FAQ Schema in 2026: Keep It, Rewrite the Answers

Google no longer shows FAQ rich results, but valid FAQ markup does no harm. Leave it in place and spend your effort rewriting the answers, which is where the value is.

SEO · 10 Oct 2026 · 9 min read

It's 8:40 on a Tuesday and you're parked outside a job in Stowmarket when the email lands. Your web person, or an SEO salesperson who found your site last week, says Google has killed FAQ schema and wants it stripped from every page. A quote is attached.

Say no to the quote. Google did drop FAQ rich results. But valid markup that matches the page is inert, and deleting it improves nothing. We build on Webflow and schema markup comes with every FutureProofs plan, so we aren't neutral, and you should read this with that in mind. We'll also say where removal is the right call.

Four things get settled here. What Google switched off. Whether to keep or remove your FAQPage markup. Whether it does anything for AI answers. And how to write answers that still make sense with the question stripped off.

What did Google actually switch off, and when?

Google stopped showing the FAQ rich result, the expandable questions that sat under a search listing. For most small business sites that feature had already gone in August 2023, when Google limited it to well-known government and health websites.

So a plumber in Sudbury or Colchester with a tidy FAQ block lost it years ago and probably never noticed. The "urgent" emails skip that bit. Your traffic didn't dip when the feature finally went for everyone, because it had stopped showing for you long before.

We haven't printed the exact dates for the later stages. They're in Google's Search Central documentation if you want them, and they matter far less than what you do next. We covered the change itself in our note on Google dropping FAQ rich results.

For the wider picture on what Google has been changing around AI search, read how Google AI Overviews affect Suffolk small businesses.

Should you remove FAQ schema in 2026?

Almost never. Valid markup that matches visible content is inert, and taking it out is real work with real risk for no gain.

FAQ markup was never what made a page rank. The only thing it bought you was the expandable result, and that's gone. Leaving the code in place costs nothing.

Removal is a careful edit to a template, not a button. The danger is breaking the code around it, especially where a theme or plugin wrote the markup into the page, and that's a high price for a tidy-up nobody will ever see.

When you should actually remove it

Three cases justify it. Hit one, act. Hit none, leave it.

1. It fails validation. Run the page through the validator (the steps are at the end of this post). If the errors can't be fixed cheaply, delete the block.

2. It describes questions that aren't on the page. Google's structured data guidelines say markup has to reflect what visitors can actually see, so markup for hidden or invented questions is a risk rather than a harmless leftover. Take the extras out.

3. A plugin generated it and the answers say things you wouldn't. Picture an auto-generated answer promising "free quotes within 24 hours" on a site where nobody agreed to that. If the markup makes a claim, you own the claim.

To see what structured data does across a whole site, not just FAQs, read why your website needs schema markup in 2026.

Does FAQ schema help AI Overviews and ChatGPT?

Nobody can honestly promise you an uplift. Nobody outside the platforms can say how they treat FAQPage markup. The markup does one narrow job: it labels which text is a question and which text is its answer.

That's a small clarity signal at most. Google's own documentation on AI features says you don't need special markup or special files to appear in them. And no one can guarantee inclusion in AI answers, whatever the pitch says.

So if someone quotes you a percentage uplift from adding FAQ schema, they're quoting a correlation. Sites that bother with schema tend to bother with everything else too.

What does seem to matter is whether your text can be lifted out and still be useful. A sentence that stands alone and carries a number is easier to quote, whether the reader is a person skimming results or an AI summary. We go deeper in our guides to answer engine optimisation for small businesses and how to get cited by ChatGPT in the UK.

How to rewrite FAQ answers so they can be quoted

Paste one of your answers into a blank document without its question. If it no longer makes sense, or tells a stranger nothing, rewrite it.

Most small business FAQ answers fail. They were written to fill the section, not to answer anyone.

The answer nothing can quote

Here's an illustrative pattern from trades sites:

How much does a bathroom fit cost? Every bathroom is different, so it's hard to give a price. Get in touch today and we'll talk through what you need.

Take the question away and nothing is left. No subject, no number, no timescale. A search engine can't quote it, and a customer learns nothing from it, so they ring someone who gives a figure.

The same answer, rewritten

Here's a before and after built from our own published pricing. The weak version:

Our pricing depends on your needs. Contact us for a quote.

And the rewrite:

FutureProofs website plans are from £189 a month for Starter, from £249 for Business and from £329 for Market Leader. There's no build fee and nothing up front, with a 12 month minimum and then monthly at the same price.

The second one names the subject, gives three numbers and states the terms. Paste it into an email and it still works. Our published plan prices are laid out in full if you want to see where those figures come from.

If you're a tradesperson, the structure transfers. Fill the slots with your own figures:

A [your job] in [your town] usually costs [your price range] and takes [your typical timescale]. [One condition that moves the price.]

We haven't printed a market figure for bathrooms or anything else, because we'd be guessing at yours. You know your range. Write it down.

The rules behind the rewrite

• Answer in the first sentence. Skip the warm-up.
• Name the subject inside the answer, so it works without the question above it.
• Include a number you could be held to: a price, a timescale, a distance.
• Keep it between 40 and 90 words. Shorter reads as evasive and longer buries the answer.
• Give each question its own heading, phrased the way a customer would type it.
• Take the questions from your own enquiries, because phone calls and contact form messages are a free source and they're the real thing.

A lot of FAQ sections get written from a keyword list instead, and it shows.

Which structured data types are still worth the effort?

The ones worth your money describe something checkable: a price, a date, a place. We can't tell you which types Google will show a result for next year, and the list changes, so check Google's structured data gallery before you pay for any of them.

Here's how we'd rank the common types for a small business.

If you run a shop, Product markup is the one most worth checking. For a service business, LocalBusiness and organisation markup is housekeeping. It won't make anything appear, but wrong details cause trouble. Our SEO service covers the markup alongside everything else on the page.

What you sell decides which pages matter. A website for a trades business needs service pages with real prices and areas covered long before it needs any FAQ markup.

When this advice is the wrong answer

Leave it and rewrite is the right default. It isn't a rule.

If your FAQ markup comes from a plugin that invents questions from your headings and you can't recognise the questions or the answers, fix it or remove it. That's the third removal case above.

A thin FAQ page needs real writing before it needs any markup. Three generic questions with three generic answers won't be rescued by code, and rewriting five answers well will do more.

And if your current site works, ranks and converts, leave the whole thing alone. Don't switch platforms or pay for a rebuild because Google changed a rich result. If you only serve one town and already rank, this change gives you no reason to hire us or anyone else.

When the site itself is the problem rather than the FAQs, that's a different conversation. Our web design in Bury St Edmunds page is where it starts.

Frequently asked questions

Did Google remove FAQ rich results?

Yes. Google no longer shows the FAQ rich result, the expandable questions under a listing. Most small business sites had already lost it in August 2023, when Google limited it to well-known government and health sites. If your listings haven't shown expandable questions for years, the latest change took nothing from you.

Should I remove FAQ schema from my website?

Usually not. Valid markup with visible questions is harmless, and taking it out gains you nothing. Remove it if it fails validation, lists questions that aren't on the page, or came from a plugin making claims you wouldn't. Otherwise leave it alone and put your time into rewriting the answers.

Does FAQ schema help with AI Overviews and ChatGPT?

Nobody outside the platforms can say how they treat FAQPage markup, so any promised uplift is a guess. Google says AI features need no special markup. The markup only labels which text is a question and which is the answer. Clear, self-contained answers with real numbers are the better bet, and human readers like them too.

Is FAQ schema still worth adding to a new page in 2026?

Optional at best. With no rich result to win, the markup is a tidy label and little else. If your site builder adds it automatically and it validates, fine. If you'd be paying someone to add it, spend that money on answers worth quoting. Write the page first and treat the markup as a bonus.

Will keeping FAQ schema hurt my Google rankings?

Valid markup that matches what visitors can see won't hurt you. It was never what made a page rank, and unused markup isn't a penalty. The risk comes from mismatches, such as markup for questions that aren't on the page or answers that overstate what you offer. Fix those and the rest can stay where it is.

How do I check whether my site has FAQ schema?

Open the page, view the source and search for "FAQPage". If it turns up, you have the markup. To test it, paste the page address into validator.schema.org and read any errors it reports. That checks the markup itself, not whether Google shows a result for it.

What to check on your own site this week

Set aside about half an hour. You won't need a developer for the first four steps.

1. Find out whether you have FAQPage. View the source of your FAQ page and search for "FAQPage".

2. Validate it. Put the page address into validator.schema.org and check that it reports no errors.

3. Confirm every question is visible. If the markup lists one you can't see on the page, that's a removal case.

4. Read each answer cold. Copy it into a blank document without the question and see if it still makes sense.

5. Fix the worst three first, starting with price, timescale and the area you cover. Those are the questions customers ring about.

Then ask your web person to hold the removal quote. If a plugin turns out to be the problem, that's the one job worth doing.

Send us your FAQ page and the towns you cover through the contact form. We'll tell you which questions are missing, even if you never hire us. If you'd rather see numbers first, the three plans are on the pricing page, with schema markup and ongoing SEO included from £189 a month.

Written by the FutureProofs team in Suffolk. Updated October 2026.