Is Google Search not returning rich results for your FAQ schema markup? Consider these three possibilities.
John Mueller, Google’s Search Advocate, offers three possible reasons why your FAQ schema markup does not generate rich snippets.
Google Search Central SEO office-hours hangout recorded on January 28 shared this information.
A site owner asks why Google isn’t displaying rich results for pages with FAQ schema markup.
Google Search Console doesn’t show any technical errors with the markup, so they are wondering if there might be non-technical reasons why rich results aren’t showing.
The site owner believes this could be a sign that Google does not trust the content on the site.
Is that possible?
Here’s Mueller’s response, including the three reasons Google won’t display rich results in SERPs.
Mueller states:
“FAQ rich results are essentially similar to other types of rich results in that we have several levels that we take into account before we show them in the search results.”
Technically Correct: Level One
The FAQ markup must first be implemented correctly on a technical level.
If there are any errors with how the markup is applied, you can check them using Search Console.
That’s unlikely to be the case here, as the site owner noted that there were no errors in Search Console.
“On the one hand they need to be technically correct. It sounds like these are technically correct.”
Compliant with policies: Level Two
Markup must also comply with Google’s structured data policies in addition to being technically correct.
In terms of FAQ markup, the only major rule is that the questions and answers should be visible on the page.
Mueller continues:
“On the other hand they need to be compliant with our policies. I don’t think we have any kind of significant policies around FAQ rich results other than that the content should be visible on the page.”
Level Three: Trustworthiness
The markup is technically correct, and in compliance with Google’s policies, but one question remains: Does Google trust the content?
According to Mueller, it’s likely that Google isn’t fully convinced of the quality of the website, so it won’t display FAQs in search results.
“And the third issue that sometimes comes into play here is we need to be able to understand that this website is kind of trustworthy in that regard that we can trust this data to be correct.
It’s sometimes something where, from a quality standpoint, we aren’t sure about a website and so we don’t show it. However, those are the three steps I would consider.
Technically correct. Does it comply with our policies? If all of that were true, I would think about what I could do to significantly improve the quality of my website overall.”””
The following are three possible reasons why Google doesn’t display FAQ snippets in search results:
- The markup isn’t implemented correctly from a technical perspective.
- Google’s policies do not allow the use of markup in this way.
- Your website is not considered high quality by Google, and it does not display rich results because it does not trust it enough.
Here is Mueller’s full response: