Google to SEOs: FAQ Off

Google has recently made some significant adjustments to its search results, particularly affecting the visibility of two types of rich results: HowTo and FAQ. These modifications are part of Google's ongoing efforts to refine the user experience and search results quality.

FAQ Rich Results: A Limited Presence

In the world of search, FAQ rich results have been a familiar sight, providing quick answers to common questions right in the search results page. Now Google has decided to reduce the prominence of FAQ rich results. These results will no longer appear regularly for most websites. Instead, Google will limit their display to authoritative government and health websites. This change is aimed at offering users a cleaner and more consistent search experience, but it does mean that other websites will see a decline in the visibility of their FAQ rich results.

HowTo Rich Results: A Shift to Desktop

The HowTo rich results, which offer step-by-step instructions for various tasks, are also undergoing a change. Google will now only display HowTo rich results on desktop devices. This means that users on mobile devices will no longer see these rich results in their search results. To ensure the presence of HowTo rich results on desktop, websites must still include the appropriate structured data markup on their mobile versions, as Google's indexing for desktop results is based on the mobile version of a website.

Structured Data: Is It Still Relevant?

So, if you have invested time and effort in implementing structured data for rich results, should you remove it? Google says that there's no need to proactively remove structured data that's no longer being used for rich results. While it won't cause any issues for search, it also won't have any visible effects in Google's search results either. In essence, structured data that's not used won't harm your site's performance, but it might not provide any obvious visual benefits either.

Global Rollout and Considerations

These changes are being rolled out globally over the course of a week. However, it's worth noting that a small number of rich results will still be shown as part of an experiment. While these adjustments might impact the visibility of your site's rich results, it's important to assess how they align with your overall SEO strategy. Google's focus on delivering a more refined search experience means that these changes are intended to benefit users by providing them with high-quality, relevant results from authoritative sources.