FAQ schema in 2026: what happened to FAQ rich results

This guide is built from Google Search Central's documentation changelog, its 2023 post Changes to HowTo and FAQ rich results, the Q&A (QAPage) documentation, the discussion forum documentation, the general structured data guidelines, Google's guide to optimizing for generative AI search and the schema.org definition of FAQPage. We checked all of them on 10 November 2026.

How to write and lay out an FAQ page that helps visitors is in our website FAQ pages guide. What structured data is and which types a business site needs are in our structured data basics guide. This page covers the FAQ markup itself.

The short answer

Nobody gets FAQ rich results from Google any more. From August 2023 they were limited to "well-known, authoritative government and health websites". Google's changelog then says the feature "will no longer appear in Google Search starting May 7, 2026", and in June 2026 Google removed the documentation, because "the FAQ rich result feature is no longer shown in Google Search results".

So adding FAQPage markup to win extra space in Google results no longer does anything. Markup already on your pages does no harm. And an FAQ section is still worth having when it answers real questions, because Google reads the visible text like any other text on the page.

How FAQ rich results ended

The steps, with dates from Google's blog and documentation changelog:

Date	What Google said
8 August 2023	FAQ rich results "will only be shown for well-known, authoritative government and health websites. For all other sites, this rich result will no longer be shown regularly." Google added that "sites may automatically be considered for this treatment depending on their eligibility".
14 September 2023	The FAQ documentation was updated to say the feature is only shown for those government and health sites. The same update removed How-to results altogether.
8 May 2026	A deprecation notice was added to the FAQ documentation: the feature "will no longer appear in Google Search starting May 7, 2026".
15 June 2026	Google removed the FAQ rich result documentation. The old documentation URL now redirects to that changelog entry.

Advice about winning "FAQ snippets" written before August 2023 no longer applies to any site, including the government and health sites that kept the feature for longer. The 2023 post said the change "should not be considered a ranking change". Losing FAQ results changed how a listing looked, not where it ranked.

Markup you already have

Leaving it in place is fine. When Google cut FAQ results back in 2023 it said: "While you can drop this structured data from your site, there's no need to proactively remove it. Structured data that's not being used does not cause problems for Search, but also has no visible effects in Google Search."

Removing it is fine too, and is worth doing when it costs you something. For example, a plugin may add FAQ markup to pages with no visible questions, or the markup may hold answers that are out of date. If the questions on the page help visitors, keep the questions on the page either way. That decision is about content, and our FAQ pages guide covers it.

In Search Console, the 2023 post said the cut would show up in the FAQ search appearance figures in the Performance report and in the FAQ enhancement report. With the result switched off, keep that in mind when you compare periods in the Performance report: a fall in FAQ impressions in 2023 or 2026 reflects Google's change, not a problem with the page.

FAQ markup and AI features

A common claim now is that FAQ schema helps a page appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. Google's own guidance says otherwise. Its generative AI optimization guide lists "overfocusing on structured data" as a mistake: "Structured data isn't required for generative AI search, and there's no special schema.org markup you need to add." Its AI features page says the same: "There's also no special schema.org structured data that you need to add."

What Google does ask for is that "your structured data matches the visible text on the page", and that a page is indexed and "eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet". A clear question with a direct answer in the page text is what any search feature can quote. More on that in our guide to AI Overviews and your website.

FAQPage, QAPage or DiscussionForumPosting

Three schema.org types describe question pages, and they are not interchangeable. Google still documents the second and third.

Type	Fits	In Google Search
FAQPage	A page where the site answers its own frequently asked questions. schema.org calls it a WebPage presenting one or more frequently asked questions.	No rich result since 7 May 2026.
QAPage	A page about one question where users can post answers, such as a forum thread or a product support question.	Documented. Pages can be eligible for a Q&A rich result.
DiscussionForumPosting	Forum threads where people share first-hand views that are not a question-and-answer pattern.	Documented. Used in features such as Discussions and Forums.

Don't move business FAQ content to QAPage to get a rich result back. The QAPage documentation rules it out. It lists "an FAQ page written by the site itself with no way for users to submit alternative answers" as an invalid use, and says: "Don't use QAPage markup for FAQ pages or pages where there are multiple questions per page." The page has to be focused on one question, and "users must be able to submit answers to the question". Swapping the type on a page that isn't like that would be markup that misrepresents the page.

If your site has a real community area, such as a support forum where customers answer each other, QAPage or DiscussionForumPosting can fit there. The discussion forum documentation says: "Does your forum follow a question and answer pattern? Use Q&A markup instead."

What FAQPage markup looks like

For reference, here is a made-up example. An FAQPage block lists each question as a Question in mainEntity, with its answer in acceptedAnswer:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [{
    "@type": "Question",
    "name": "Do you offer weekend appointments?",
    "acceptedAnswer": {
      "@type": "Answer",
      "text": "Yes, on Saturdays from 9am to 1pm."
    }
  }]
}
</script>

The same question and answer appear as text on the page. FAQPage is still a valid schema.org type; it just no longer produces anything visible in Google Search. Google's Rich Results Test is still the tool for the types Google does use, such as the Article or Organization blocks on the same page.

If you keep it: the rules still apply

Google's general guidelines cover all structured data, whether a rich result uses it or not:

• "Don't mark up content that is not visible to readers of the page." Google's old FAQ guideline, recorded in its changelog, made the same point: "The user must be able to access the answer on the page, and clicking an expandable section to view the answer is a valid use case."
• Google lists markup that "is not representative of the main content of the page, or is potentially misleading" among the problems. FAQ markup copied onto every page with the same generic questions is an example.
• Breaking the guidelines can lead to a structured data manual action, which "means that a page loses eligibility for appearance as a rich result; it doesn't affect how the page ranks". Our manual actions guide covers the fix.

If a script or plugin adds the markup in the browser, our JavaScript SEO guide explains how Google handles structured data generated with JavaScript.

What we do

This part is our own practice, not Google guidance:

• We don't add FAQPage markup to new client pages for Google. The time goes into the markup Google still uses: Organization, LocalBusiness, BreadcrumbList and Article.
• On existing sites we leave working FAQ markup alone, as Google advises. We remove it only when it is broken, describes questions that aren't on the page, or repeats the same block across the site.
• Our own guides, this one included, still carry an FAQPage block that matches the visible FAQ at the end. It does no harm, it keeps the questions machine-readable, and we keep it in step with the text.
• The questions themselves stay on the page when they help visitors, written as plain questions with direct answers.

Frequently asked questions

Does any site still get FAQ rich results in Google?

No. Google limited them to well-known government and health websites in August 2023. Its documentation changelog says the feature no longer appears in Google Search starting 7 May 2026, and the documentation was removed in June 2026.

Should I remove FAQ schema from my site?

You don't have to. Google said unused structured data does not cause problems for Search. Remove it if it is broken, describes content that isn't visible, or is repeated across pages where it doesn't fit.

Does FAQ schema help with AI Overviews?

Google says no special schema.org markup is needed for its generative AI features and that structured data isn't required for them. A page needs to be indexed and eligible for a snippet, and clear answers in the page text help.

Can I use QAPage markup on my FAQ page instead?

No. Google's QAPage guidelines say not to use it for FAQ pages or pages with several questions. It is for a page about one question where users can submit answers, such as a forum thread.

Did losing FAQ rich results hurt rankings?

Google said the 2023 change should not be considered a ranking change. It changed how some results looked, not where they ranked.

Want a site whose markup and content are set up properly from the start? See our website development and website maintenance services, all our services, or the rest of our guides.