The FAQ rich result was the expandable question-and-answer block Google used to show under a listing. Google’s documentation changelog records that it stopped appearing on 7 May 2026 and that its documentation was removed on 15 June. An FAQ block written in 2024 to win that feature was written for something that no longer exists.
The same block can still be quoted by an assistant, as text. This post is about which questions to write into yours, which to cut, and where the markup still fits.
The rich result is gone, and Google’s changelog says when
The changelog entry for 8 May 2026 reads: “Added a deprecation notice to the FAQ rich result documentation”, because “This feature will no longer appear in Google Search starting May 7, 2026”. The entry for 15 June reads: “Removed documentation for the FAQ rich result feature”. The old documentation address now redirects to that entry.
For generative features, Google’s July 2026 guide is direct: “Structured data isn’t required for generative AI search, and there’s no special schema.org markup you need to add”.
What Bing says the block is for
Microsoft’s guidance for Bing and Copilot, from October 2025, describes the mechanism the block now serves. “Direct questions with clear answers mirror the way people search. Assistants can often lift these pairs word for word into AI-generated responses”.
Bing’s February 2026 announcement of its AI Performance report says the same from the reporting side. “Clear headings, tables, and FAQ sections help surface key information and make content easier for AI systems to reference accurately”.
Word for word is the standard. A pair that can’t be lifted intact gets paraphrased. A paraphrase is where errors enter.
Put in: the question a buyer asks before they email you
We keep 3 or 4 questions per page. Each one is a question we’ve been asked or would ask. The free check page asks “Why is it free” and answers with the number: “The first fifteen reports are how we build the examples for this service”. The case study page asks “Who approves the numbers” and answers “The customer does, in writing, before anything is published”.
The test for a question: would your buyer type it into an assistant before contacting you. Price, timing, what’s included, whether you work with companies their size, what happens when something goes wrong. If the honest answer is unflattering, that is the question most worth including. The assistant will answer it anyway, from somebody else’s page.
Put in: an answer that stands alone in 2 sentences
The first sentence answers. The second gives the number. Our rates page answers “Can we pause a monthly package” with “Yes, before the next cycle starts” and then “There is no minimum term and no penalty”. Lift that pair out. Nothing is lost.
A number belongs in the answer where one exists. The answer “five working days from outline approval” is quotable. “Quick turnaround” is not. A date belongs there when the answer can change: a price, a policy, a limit. Our own answers run to 3 sentences on a few pages, and not every first sentence carries a number, so a few of ours fail the rule as written.
The answer should also agree with the rest of your site. Google’s guidance for AI features asks for “Making sure your structured data matches the visible text on the page”. An FAQ that says $149 next to a price table that says $179 is 2 claims. The assistant may pick either. So may your buyer.
Cut: the accordion, the definitions, the duplicates
Bing’s document names the first mistake: “Don’t hide important answers in tabs or expandable menus”. An accordion that opens on click hides the text from the assistant, which reads like any other visitor who never clicked. If the design needs it, the answer text has to be in the HTML with the question rather than loaded on click.
Cut your “what is” questions, the ones that define your own category. They read as filler to a buyer who already knows the category, and they compete with every glossary page on the web for the same sentence.
Cut questions that repeat the body of the page. If the page already says the price 3 times, “How much does it cost?” adds a fourth copy and no information. The block is for what the page above it didn’t say to your reader.
Keep the markup where it mirrors the text
FAQPage markup is the code version of the questions, invisible to readers. Our service pages carry it. It’s generated from the same text the reader sees, and we’re keeping it. Google says it isn’t needed for generative AI search, and the rich result it once earned is gone. But it costs nothing when it mirrors the visible text, and Bing’s guidance from October 2025 still describes schema as code that “helps search engines and AI systems understand your content”.
The rule we’d give a client: markup that mirrors visible text is fine. Markup that carries questions the page doesn’t show is a liability. Google’s condition is the text match. Meet it. The schema is then harmless at worst.
A 4-question block takes an hour
List the 10 questions your buyers send you. Pick the 4 they’d type into an assistant. Write each answer in 2 sentences with a number in the first. Put the block in the page as text, no accordion. Check the numbers against every other page that states them.
That’s the block on each of our service pages, at 3 or 4 questions, and it’s the format the AI citations article delivers as standard. If you’d rather see first whether an assistant is quoting anyone’s FAQ for your questions, run the free check. It records which pages are cited today, yours and your competitors’.