Google limits FAQ rich results to a maximum of two per snippet
Google has confirmed that it made a change to show a maximum of two FAQ rich results per search result snippet in its search results. Previously, Google would show several FAQ rich results but over the past couple of days, SEOs began to notice[1] Google limiting them to two.
What are rich result FAQs. Web pages that have a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) that contain a list of questions and answers pertaining to a particular topic can markup the questions and answers with FAQ structured data[2]. Google may then show those FAQs in the search results snippets as illustrated below:
Limited to two. Now, Danny Sullivan from Google confirmed with me on Twitter[3] saying “Yes, we made a change recently that limits these to two maximum.” Here is what this looks like now:
More details. This change started to rollout yesterday, Mark Barrera first noticed it[4] and many since then confirmed seeing the limit. However, it does not yet seem fully rolled out globally yet because many are still seeing[5] more than two displayed, espesially outside of the US.
Google added FAQ rich results back in 2019[6] and a year later tightened some of the restrictions[7] on how it should be used.
Why we care. This means that your snippets that contain FAQ rich results may not be as long as previously. So your snippet real estate may be a bit smaller and take up less of the search results, leaving more room for others to show up higher on the search results page. At the same time, it may mean that if competitors were above you, you can show up higher on the page.
About The Author
Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick[8], a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable[9], a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry’s personal blog is named Cartoon Barry[10] and he can be followed on Twitter here.
References
- ^ to notice (www.seroundtable.com)
- ^ structured data (developers.google.com)
- ^ Twitter (twitter.com)
- ^ first noticed it (twitter.com)
- ^ still seeing (www.seroundtable.com)
- ^ back in 2019 (searchengineland.com)
- ^ tightened some of the restrictions (searchengineland.com)
- ^ RustyBrick (www.rustybrick.com)
- ^ Search Engine Roundtable (www.seroundtable.com)
- ^ Cartoon Barry (www.barryschwartz.org)
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