In the most recent episode of The Dental Marketing Mix, DentalScapes co-founder Dan Brian digs into one of the most consequential — and most overlooked — shifts in dental marketing right now: what’s changing about your Google Business Profile, why it matters more than ever, and exactly what practice owners should do about it.
The “Set It and Forget It” Trap
Dan opens with a pattern he sees constantly when working with dental practices: a GBP that was set up years ago, verified, maybe given a few photos — and then never really touched again. It’s an understandable approach. Practice owners are busy, and the profile doesn’t send an alert when it starts falling behind.
But Dan’s point is that the platform has evolved significantly, and coasting on an outdated profile isn’t just a missed opportunity anymore. In competitive markets, it’s actively costing practices new patients.
The core shift he identifies: Google isn’t just using your GBP to rank you anymore. It’s using it to represent you. And that distinction changes everything about how you should be thinking about the profile.
The Q&A Feature Is Gone — and What Replaced It Is a Bigger Deal
For years, the Q&A section on Google Business Profiles was a legitimate local SEO tool. Practice owners and their marketing teams could seed their own questions — “Do you offer Invisalign?” “Are you accepting new patients?” — and answer them directly. It was a way to get keyword-rich content onto the profile and proactively address common patient concerns.
That feature is gone. Google deprecated the Q&A API in November 2025, and the public-facing section has been rolling off profiles since December. Dan notes that Google’s stated rationale was fair — a lot of Q&A sections had become outdated, unmoderated, and hard for patients to navigate.
What replaced it is something more significant: a feature called Ask Maps, powered by Google’s Gemini AI. Instead of browsing static pre-written Q&A, a prospective patient can now type a question directly — “Do they see kids?” or “Do they have Saturday hours?” — and receive an AI-generated answer in real time. That answer is synthesized from everything Google knows about the practice: the GBP data, the website content, the reviews, and other public signals.
Dan is careful to note that healthcare providers, including dental practices, are currently in a category Google has been more cautious about when rolling out Ask Maps — likely due to the sensitivity around medical information. So the feature may not be visible on dental profiles the same way it is on a restaurant or retail listing yet. But he makes a point of saying that’s not a reason to wait. The underlying AI-driven synthesis of practice data is already happening across Google’s products — AI Overviews in search, generative summaries in Maps, and more. The practices feeding those systems complete, accurate, well-structured information are already benefiting. The ones that aren’t are already getting passed over in ways that don’t show up cleanly in analytics.
A Thin Profile Is Now a Liability, Not Just a Missed Opportunity
Dan walks through what profile completeness actually means in this context — and it goes well beyond the basics. It’s not enough to list “General Dentistry” and “Cosmetic Dentistry” as your services. If a patient asks Google’s AI whether your practice offers dental implants and that service isn’t listed on your profile, the AI may simply tell them you don’t. That patient doesn’t call to check. They don’t dig around on your website. They move on.
The completeness checklist Dan outlines:
- Services — listed specifically and in detail, not in broad categories. Veneers, Invisalign, same-day emergency appointments, pediatric care — if you offer it, it needs to be listed.
- Business description — thorough, keyword-conscious, written in the plain language patients actually use when they search.
- Hours — accurate at all times, including holiday hours and any schedule variations.
- Photos — recent, professional, and representative of the real patient experience at the practice.
Every section of the profile, Dan says, is data you’re giving Google to represent you. As AI plays a larger role in how that representation gets surfaced to prospective patients, that data becomes the practice’s voice.
Your Website Is Now a GBP Signal
One of the more important points Dan makes — and one that catches a lot of practice owners off guard — is that website content now directly influences what Google’s AI says about a practice in local search contexts.
If a patient asks Google whether a practice is good with anxious patients, and the practice has a detailed page about its approach to sedation dentistry and working with nervous patients, that content can surface in an AI-generated answer. If the website doesn’t address it at all, the AI has nothing to draw from.
This is the core of what Dan describes as GEO — generative engine optimization: structuring website content not just for human readers and traditional search rankings, but in a way that AI systems can understand, extract, and accurately represent. Practically, that means clear FAQ-style content that mirrors the questions patients actually ask, schema markup that helps Google understand the practice’s category and offerings, and service page copy written in direct, patient-facing language.
Dan notes that DentalScapes has been building this into client work for some time — well before most practices were thinking about it — because the shift isn’t on the horizon anymore. It’s already underway.
Reviews Are Now AI Data
Dan connects the GBP evolution conversation back to something he’s covered in depth in a previous episode: Google reviews. The context here is different, though. He’s not focused on review volume or velocity — he’s pointing to something more specific about how reviews function in an AI-driven local search environment.
Reviews are now a primary data source for AI-generated answers about a practice. If patients consistently mention a hygienist by name, that team member becomes associated with the practice in AI summaries. If multiple reviews reference flexible scheduling or a welcoming environment for kids, that context can shape how Google responds to logistical patient questions. Conversely, a review profile dominated by thin, one-line responses gives the AI very little to work with.
The takeaway Dan lands on: the ask hasn’t changed — consistent review generation, substantive content, responding to every review. But the reason to do it has gotten more urgent.
The Four-Part Action Plan
Dan closes the episode with a clear framework for where to start:
- Audit your GBP like a patient would. Go through every section. Are services listed specifically? Is the description accurate and thorough? Are hours current? Are photos recent? Fix anything that’s incomplete or outdated.
- Look at your website through an AI lens. Does the content clearly answer the questions patients actually ask? Is it organized in a way that’s easy for a machine — not just a human — to extract and represent? If not, that’s worth investing in.
- Evaluate your review strategy. Are reviews coming in consistently? Are they substantive — mentioning specific services, team members, experiences? Are you responding to all of them?
- Keep watching this space. Google’s AI features are evolving quickly, and the practices that stay engaged with these changes will have a meaningful advantage over the ones that wait until everything is fully rolled out before paying attention.
TL;DR
- Google is no longer just using your GBP to rank you — it’s using it to represent you, and that distinction changes how the profile needs to be managed.
- The Q&A feature was deprecated in late 2025 and is being replaced by Ask Maps, an AI-powered experience that generates real-time answers from GBP data, website content, reviews, and other signals.
- Dental practices are currently in a category Google has been cautious about for Ask Maps, but the underlying AI-driven synthesis is already affecting local search visibility across Google’s products.
- A thin or incomplete profile is now a liability — if a service isn’t listed, Google’s AI may tell prospective patients you don’t offer it.
- Website content is a GBP signal. Pages that clearly answer patient questions feed the AI systems that represent your practice in search and Maps.
- Reviews function as AI data — substantive, specific reviews give Google more to work with when generating answers about your practice.
- The action items: audit your profile, review your website through an AI lens, tighten your review strategy, and stay engaged with how these features continue to evolve.
Ready to Get Your GBP Working Harder?
If you want help auditing your Google Business Profile, tightening your website content strategy, or building a review program that holds up — that’s exactly what we do at DentalScapes. Book a free strategy call with our team and we’ll take an honest look at where your practice stands and what the biggest opportunities are.