Does FAQ Schema Still Work in Google Search in 2026? (And Should You Remove It?)

No. FAQ schema no longer creates rich results in Google Search. Google announced the change in its Search Central changelog on 8 May 2026. The FAQ rich result “will no longer appear in Google Search starting May 7, 2026.” On 15 June 2026, Google removed the FAQ rich result documentation completely.

Your FAQPage markup won’t break anything if you leave it. It just won’t earn the expandable questions under your search result any more.

The rest of this guide covers what changed, whether to remove the markup, and whether FAQ sections are still worth having on your pages.

The timeline: how FAQ rich results were phased out

This didn’t happen all at once. It was a two-step change over nearly three years.

Date	What Google changed
August 2023	FAQ rich results limited to “well-known, authoritative government and health websites”
8 May 2026	Deprecation notice added: FAQ rich results no longer appear from 7 May 2026
15 June 2026	FAQ rich result documentation removed from Search Central

All three entries are in Google’s Search Central documentation changelog. The old FAQ documentation URL now redirects to that changelog.

So if you still saw FAQ results for a few sites before May 2026, those were mostly government and health sites under the 2023 rules. Since May 2026, that last group is gone too.

What this means for your site

• No FAQ rich results. Your search listing won’t show expandable questions, no matter how good your markup is.
• No ranking penalty. Google’s changelog doesn’t describe any penalty for pages that still have FAQPage markup. The markup is simply no longer used for this feature.
• No Google testing or reporting for it. With the documentation gone, don’t expect the Rich Results Test or Search Console to report FAQ rich results any more.

Should you remove FAQPage markup?

There’s no urgent reason to. It’s still valid Schema.org markup, and removing it won’t bring anything back. Our view: remove it when you’re already editing a page or template, not as a special project.

Here’s a simple way to decide:

Your situation	What to do
FAQ markup added by an SEO plugin, sitewide	Turn off the plugin’s FAQ schema option when convenient. It saves page weight, but there’s no rush
Markup on pages with a real, visible FAQ section	Leave it. It’s harmless and still describes the page accurately
Markup with questions that aren’t visible on the page	Remove it. Hidden markup was always against Google’s structured data guidelines
You were planning to add FAQ markup for rich results	Don’t. It won’t produce them any more

How to find FAQ markup on your site

1. Check your SEO plugin first. Rank Math, Yoast and similar plugins often have FAQ blocks that add FAQPage schema automatically.
2. View the source of a page with an FAQ section and search for "FAQPage".
3. Use the Schema Markup Validator at validator.schema.org. It still validates Schema.org types, including FAQPage, even though Google no longer uses them for rich results.

Are FAQ sections still worth having?

Yes, if they help readers. The FAQ section and the FAQ rich result were never the same thing. The rich result is gone. A good FAQ section on the page can still:

• Answer the follow-up questions people actually ask. Use Google’s “People also ask” and your own support questions, not made-up ones.
• Catch long-tail searches. A clear question heading with a short, direct answer is easy for search engines to match with a question.
• Help with AI features. Google says its AI features are “rooted in our core Search ranking and quality systems”. Clear, direct answers to real questions are useful content in any format. No special markup is needed.

What doesn’t work any more is adding FAQs just to fill search results with expandable questions. If a question doesn’t help the reader, cut it.

What to do instead of FAQ schema

• Use structured data that Google still supports where it fits your content: Article, Product, Review snippets, Breadcrumb, Organization, and so on. Check Google’s search gallery for the current list.
• Write question-style headings for the questions your readers ask, followed by a two- or three-sentence answer.
• Don’t chase special AI markup. Google’s AI guide says you don’t need special markup or files, and that includes llms.txt, which Google Search doesn’t use.

Common mistakes

• Waiting for FAQ results to “come back”. Google removed the documentation. Don’t plan for a return.
• Removing useful FAQ sections along with the markup. The section can still help readers, even without the rich result.
• Keeping hidden FAQ markup. Questions that aren’t visible on the page were never allowed.
• Assuming a traffic drop in May 2026 was a penalty. If your listings lost their FAQ rich results, CTR can drop on those queries. That’s a change in how results look, not a penalty. To check where the clicks went, compare your Search Console clicks with GA4 sessions.

FAQ

When did Google stop showing FAQ rich results?

Google’s changelog says FAQ rich results no longer appear in Google Search starting 7 May 2026. The notice was published on 8 May 2026.

Will FAQ schema hurt my rankings?

Google hasn’t said it does. The markup is simply no longer used for FAQ rich results.

Does Bing still use FAQ schema?

We haven’t found current official documentation from Bing confirming FAQ rich results, so we can’t say. If Bing matters to your site, test your own pages in Bing’s tools.

Is HowTo schema also gone?

Yes. Google removed HowTo rich results earlier, in 2023, and removed that documentation too.

Last checked against Google’s Search Central changelog on 24 September 2026.