Does FAQ schema still work? For its original purpose, no. The expandable question-and-answer rows that FAQPage markup once produced under a search result are gone, and Google has said so in plain terms. Plenty of SEO checklists still tell you to add FAQ schema to every page. Those checklists are out of date. What survives is the part that never depended on Google: a clear set of answers to the questions your readers actually have.
What Google announced about FAQ rich results
As reported by Search Engine Journal (Matt G. Southern, 10 May 2026), Google’s statement was direct: “FAQ rich results are no longer appearing in Google Search. We will be dropping the FAQ search appearance, rich result report, and support in the Rich results test in June 2026.”
The withdrawal is staged, which matters if you rely on Search Console data or the API for reporting. The visible feature went first; the tooling follows over the summer.
| Date | What changed |
|---|---|
| August 2023 | FAQ rich results limited to “well-known, authoritative government and health websites” |
| 7 May 2026 | FAQ rich results stop appearing in Google Search |
| June 2026 | FAQ search appearance, rich result report and Rich Results Test support dropped |
| August 2026 | Search Console API support for FAQ ends |
Read the first row again. For most sites, FAQ rich results effectively ended in August 2023, when Google restricted them to government and health sites it considered authoritative. If you run an affiliate site, a SaaS blog or a niche content site, you have probably not had an FAQ rich result for more than three years. The 2026 change finished off something that had already stopped working for you.
Does FAQ schema still work for anything?
Not for a visible search feature. Google’s own words: “FAQ structured data can stay in place. The markup won’t cause problems, but it also won’t produce visible results in Google Search.”
Two separate points sit in that sentence, and both are useful. First, you do not need to strip FAQPage markup out of existing pages. It is not a penalty risk and there is no clean-up project to schedule. Second, there is no longer a search-appearance reason to add it. If a plugin or a template is adding FAQ schema to new pages by default, you can switch that off without losing anything Google displays.
For reference, this is the shape of the markup in question. If you see it in your page source, it is doing no harm, and it is also not earning you a feature:
Our broader guide to schema markup covers the types that still produce visible results, which is where structured data effort is better spent.
Why FAQ sections are still worth writing
The mistake now would be to treat the markup and the content as one thing. They never were. The rich result was a display bonus layered on top of a page section. The section itself does the same job it always did: it answers the follow-up questions a reader has after the main body, in a format they can scan.
That job does not need structured data. It needs good questions, answers that lead with the answer, and a place on the page where a reader expects to find them, usually near the end. Keep each answer short enough to scan and specific enough to settle the question. If an answer needs three paragraphs, it probably belongs in the body as its own section, with a heading a reader can find from the table of contents.
A good FAQ is built from questions people actually ask. Support tickets, sales calls, comments and on-site search all tell you what readers want to know and could not find. The question boxes in Google’s own results do too. Our post on People Also Ask explains how to mine them for questions worth answering on the page.
Short, direct answers to real questions are also the kind of text that is easy to quote. Whether that helps you appear in AI-generated answers is a separate question, and we cover what is known about it in our post on AI Overviews and traffic. What you should not do is assume FAQ markup carries over into those surfaces. Google has said nothing to suggest it does.
What to do with your FAQ markup now
The practical steps are short, and none of them are urgent.
- Leave existing FAQPage markup alone unless it is wrong. Google says it won’t cause problems.
- Stop adding it to new pages purely for search appearance. Switch off plugin defaults that inject it everywhere.
- Update reporting. If dashboards pull the FAQ search appearance from Search Console, that data goes away, and the API support ends in August 2026.
- Keep FAQ sections where they help readers, and cut the ones written only to carry markup.
That last point is the real clean-up. Many pages gained FAQ blocks before August 2023 because the feature took up extra space in the results. Some of those blocks are padding: questions nobody asked, answered in two sentences that repeat the body. Now that they earn nothing in search, they only cost the reader time. Review them as content, not as markup.
A quick test works for each block. Would a reader who reached the end of the page miss it if it were gone? If the answer is no, delete it or fold the one useful line into the body. If the answer is yes, keep it, tighten the wording, and stop worrying about whether the markup validates.
The limits of what we know
The limitation is that Google’s statement covers its own search results only. It says nothing about how other search engines or AI systems read FAQPage markup, and we have no data on that either. If you see claims that FAQ schema “feeds” AI answers, ask for the evidence. Equally, nobody can prove it does nothing outside Google, which is one more reason not to bother removing it.
What we can say with confidence is narrower and more useful. The search feature that FAQ schema existed to produce is gone, the reporting tools are going, and Google has told you the markup is now inert in its results. Treat any guide that still promises FAQ rich results as stale, including older ones on reputable sites. If you are deciding where to put structured data effort, spend it on types with a visible result, and check the current list of SERP features before you start. Write FAQ sections because readers have questions, not because a validator once lit up green.
Frequently asked questions
Should I remove FAQ schema from my site?
No need. Google says FAQ structured data can stay in place and won’t cause problems. It simply won’t produce visible results in Google Search.
When did FAQ rich results stop showing?
On 7 May 2026. Most sites had already lost them in August 2023, when Google limited them to authoritative government and health websites.
Can I still test FAQ markup in the Rich Results Test?
Google said support in the Rich Results Test would be dropped in June 2026, along with the FAQ rich result report in Search Console.
Are FAQ sections still useful?
Yes, when they answer questions readers actually ask. Their value is to the reader now, not to a search feature.
The takeaway FAQ rich results are gone. Leave existing markup in place, stop adding it for search appearance, and keep FAQ sections only where they answer real questions.
