Google Business Quietly Removed The Public Q&A Section
Your Law Firm’s Google Listing Is Answering Questions Without You
Something fundamental changed about how people find lawyers online, and most firms haven’t noticed yet. Google quietly removed the public Q&A section from Google Business Profiles over the past several months. That feature, where anyone could post a question and business owners could respond directly, no longer exists. What replaced it is far more consequential.
Google’s AI is now fielding those questions automatically. When someone searches Google Maps and asks whether a law firm offers free consultations, handles cases in a specific county, or speaks Spanish, the answer comes from an algorithm. Not from you.
Where the AI Gets Its Information
The Gemini model powering these responses does not make things up from nothing. It reads your Google Business Profile fields, scans your client reviews for patterns, and crawls your website looking for relevant content. Then it stitches together a response and presents it as though it were fact.
That process works reasonably well when a firm has invested in keeping its digital presence thorough and current. It works terribly when a profile is half finished, a website hasn’t been updated in two years, and the only recent reviews are from disgruntled opposing parties.
The Real Risk for Law Firms
Most attorneys would never let a stranger answer phones at their firm and speak to potential clients without training. But that is essentially what is happening right now in Google Maps. An automated system is representing your practice to people at the exact moment they are deciding who to call. If your profile lists outdated practice areas, or your website says nothing about your consultation process, the AI has to work with whatever scraps it can find. Sometimes it gets things wrong. Sometimes it says nothing useful at all. Either outcome costs you the client.
How MileMark Helps You Take Control
At MileMark Legal Marketing, we have been preparing our clients for this shift since Google first signaled it was moving toward AI-generated search experiences. Our approach focuses on making sure the AI has exactly the right information to work with so your firm shows up accurately and persuasively when it matters most.
We start with a complete audit of your Google Business Profile to close every gap that could lead to a bad AI response. We then build structured FAQ content on your website, written in the natural language people actually use when searching, and formatted with the technical markup that helps Google’s AI pull clean answers directly from your pages.
We also help firms develop a review strategy that goes beyond simply asking for stars. The specific language clients use in reviews now directly influences how AI describes your firm to future searchers. We coach our clients on how to encourage detailed, authentic feedback and how to respond in ways that reinforce the right message.
Perhaps most importantly, we monitor what Google’s AI is actually saying about your firm on an ongoing basis. When we spot an inaccuracy or a missed opportunity, we trace it back to the source and fix it, whether that means updating profile fields, revising website copy, or adjusting how you engage with reviews.
This Is Not Optional Anymore
The old system let you participate in the conversation or ignore it. The new system has the conversation without you regardless. Law firms that want to control how they appear to potential clients in local search need to treat their entire digital footprint as a single, connected asset.
MileMark Legal Marketing builds and maintains that asset for you. If you are not sure what Google’s AI is telling people about your firm right now, reach out to us. The answer might surprise you.
