FAQPage schema: still worth it, and for whom
The reason most people write FAQ markup no longer exists. Google restricted the FAQ rich result to well known, authoritative government and health websites on 14 September 2023, and removed the feature and its documentation entirely by 15 June 2026. Writing it for the stars and boxes is now writing for something that is not there.
What was withdrawn, and when
For years FAQ markup was sold as a way to occupy more space in the results. That ended in two steps. On 14 September 2023 Google narrowed the feature so it was only shown for well known, authoritative government and health websites. By 15 June 2026 the documentation itself was removed, with Google stating that the FAQ rich result is no longer shown in search results.
That is a clean, dated fact, and it is worth holding on to the next time a proposal promises FAQ boxes. Nothing about the markup changed. The display that made it valuable was withdrawn.
What the markup is still good for, counted
Strip out the withdrawn feature and what remains is modest and real. A FAQPage block turns 4 to 6 question and answer pairs into labelled data instead of prose. A machine reading the page does not have to guess where the question ends and the answer starts.
That matters because of who is reading. 82 percent of consumers read AI generated summaries of businesses and reviews, 23 percent decide on that summary alone, and 45 percent used an AI tool to find a local business in 2026 against 6 percent a year earlier. A question with a finished answer underneath it is the shape those systems can quote without rewriting.
The cost side is equally small. One JSON-LD block of roughly 20 lines covers 5 questions, and Google states plainly that all 3 supported formats are equally fine as long as the markup is valid. There is no reason to spend money on this beyond the hour it takes.
| Reason for writing it | Before 14 September 2023 | Today |
|---|---|---|
| Occupying more space in results | Worked for most sites | Gone |
| Rich result eligibility | Broad | Withdrawn entirely |
| Machine readable question and answer | Yes | Yes, unchanged |
| Material for an AI summary | Incidental | The main remaining reason |
How to write it so it earns its hour
Use questions people actually send you, in their words, and answer each one completely in the first two sentences. A question whose answer is a link to another page gives a summariser nothing to lift.
Keep the markup and the visible page identical. Marked up text that does not appear on the page is against Google's structured data guidelines, and the risk is the whole page, not the block.
Questions and answers
Should I delete my existing FAQ markup?
Will the rich result come back?
Does FAQ markup help with AI answers?
How many questions should a page carry?
Sources
- Google Search Central, FAQPage structured data The 14 September 2023 restriction and the removal of the feature
- Google Search Central, Intro to structured data That all three formats are equally fine and that rich results are never guaranteed
