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Schema & Structured Data

Google drops FAQ rich results and cuts their Search Console data

(Updated ) 2 min read
Quoted from Google Search Central documentation changelog: FAQ rich result feature
Quote: Google Search Central documentation changelog

Summary

Google has stopped showing FAQ rich results, and it is switching off the reporting around them in stages. The last stage, in August, removes FAQ support from the Search Console API, so any dashboard or script that still filters on FAQ data needs changing.

Export the FAQ history while it is still available and remove FAQ references from API queries. When FAQ numbers fall to nothing, the feature has ended; it is not a traffic loss. FAQ markup can stay on the page.

Google stopped showing FAQ rich results in Search on May 7, 2026. The Search Central documentation changelog logged a deprecation notice on the FAQ structured data page the next day. The r/TechSEO thread that surfaced the notice turned into an argument about whether FAQ markup still matters. For most teams, the timetable for taking down the reporting matters more.

Google’s note, quoted in Search Engine Land’s coverage, sets out the shutdown in three steps:

WhenWhat Google removes
May 7, 2026FAQ rich results in Google Search
June 2026The FAQ search appearance, the FAQ rich result report, and FAQ support in the Rich Results Test
August 2026Support for the FAQ rich result in the Search Console API

The August step breaks reports quietly

Google gave the API two extra months and said why: “To allow time for adjusting your API calls.” Any dashboard, scheduled export, or internal script that pulls Search Console data through the API and filters or groups by the FAQ search appearance needs changing before August.

Google’s note does not say what an unchanged query will return after August. The safer assumption is that it either fails or comes back empty. A failure at least gets noticed. An empty result feeding a chart looks like a traffic problem, and nobody may connect it to a schema feature that ended months earlier.

Only the FAQ data from before May 7 is worth keeping. The rich result stopped appearing that day, so the FAQ search appearance should record nothing new afterward. That earlier data is the only record of how FAQ rich results performed on a site, and the Search Console interface drops the filter and the report in June.

The markup can stay

Search Engine Land’s piece says FAQ structured data can be removed or left in place, since other search engines may still process it. In the Reddit thread, u/WebLinkr, who started it, argued the schema is “clearly not being used” and can be left in. Another commenter, u/AngryCustomerService, replied that “not being used” and “not producing rich results” are not the same thing, because Google uses schema that produces no rich result.

Google’s notice removes a display feature and its reporting. Nothing in it makes existing FAQPage markup harmful, so removing the markup is a cleanup job with no deadline. Schema ROI: where structured data pays off in 2026 covers which types still earn their place.

What to do

  1. Check every Search Console API integration for the FAQ search appearance, including dashboard data sources, scheduled exports, and scripts. The Search Console API reference says to run a query grouped by searchAppearance to see which appearance values a property returns:
{
  "startDate": "2026-01-01",
  "endDate": "2026-05-07",
  "dimensions": ["searchAppearance"]
}
  1. Export the FAQ appearance history now. The interface loses the report and filter in June, and the API loses FAQ support in August.
  2. Remove the FAQ filter from every query that uses it before August, so the report keeps working instead of failing or going blank.
  3. Mark May 7 on any report that covers pages with FAQ markup, and watch those pages for a traffic change. A click-through dip there after that date most likely reflects the lost rich result, not a ranking problem.

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