FAQPage schema: definition and its status in 2026

FAQPage is a type defined by schema.org for a page that contains a list of frequently asked questions and their answers. Each question is a Question item, and each answer is an acceptedAnswer. Site owners usually add it as JSON-LD in the page's HTML.

It is one kind of schema markup. The schema.org vocabulary itself still includes FAQPage. What changed in 2026 is how Google uses it.

A minimal FAQPage block looks like this:

{"@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [{"@type": "Question", "name": "Do you ship to Canada?", "acceptedAnswer": {"@type": "Answer", "text": "Yes, in 5 to 7 business days."}}]}

For years, Googlebot read this block and Google could show the questions as an expandable FAQ panel under the search result. That panel was a rich result.

The timeline, as of October 2026:

• May 2026: Google deprecated FAQ rich results (changelog entry dated May 8, effective May 7).
• June 15, 2026: Google removed the FAQPage documentation. The old doc URL now redirects to the changelog.
• August 2026: Search Console API support for FAQ markup was removed.

The scope matters. This retires FAQ markup as a Google rich result. It says nothing against writing clear questions and answers on a page. Those are content, and content is still read the normal way once a page is in Google's index.

FAQ schema was widely sold as a way into AI answers. The evidence does not support that.

• Google's guide to its generative AI features says you don't need new markup or machine-readable files to appear in Google Search, including its AI capabilities.
• Google's AI features page says eligibility for AI Overviews and AI Mode needs a page to be indexed and eligible for a snippet, with no additional technical requirements.
• Ahrefs' matched-control study of 1,885 pages that added schema found no major citation uplift on any platform, and AI Overview citations fell 4.6%.

One honest limit: every page in the Ahrefs study already had 100 or more AI Overview citations. Whether schema helps a page with zero citations get into the candidate set is untested, not refuted.

The move for a marketing lead is simple. Don't spend effort adding FAQPage markup for AI. Spend it on the things with evidence: making sure crawlers can reach the page, the content is in the HTML before JavaScript runs, and the page is indexed. If the specific facts buyers ask about (price, availability, terms) are stated plainly on a fetchable page, an engine has a sentence it can quote. For a fuller treatment, read FAQ schema and AI answers after the deprecation.

• "FAQ schema gets you cited in AI answers." No study shows this. Google says structured data isn't required for generative AI search.
• "The deprecation means FAQ pages are dead." It ends a display feature. Whether a Q&A page helps buyers is a separate question, covered in do I need an FAQ page to show up in AI answers.
• "You should delete your existing FAQ markup now." That isn't supported either. Google says existing markup does no harm. See will removing schema markup hurt my AI visibility.
• "Validated markup means AI reads your answers." Valid JSON-LD only proves the syntax is correct. It says nothing about whether a crawler fetched the page or an engine used it.

• Schema markup: the wider family of structured data FAQPage belongs to.
• Rich results: the search display features that structured data used to unlock.
• Indexing: the gate a page must pass before any Google AI feature can use it.
• Googlebot: the crawler that reads pages and markup for Google Search.

Does Google still read FAQPage markup at all? Google no longer shows FAQ rich results and removed the FAQPage documentation in June 2026. Search Console API support ended in August 2026. Google has said existing structured data does no harm, so leaving the markup in place is fine. Just don't expect it to produce a visible search feature or an AI citation.

Is FAQ schema the same as an FAQ page? No. An FAQ page is visible content: questions and answers a reader sees. FAQ schema is a hidden JSON-LD block that labels that content for machines. The May 2026 deprecation affected the markup's rich result. It did not affect the value, or lack of value, of the visible questions and answers themselves.

Should I add FAQ schema for ChatGPT or Perplexity? There is no evidence it helps. No engine documents a citation benefit from FAQPage markup, and Ahrefs' matched test found no major uplift from adding schema on any platform it tracked. For ChatGPT search, the documented requirement is letting OAI-SearchBot crawl the site and making sure your host or CDN doesn't block it.

Is the schema.org FAQPage type deprecated too? No. schema.org still defines FAQPage as a type. The deprecation was Google's decision to stop showing FAQ rich results in its search results. Other systems may still parse the vocabulary, but none of the AI engines covered in our evidence documents using it to choose which pages to cite.