Does Google still show FAQ rich results?
No. The timeline (all from Google Search Central, checked 2026-11):
| Date | What Google wrote |
|---|---|
| 2023-08-08 | FAQ rich results are shown only for well-known, authoritative government and health sites; other sites no longer get them regularly. |
| 2026-05-08 | Added a deprecation notice to the FAQ rich result documentation: the feature no longer appears in Google Search from 2026-05-07. |
| 2026-06-15 | Removed the FAQ rich result documentation, stating the feature is no longer shown in Google Search results. |
So hoping to get an expanded Q&A look in Google results from FAQPage markup no longer works, small site or not. The 2023 blog post also said that existing FAQPage markup does not need to be removed, and that unused structured data does not harm Search, it just has no visible effect.
Google's documentation page does not say whether the FAQPage markup type itself may still be written, so we do not draw a conclusion for it.
Does FAQ markup help AI answers?
There is no official basis saying it does. Google's AI features page (checked 2026-11) says there are no extra requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode and no extra structured data is needed; OpenAI's and Perplexity's crawler documentation only covers crawler names and robots.txt and does not mention structured data. We also found no reliable controlled experiment showing that adding FAQPage markup makes AI cite you more. So we do not say it helps, and we do not say it does not.
A safer view: the value of an FAQ is in the page text, not the markup. AI cites the text it can read on the page. A page where a heading is a question buyers ask and the answer follows directly can be lifted without any markup. For structured data overall, see Does structured data help AI search?.
So should you still write FAQPage markup?
| Approach | Worth it? | Cause |
|---|---|---|
| Write the FAQ in the page text (question as a heading, answer right after) | Yes, do this first | Readers and AI can read it directly, with no dependence on any markup. |
| You already have FAQPage markup | No need to delete it | Google said in 2023 there is no need to remove it proactively; as long as it matches the page text it does no harm. |
| Adding FAQPage markup to a new page | Optional | Google Search no longer shows its rich result, and there is no official word on whether it helps AI. If you add it, the cost is maintaining two copies of the content. |
| Markup with Q&A that is not in the page text | Don't | Structured data must match what is visible on the page; markup that does not match is meaningless and makes the page look untrustworthy. |
Why must the page text and markup match, and how do you ensure it?
Structured data is a description of the page content, and a description that does not fit the page is a wrong description. Google's requirement for structured data is that it match what is visible on the page. The most reliable approach is to maintain one set of Q&A and use it both to render the page and to generate the markup:
- MochiStamp: a guide page's Q&A list is the Q&A shown on the page, and the FAQPage markup is generated straight from that list; the code comment says “the questions as the page shows them”.
- Pagent's comparison pages (such as Pagent Dots vs Muse): one Q&A array is both rendered as the questions on the page and written into FAQPage, with the numbers in the answers taken from the table.
- kagentx's own guide pages: the FAQ is page text only, and the structured data is Article only, with no FAQPage.
The two sites share one idea: one set of data, used in two places, so markup and page text never drift apart.
How do you write an FAQ worth citing?
1. Write questions the way buyers say them
Use the words buyers really use, for example “Which plan includes PDF export?”, not “About our product”.
2. The first sentence of the answer is the answer
Give the conclusion first, then the conditions. Include specific numbers, versions or dates, and cite the source.
3. Answers match the numbers in the text and tables
Write price, limits and supported formats once on the page, and let the FAQ refer to them. How to write comparison pages that AI cites has an example.
4. Three to eight questions are enough
Write only questions people really ask. Piling on questions only dilutes the point.
5. If you add FAQPage markup, generate it from the same data
Here is the minimal form, with answer text identical to what the page shows:
<script type="application/ld+json"> { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "Which plan includes PDF export?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "PDF export is included in every plan, including the $9 Starter plan." } } ] } </script>6. When you change an answer, change both places
When a price or feature changes, update the page and the markup together. For AI Overview practice, see How to appear in Google AI Overviews.
FAQ
Does Google Search still show FAQ rich results?
No. Google's FAQ documentation says the feature no longer appears in Google Search from 2026-05-07, and the documentation was removed on 2026-06-15. Before that, from 2023-08-08, it was limited to authoritative government and health sites.
Will FAQPage markup make ChatGPT or Google's AI cite me more?
There is no official word, and we found no reliable controlled experiment. Google says AI features need no extra structured data, and OpenAI's and Perplexity's crawler documentation does not mention structured data.
I already added FAQPage markup. Should I delete it?
No. Google's 2023 blog says there is no need to remove it proactively, and unused structured data does not harm Search. The condition is that the markup matches the page text.
What happens if the page text and the markup do not match?
The markup becomes a wrong description of the page. Google requires structured data to match what is visible on the page. The safest approach is to maintain one set of Q&A and generate both the page and the markup from it.
Is an FAQ still useful without markup?
Yes. AI and readers read the text on the page: a page with questions as headings and a conclusion in the first sentence of each answer can be lifted without any markup.
Sources
- Google Search Central · Changes to HowTo and FAQ rich results （Published 2023-08-08, updated 2023-09-14; checked 2026-11-05）
- Google Search Central · FAQPage structured data （Checked 2026-11-05; update log: deprecation notice added 2026-05-08, documentation removed 2026-06-15）
- Google Search Central · AI features and your website （checked 2026-11-05）
- OpenAI · Overview of OpenAI Crawlers （checked 2026-11-05）
- Perplexity · Perplexity Crawlers （checked 2026-11-05）
- Pagent · Dots vs Muse: tested side by side （Checked 2026-11-05; the page carries FAQPage markup）
- kagentx evaluations: the data on the case study pages; each example gives its date.