Structured Data After FAQ Rich Results: What to Do

Over the past few years many companies built FAQ sections mainly to grab more real estate in search results. That reason has been quietly removed: Google first limited FAQ and HowTo rich results in 2023, and in May 2026 FAQ disappeared entirely. The question I hear most often is whether it still makes sense to write structured data at all. The short answer is yes, just for a different reason than you might expect.

What Google actually changed

The changes came in two waves. On 8 August 2023 Google announced that FAQ rich results (from FAQPage markup) would only be shown for “well-known, authoritative government and health websites.” For everyone else they stopped appearing regularly. At the same time, HowTo rich results were limited to desktop only.

The wind-down was fast. According to Search Engine Journal, the change rolled out globally within a week of the announcement, and by 13 September 2023 Google stopped showing HowTo results on desktop too, effectively deprecating the type. It also removed the HowTo report in Search Console and support in the Rich Results Test.

FAQ got the final blow later. Search Engine Land reports that from 7 May 2026 FAQ rich results stopped showing entirely, the Search Console report was removed in June 2026, and API support ends in August 2026. The “FAQ for a prettier snippet” era is officially over.

One thing matters, though: for both types Google explicitly said there is no need to proactively remove the markup. Unused structured data does not cause problems in Search, and other search engines or systems may keep processing it. That is not a footnote, it is the whole point of this article.

Why structured data still helps, even without a snippet

A rich result was always just the visible reward. The real job of structured data is different: it gives machines explicit clues about what a page is. In its structured data documentation, Google explains that it uses markup to understand the content of a page as well as to gather information about the world, such as people, books or companies. In other words, schema.org is not mainly about how a result looks, it is about making content machine-readable.

And that has measurable impact even where a snippet remains. In the same documentation Google cites case studies: Rotten Tomatoes measured a 25% higher click-through rate on pages with structured data versus those without, Food Network saw a 35% increase in visits, and Nestlé reported an 82% higher click-through rate on pages with rich results. Not every type went away; recipes, products, videos, events, reviews and organizations all still work.

For a content site the practical takeaway is clear: add structured data where it reflects what the page really is, not where you hope for decoration in the results.

Entities and the Knowledge Graph: helping machines understand your site

The second reason runs deeper and reaches beyond blue links. Google stopped reading a page as a bag of keywords long ago and now reads it as a network of entities, people, brands, products and concepts and their relationships in the Knowledge Graph. Structured data is the most direct language for giving those entities and their connections a clear shape.

Entity-first SEO in practice means a few concrete steps. Decide which entity each page is meant to strengthen. Connect it to public identifiers, typically a Wikidata Q-ID or a Knowledge Graph entry, via sameAs. Keep names and attributes consistent across the site. And build topic clusters where internal linking reflects hierarchy and relationships.

This approach matters more now than before. Google’s AI overviews and assistants like ChatGPT or Perplexity generate answers based on entities they understand and trust. When your brand and content are associated with recognized entities, your chances of being cited rise sharply. A rich snippet will not help you there, a clear data structure will.

Breadcrumbs and the data that still works

A good example of “quiet but effective” markup is breadcrumbs. Google still supports BreadcrumbList markup and uses it to show a readable path through your site instead of a bare URL. More importantly, it tells Google the hierarchy of your content, that is, how sections and pages relate.

The same goes for types like Article, Product, Organization, Video and Review. These are not exotic; they are the basic vocabulary that gives a site context. And context is exactly what both classic search and the new AI layers built on top of it need.

What to do instead of chasing rich snippets

The practical shift is simple: stop optimizing for how the result looks and start optimizing for how well the content is understood. Concretely:

• Keep the FAQ markup if you like, but do not build a strategy on it. Google may not show it, but it does no harm and other systems may use it. Build a Q&A section for the reader, not for the snippet.
• Deploy the data types that genuinely match the page. A recipe as Recipe, a product as Product, and label the author and organization clearly. Validate them in the Rich Results Test.
• Work with entities, not just keywords. Link out via sameAs to Wikidata and authoritative sources, keep naming consistent, and build topic clusters with deliberate internal linking.
• Add breadcrumbs and clean information architecture. It helps both the reader and the machine understand where a page fits in the whole.
• Treat content quality as the main lever. Rich results come and go at Google’s discretion; well-structured, substantive content stays the stable investment.

Summary

Google removed FAQ and HowTo rich results, but it did not remove the value of structured data. That value simply moved from a visible ornament to the thing search and AI answers now stand on: machine understanding of content, entities and their relationships. Whoever builds a site for the snippet loses every time Google changes the rules. Whoever builds a clear, well-described site benefits across search and the new AI interfaces alike.

At DIGITAL WOLF we build content sites exactly this way: technical SEO, structured data and entity work are part of the content strategy, not an afterthought. If you are wondering whether your data gives Google and AI systems a clear signal, get in touch, we are happy to take a look.