The siding contractor's guide to Google Questions and Answers

Scroll down on your own Google Business Profile sometime. You might find a question with no answer. Or worse, an answer from a stranger who never worked with you. That's the Questions and Answers section. Most siding contractors don't know it exists.

What the Q&A section actually is

Anyone with a Google account can ask a question on your listing. Anyone can answer it too, even a total stranger. Google doesn't check if the answer is true. It doesn't check if the person answering knows your business at all. The answer just sits there. Every future visitor sees it.

For a siding contractor, this might be a question like "do you install steel siding" or "do you work on older homes." Say it goes unanswered. Or say someone with no link to you answers it wrong. That's bad information a customer sees before they ever call you.

• Anyone can post a question on your listing
• Anyone can answer it, accurate or not
• Unanswered or wrong answers sit there visible to future visitors

Why strangers end up answering

Most of the time it's not mean-spirited. Someone searches for a siding contractor. They see an unanswered question. They guess at an answer to be helpful, even if they never used your services. Sometimes it's a competitor, though that's rare. Either way, a Q&A section nobody watches drifts away from your control.

How to take it back

Check your Google Business Profile's Q&A section once a month. Answer any open questions yourself. If you see a wrong answer, post the correct one. Good answers get upvoted to the top. You can also seed the section yourself. Ask and answer common questions before anyone else gets there first.

• Check for new questions monthly
• Answer unanswered questions promptly and accurately
• Post corrections to wrong answers so they can rise to the top

Seeding useful questions yourself

You can add real value here. Post the questions customers actually ask before a stranger does. Think about what comes up on every estimate call. Things like "how long does a siding job take," "do you handle insurance claims for storm damage," and "what brands do you install." Ask and answer these yourself.

This does double duty. It gives future visitors true information right on your listing. It also fills the space, so a stranger's guess never gets the chance to show up first.

Our guide to setting up your Google Business Profile covers where to find the Q&A tool. It also covers the rest of the profile settings worth checking.

A worked example

Say a siding contractor in Hartland finds an old question. It's eight months old and asks if he handles hail damage claims. He answers it with two honest sentences about how he works with insurance adjusters. That one answer now shows up for every future visitor. No more eight-month gap that made the business look closed.

Don't ignore the small stuff

It's easy to treat Q&A as a minor feature next to reviews or photos. But it sits in plain view on your listing. And it costs nothing to keep up. A few minutes a month keeps it accurate. It also stops strangers from filling gaps you should fill yourself.

Don't wait for customers to ask. Sit down for ten minutes. Write out the five questions you get most on estimate calls. Post each one yourself. Answer it honestly. Now you have a small FAQ section right on your listing. No waiting on strangers to do it for you, badly or otherwise. It's a small habit, but it pays off every time someone new lands on your profile.