FAQ rich results stopped showing on 7 May 2026

What Google published

From Google's changelog of Search documentation updates [1][1] Google Search Central, "Latest Google Search documentation updates", https://developers.google.com/search/updates. Entries dated 14 Sep 2023, 8 May 2026 and 15 Jun 2026. Opened 28 Sep 2026.:

• 14 Sep 2023. "Updated the FAQ structured data documentation to state that the feature is only shown for well-known, authoritative government and health websites." For most businesses, the expandable FAQ listing had already gone.
• 14 Sep 2023, same entry. HowTo went further: "Removed the How-to structured data documentation, as this rich result is no longer shown in search results, on both desktop and mobile devices."
• 8 May 2026. "Deprecating the FAQ rich result feature". The reason given: "This feature will no longer appear in Google Search starting May 7, 2026."
• 15 Jun 2026. "Removed documentation for the FAQ rich result feature", because "The FAQ rich result feature is no longer shown in Google Search results".

On 28 Sep 2026, the old FAQ documentation address redirected to that changelog entry. [2][2] https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/faqpage redirected to https://developers.google.com/search/updates#removing-faq-rich-result when checked on 28 Sep 2026.

What one client site showed

On 5 Sep 2026 I ran Google's URL Inspection API over all 44 indexable pages of a client's site. Every indexed page reported one rich result type: Breadcrumbs. 23 of those pages carried valid FAQPage and HowTo markup, and none of it produced a rich result. [3][3] LayerOps audit of a client site: Search Console URL Inspection API (rich results result) on 44 URLs, and a check of each page's markup against its visible text, 5 Sep 2026.

The same audit found a worse problem. Two posts carried FAQ markup with 8 questions each that appeared nowhere on the visible page; the FAQ sections readers could see asked different questions. Google's page on AI features lists "Making sure your structured data matches the visible text on the page" among the SEO basics. [4][4] Google Search Central, "AI features and your website", https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features. Page last updated 10 Dec 2025. Opened 28 Sep 2026. I removed the 16 hidden questions. [3]

What I do now

• Keep FAQ markup only where it matches questions and answers readers can see. Google's guide to its generative AI features says "Structured data isn't required for generative AI search, and there's no special schema.org markup you need to add", and also that it's still worth using "as part of your overall SEO strategy". [5][5] Google Search Central, "Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search", https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide. Page last updated 10 Jul 2026. Opened 28 Sep 2026.
• Don't count it as a lever. On the same client site, the pages Google's AI Overviews cited and the pages they skipped carried the same markup. See the field note "Google's AI Overviews cited the specialist pages, not the general ones".
• Check the date on the advice. If an SEO proposal written after 7 May 2026 says FAQ markup will win a bigger listing, ask what that's based on.

For the same reason, the AI Visibility Audit doesn't list FAQ markup as a fix.