Mueller's Latest: Changes in HowTo and FAQ Rich Results

Key Highlights of the Adjustments

These adjustments predominantly pertain to website owners utilizing FAQ and How-To structured data.

FAQ Rich Results

Going forward, FAQ rich results, derived from FAQPage structured data, will exclusively be displayed for well-established and authoritative government and health websites. For all other websites, the regular display of this rich result will cease.

Eligibility for this treatment may be automatically assessed based on specific criteria, so proactive removal of this structured data is not necessary. While unused structured data does not pose issues for Search, it also does not yield any visible impact on Google Search.

How-To Rich Results

How-To rich results, originating from HowTo structured data, will be accessible solely to desktop users and will no longer be accessible to mobile device users.

Please note that with mobile indexing, Google indexes the mobile version of a website for indexing purposes. To have How-To rich results appear on desktop devices, your website's mobile version must incorporate the requisite markup.

Alterations in Search Console Reporting

Both of these adjustments may also reflect in your website's Search Console reporting. Specifically, these changes will be observable in the metrics displayed for FAQ and How-To search appearances within the performance report, as well as in the impressions count detailed in the corresponding enhancement reports.

It's important to note that this update does not impact the quantity of items reported in the enhancement reports. Search appearances and reports will persist within Search Console for the foreseeable future.

Global Rollout and Impact

This update will be progressively implemented globally, across all languages and regions, over the next week. It is essential to understand that this update does not constitute a ranking alteration and will not be documented in the Search status dashboard.

Additionally, a minor holdback experiment will be conducted, so some users may not immediately observe these changes.