New to Google: FAQ and How-to Structured Data

28 Jan, 2020 Technical

In May, Google announced that it will support Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) page schema and How-to structured data on Google Search and Google Assistant. FAQ page schema can be used on traditional FAQ pages on your site but can also be used on “money” pages, or pages that have high traffic. 

It’s ultimately up to Google whether it will display the new format or not but by implementing schema markup, the search engine results page (SERP) may display an expandable menu with the questions you added within the code. When you click on each question, it expands and reveals the answer. This markup can be implemented in a variety of ways and here is an example of how it can be displayed on the SERP:

To be eligible for FAQ results on Google, your page must follow a strict set of guidelines that can be found here. Google seems to be rewarding websites which are utilizing FAQ page schema, since it gives the algorithm more information about what you do while also allowing the user to navigate valuable content pertaining to their original search query, all while never leaving the SERP. However, it’s important to note that implementing FAQ page schema that adheres to Google’s guidelines does not guarantee placement on page one – The algorithm still tailors results to create what it thinks is the best experience for the user.

Some examples of how Google displays FAQ page schema are below:

Here’s an example of FAQ page schema that we implemented on one of our client sites:

While implementing the FAQ markup may not guarantee higher rankings, it can help capture more visual space on the results page by offering a searcher more questions/answers directly related to their query. This seems to attest to Google’s ever-constant goal to continue to increase user experience and engagement on the SERP, itself.