On August 2, 2023, Google announced that it would be introducing changes to the visibility of FAQ and How-To rich results in search results. These changes are meant to make searching easier and more consistent for users. Here we have discussed all important Google updates.
Now, FAQ-rich results will only be shown for government and health websites that are well-known and trusted. Other sites will no longer show this rich result regularly. The eligibility of sites may automatically make them eligible for this treatment. The How-To rich results will now only be displayed on desktop devices. They will be replaced with text results for mobile devices.
Google may have made these changes because of these reasons:
- To enhance the relevancy of search outcomes. Answers to FAQ and How-To questions are not always as helpful as simple text answers, especially for more complicated questions. To reduce the amount of irrelevant information in search results.
- It can be difficult for users to find the information they need because FAQ and How-To rich results take up a lot of space. To ensure consistent search results.
- Users can get frustrated when the FAQ and How-To rich results don’t always show up. Reducing their visibility allows Google to ensure a consistent search experience for all users.
How will it affect the website owners, and how will it work?
- From now on, FAQ (from FAQ Page structured data) rich results will only be shown for government and health websites that are well-known and trustworthy.
- Other sites will no longer show this rich result regularly.
- You are free to remove this structured data from your site, but you are not required to do so. But adding a new FAQ to any page won’t give you any extra benefits.
- Rich results from How To structure data will only be shown for desktop users, and not for users on mobile devices.
- To achieve mobile indexing, Google utilizes the mobile version of a website as the basis for indexing. To display How-To rich results on the desktop, it is imperative that the mobile version of your website incorporates the appropriate markup.
- The metrics shown for FAQ and How-To search appearances in the performance report will show this, as will the number of impressions reported in the appropriate enhancement reports.
- The search appearances and reports will remain in the Search Console for now, but they will be merged with other data sources or removed.
- This update will be implemented globally, across all languages and countries, during the second, third and last week of August 2023.
- This isn’t a ranking update, so it will not impact non how to and FAQ results, but pages ranked due to them will be removed. The search data of these keywords related rank will show for now in the search console, but later may be merged with other data or removed. , and it won’t show up on the Search dashboard.
It is imperative to note that this modification does not imply that the value of FAQ and How-To-rich outcomes has diminished. Still, they can be a good way to provide users helpful information. But search results won’t show them as much anymore, so it’s important to make sure your content is still easy to read and helpful even without the fancy ones. If your website contains FAQs or How-Tos, you should still make sure to mark up your content with the appropriate structured data. Using this approach will help Google understand your content and may still result in your content being displayed in rich results, even if it is not as prominent as it used to be.
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