A new article on Search Engine Journal reports that FAQ rich results will now get limited to 2 FAQs per page. That update to the rich results is still in the process of rolling out.
Google's very own Danny Sullivan confirmed that search results showing FAQ structured data are now limited to only two results. He tweeted that the company has limited FAQ rich results to two per web page:
FAQ structured data is a way to become eligible to show FAQ content in Google's SERPs. This kind of rich result dates back to May 2019. For instance, a FAQ page on an e-commerce site might provide answers on shipping destinations, purchase options, return policies, and refund processes. FAQPage structured data makes your content eligible to display these questions and answers directly on Google Search. The initial rollout generated both praise and criticism, depending on whether or not the SEO concerned was benefiting from FAQs. Google originally showed up to ten FAQs at a time. One SEO (@brodieseo) tweeted a screenshot of how much the FAQs dominated the search results:
Lily Ray (@lilyraynyc) also tweeted her mixed feelings about the new FAQ rich results:
|
"I feel a little awkward complaining about organic results taking up too much space."
|
So, back in the summer of 2020 the search marketing community noticed that there were fewer FAQ structured data rich results showing in the SERPs. Google's John Mueller answered a question about the seeming disappearance of FAQ rich results:
|
"With regards to FAQ markup in general, one of the things that I've noticed people talking about online is that we're showing fewer of these in the search results. And that's something from my point of view, that's kind of natural development, where we try to find the right balance between showing these everywhere and showing these for pages where it kind of makes more sense ...So we have to kind of fine tune which ones, which queries, which pages we would be showing the FAQ rich results type for."
|
Then, in another Google office hours hangout in May 2021 someone else asked Mueller what was going on with the FAQ Rich Results. The person Asked if the structured data still worked, and Mueller answered that Google was still showing the FAQ rich results and that it's undergoing the normal process of updating the various features and results to make sure that the rich results are useful.
|
"What usually tends to happen with some of these structured data types or rich results types is that over time we try to fine tune how often we show them just to make sure we're not overloading the search results with all of these... bling and extra functionality that just confuses people in the end."
|
You're Up to Date
So, that's the saga so far. Now, Danny Sullivan has announced on Twitter that Google is limiting FAQ rich results to just two FAQs per web page instead of the previous ten FAQ entries per web page. Someone asked him if it was in response to SEOs "gaming" Google. Sullivan responded that no, it's not a response to anyone gaming the FAQ rich results:
