--- title: "Where FAQ schema works today — and where it doesn't" url: "https://mycommunitysync.com/faq-schema-where-it-works" community: "CommunitySync" description: "Google stopped showing FAQ dropdowns for regular websites in 2023. The modern payoff is AI answers, other engines, and your own readers — here's the honest picture." updated: "2026-07-22T15:53:31.68+00:00" --- # Where FAQ schema works today — and where it doesn't *Website Publishing* FAQ schema built its reputation on one visual: the expandable question-and-answer rows Google used to show right under a search result, making your listing twice as tall as your competitors'. That era is over, and a lot of SEO advice hasn't caught up. Here's where FAQ markup actually earns its keep in the AI-search era — and where it no longer does. ## The blunt part: no more Google FAQ dropdowns In 2023, Google removed FAQ rich results from its search pages for all but well-known, authoritative **government and health** websites. A community or real-estate site will not get FAQ dropdowns under its Google listing, no matter how perfect the markup — that's Google's policy, not a quality judgment on your content. Any guide, plugin, or consultant promising that visual today is working from an outdated playbook. So why does your site still mark up FAQs? Because the dropdowns were never the only audience — and the audiences that remain are growing. ## Where FAQ markup still pays ### 1. AI answer engines — the big one ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, and Google's own AI Overviews answer questions by lifting concise passages from pages they trust — with a citation. A cleanly marked-up Q&A is the most liftable unit of content on the web: the question states the intent, the answer is short and self-contained, and the markup certifies which is which. When an AI answer cites your page, that citation is the new click. This is the real reason to keep writing FAQs in 2026. ### 2. Google still reads it Losing the visual treatment didn't make the markup invisible to Google — it still parses structured data to understand pages. And the FAQ's *visible* text works on a second front: your question phrasing matches how people type long-tail searches and speak voice queries, which no amount of markup alone can do. ### 3. Other search engines Bing and smaller engines still read FAQ markup and occasionally show enhanced treatments. A minor audience compared to the two above — but it costs you nothing, since the markup is automatic. ### 4. Your actual readers The unglamorous winner. A visitor scanning your post with a specific question sees it named in the accordion, taps it, gets the answer — and stays instead of bouncing back to search. For a community site whose posts feed lead forms, the on-page FAQ is often the difference between a reader and a lead. ## Write answers machines can lift Since quotability is the modern prize, shape your FAQ for it: - **Use questions people actually ask** — [Find content gaps](/find-content-gaps) shows you real search demand instead of guesses. - **Keep answers self-contained** — two to four sentences that make sense with zero surrounding context. No "as mentioned above." - **Answer from the article** — an FAQ that contradicts or floats free of the page it sits on reads as filler to humans and machines alike. ## What this means in the builder You don't manage any of the markup yourself. Give a post an FAQ in its **TL;DR & FAQ** tab ([here's how](/post-tldr-and-faq)) and the page renders the visible accordion *and* emits the **FAQPage** markup from exactly those questions and answers — always in sync, because they're the same thing. Background on structured data in general: [What is schema markup](/what-is-schema-markup). ## Bottom line Don't write FAQs hoping for Google dropdowns — those ended in 2023. Write them because AI engines quote well-structured answers with your name attached, because question phrasing catches long-tail searches, and because a reader whose question gets answered sticks around. The markup rides along for free. ### Website Publishing - [Get your website into Google — Search Console and your sitemap](https://mycommunitysync.com/get-into-google-search-console.md) - [See what Google sees — your page's structured data](https://mycommunitysync.com/see-what-google-sees.md) - [Connect your social profiles to your website — for search engines](https://mycommunitysync.com/social-profiles-search-engines-connect.md) - [Why your site isn't in Google yet — and what actually moves it](https://mycommunitysync.com/why-your-site-is-not-in-google-yet.md) - [Optimize a page for search (SEO title, description, social image)](https://mycommunitysync.com/website-seo-basics.md) - [Set up redirects for moved or renamed pages](https://mycommunitysync.com/set-up-website-redirects.md) - [Set your website's favicon (browser-tab icon)](https://mycommunitysync.com/set-a-favicon.md) - [Delete and restore your website](https://mycommunitysync.com/delete-and-restore-website.md) - [Take your website live (and how fast changes appear)](https://mycommunitysync.com/take-your-website-live.md) - [Connect a custom domain to your website](https://mycommunitysync.com/connect-a-custom-domain.md) - [What is schema markup — and what your site adds automatically](https://mycommunitysync.com/what-is-schema-markup.md)