5 things you need to know about Google Business Profile Questions and Answers

Launched in August 2017, Questions and Answers (QA) has been a feature for Google Business Profiles (GBPs) for quite a while. Prominently placed on map listings, the QA feature acts as a uniquely interactive forum with crowd sourced information about a business. Both business owners and users can ask and answer questions with this feature. But without the assistance of an agency, it can be very difficult for large brands to effectively manage the QA feature and this important touchpoint can be neglected. Here is what you need to know about managing QA for a national brand and how having the assistance of agency experts can help.

1. 1. You can monitor and respond to questions

   It’s best practice to use software to monitor and respond to questions as they come in. When it comes to reputation management, promptly answering genuine questions about each business location is make or break. Plus, QA in Google map listings is heavily referenced when judging relevance to a search query. More and more people are using long tail search to find local businesses that meet their needs, so having an up-to-date QA section for each business location will help listings stand out.

2. 2. You can remove questions that don’t belong

   Just like in other forums encouraging comments, it is not uncommon to get spam, off-topic, and inappropriate questions and answers. In these instances, it’s best to both report and delete the content in question. When managing QA, it makes a difference when businesses catch and control irrelevant and inappropriate content before it becomes a problem.

   

3. 3. It’s a place to redirect complaints

   While most people will use QA to ask a genuine question, there will be others that will post complaints in the form of questions. It could be a case where they had a bad experience, or they plainly have malicious intents for a business. Either way, it’s important to address the complaint and direct the commenter down the correct avenue to get their issue resolved. This shows the public that this brand cares and will do what it takes to keep their customers happy.

4. 4. You can easily create an FAQ

   With QA, businesses can post as many questions as they want or need for each business location within a brand. This is the perfect opportunity to craft some well written and commonly asked questions and answers. Although there obvious questions like “Is there Wi-Fi?” or “Is there a washroom on site?”, each business location can also include unique questions that only show up on their individual listing. These questions should be compiled and posted for each individual location. QA content is referenced by Google when judging relevance, so having a complete and curated FAQ on each listing is critical.

5. 5. The right partner can scale out your efforts

   There are a lot of opportunities to improve business listings with Google QA, but Google does not always make it easy for large brands to manage features at scale. Businesses can manage at the location level, but this is not usually the best option for brands with 1000s of locations. With the help of an agency, businesses can work with a software provider that is more equipped to manage QA features on a large scale. It is important to have consistency across brand locations. Brick and mortar brand locations should have the same look and feel, regardless of where they are located, and the same applies to the digital space. There will naturally be a lot of overlap within the questions and answers that get posted for individual business locations within a brand, but working with a software provider simplifies what would otherwise be a tedious process and provide metrics to judge success.