was Retired
The Q&A box that sat on your listing, where anyone could ask a question and you could answer it, is no longer part of the product. The API that fed it was discontinued in November 2025, and the public section was phased out from December 2025. New profiles are created without it.
Google Has Not Made a Loud Announcement
There is no clear retirement notice in Google’s documentation, which is part of why so many owners have not noticed. Google’s help page on asking and answering questions about a place still exists, but it now carries the line that the feature is only available in certain countries and regions.
That phrasing matters. It means availability is being narrowed market by market rather than switched off with a single announcement.
What a Dubai Listing Looks Like Now
I checked a verified Dubai Marina clinic listing while writing this. The tabs are Overview, Reviews and About. There is no Q&A section anywhere on it.
If you want to check your own, open your listing in Google Maps and look for a questions section. If you cannot find one, it is gone, not hidden.
Why This Matters More Than It Sounds
It Deleted Real Work
Pre-writing the questions customers always ask, and answering them in your own words, was one of the few places on a Business Profile where you controlled the wording. Plenty of UAE businesses invested hours in it.
It Removed a Keyword Surface
Some agencies used Q&A to place service keywords on the listing. That surface has gone. If anyone is still selling you Q&A optimisation as a service, that is a reason to ask what else on their list is out of date.
It Shifts Weight Onto Fields You May Have Left Empty
The information customers were asking about has not stopped being needed. It has moved to fields many owners never completed.
Where Those Answers Should Live Now
Your Services, With Real Descriptions
The services section accepts a description for each service, and most businesses leave those blank. If customers used to ask whether you do emergency appointments, that belongs in a service description now. Our walkthrough of products and services on your profile covers how to fill it properly.
Your Attributes
Attributes answer a surprising number of the questions people used to type into Q&A: parking, accessibility, payment methods, appointment requirements. Most owners have never opened the section, as we explain in the settings section most businesses never touch.
Your Categories
Your primary category tells Google what you fundamentally are, and Google states that relevance, distance and prominence drive local results. Relevance starts with the category. Getting it wrong caps everything else, which we cover in why the wrong category quietly caps your ranking.
Your Website FAQ
Write the questions out properly on a page you own. Google’s guidance on creating helpful, people-first content asks whether a page would be useful to someone who arrived directly, and a genuine FAQ page passes that test easily.
One caveat worth knowing: FAQ rich results in search are now limited to a small set of authoritative sites, so do not add FAQ markup expecting stars and dropdowns in the results. Write the page for the reader, not for the snippet.
What Replaced It
Ask Maps
Google documents asking questions in Google Maps as an AI-powered tool where you type or speak a question, get an answer, and can ask follow-ups. It draws on the information Google holds about a place rather than on answers a business wrote in advance.
Be Careful About Assuming It Is Here
Google does not publish a country list for it, and reporting suggests it reached selected markets first. Treat it as something arriving rather than something you can rely on in the UAE today.
The Practical Point Is the Same Either Way
Whether an AI answer appears for your business this year or next, it will be built from your profile fields, your reviews and your website. Those three things are what you can actually influence, and they are worth getting right regardless.
Your Reviews Now Do More of This Job
Review Text Carries Detail
When a customer writes that parking was simple, that the clinic ran on time, or that the team spoke to them in English, that is the kind of specific detail that used to sit in a Q&A answer.
Which Changes How You Ask
A review that says “great service” helps your rating. A review that mentions the specific thing you do well carries information. When you ask, it is reasonable to mention what the visit involved, so people have something concrete to write about.
Do not cross the line into scripting reviews or offering anything in exchange. Google removes reviews posted for an incentive, and the rules around how you ask have tightened. Our guide on how many reviews a Dubai business actually needs covers the volume question.
Replies Are Still Worth Writing
Your replies are public, they are text on your listing, and they are one of the few places left where you choose the wording. A reply that confirms a detail, such as the fact that you do open on Saturdays, puts that information on the profile in your own words. Our post on responding to negative reviews covers the tone that helps rather than hurts.
Three Things Not to Do
Do Not Keep Paying for Q&A Optimisation
If a monthly report still lists questions seeded or Q&A managed, that line is billing you for a section that no longer exists. Ask what it has been replaced with.
Do Not Treat Your Website FAQ as a Keyword Dump
A page of thin questions written for search engines is the pattern Google describes as unhelpful. Write the ten questions your staff genuinely answer on the phone every week, and answer them the way you would say it.
Do Not Wait for the AI Answer to Arrive
Completing your services, attributes and hours is worth doing whether or not an AI answer ever appears for your business. Those fields feed your ranking and what customers see today, not just what Google might generate later.
A Short Checklist
Check Whether It Is Gone on Your Listing
Open your profile in Maps and look. If there is no questions section, stop planning around it.
Recover Anything Still Visible
If old questions are still showing, copy the answers somewhere safe before they disappear.
Fill the Fields That Replaced It
Services with descriptions, attributes, categories, hours, and a complete business description. You can edit all of these through your Business Profile.
Put the Questions on Your Website
One page, plain language, the ten questions you are genuinely asked. Link to it from your profile’s website field.
Keep Your Details Consistent
Name, address and phone should match everywhere, which is the point we make in NAP consistency.
The Bottom Line
The Q&A section is gone from Google Business Profiles, and the answers you wrote there are no longer working for you. Google has not made much noise about it, which is why many owners still have it in their plan.
The information customers were asking for has not stopped mattering. It has moved into your services and attributes, your reviews, and your own website. Those were always the stronger places for it.
If you want your profile fields completed properly and the questions your customers actually ask moved somewhere useful, our Google Business Profile management service covers exactly that.
WhatsApp Hameed for a quick question, or call +971 56 544 6241 for a free consultation. There is also a contact form if you would rather write it out.
Google took away the box. It did not take away the questions.
