In May, a client sent me a screenshot. Their Google listing used to have a stack of little dropdowns under it, questions and answers people could open without clicking through. Overnight, they were gone. Their question was simple: did we break something?
We didn’t. Google did, on purpose, for everyone. And the advice going around since then is mostly wrong.
Google killed the FAQ snippet, and everyone’s deleting their FAQs. That’s the mistake.
The dig
For a few years, FAQ schema was one of the easiest ways to take up more room in Google. Add the markup, and your listing could show two or three expandable questions underneath it. A lot of SEO advice was built around getting them.
Google started pulling back in 2023, limiting them to government and health sites. On May 7, 2026, they went away for everyone. The markup still validates in Google’s testing tool. It just doesn’t show anything in the results anymore.
The find
Yes, and here’s why deleting it is the wrong move.
Google’s own AI answers still lean on question-and-answer content. AI Overviews and AI Mode exist to answer questions, and a page that already pairs a question with a direct answer is the easiest thing for them to use. Google removed the snippet, not the appetite.
Google isn’t the only reader anymore, either. Microsoft has said structured data helps its AI understand content, and ChatGPT’s search draws on Bing. Perplexity reads it too. The FAQ that lost its Google dropdown is still doing work everywhere else.
And people still ask the same questions. What does it cost, how long does it take, do you work with businesses like mine. If your site answers them plainly, a person gets what they came for and an AI has something to quote. If it doesn’t, the AI quotes a competitor who did.
Keep the FAQ sections and the schema. They cost nothing and they still help everywhere except the one spot they used to show up.
Answer in the first sentence. The old trick was short answers to fit the dropdown. Now the goal is the answer first, then enough real detail that an AI picks your version over a generic one. Numbers, timelines, names.
Use the questions people actually ask. Not “what services do you offer.” The ones they type into ChatGPT. I keep a running list from real calls and that’s what goes on client sites.
Check who’s quoting you. Bing Webmaster Tools has a free AI Performance report showing which of your pages get cited in Copilot and Bing’s AI answers, and for which questions.
Stop chasing rich results. Google has removed HowTo results, trimmed others, and now this. Anything built to game the results page has a shelf life. Anything built to answer the question well keeps working.
This is the third year in a row Google has pulled a result type that SEO advice was built around, and the direction hasn’t changed: less decoration on the results page, more direct answers, more of it written by AI. The sites that keep showing up are the ones that were useful before the tricks existed.
It’s also why every site I build now ships with FAQ sections written for AI answers from day one. You can see how I approach that on the website design page, and the full list of what I check is in how businesses get recommended by ChatGPT.
The dropdown was never the point. Being the answer was. Keep your FAQs, answer in the first sentence, and write the questions your buyers actually ask.
Want to know if your site is being quoted? Send me your website and I’ll check the questions your buyers ask ChatGPT, tell you where you show up, and what I’d fix first. Takes me a day, no charge, and it’s me doing it, not a tool.
Sources: Google Search Central, structured data documentation and May 2026 update on FAQ rich results. Google Search Central, guidance on AI features in Search, 2026. Microsoft Bing Webmaster Blog, AI Performance report, 2026.
GiddyBrands is a senior-led branding studio in Charlotte, North Carolina, working with founder-led businesses across the US and abroad. No account manager layer, the person you talk to builds the work. The portfolio shows what that looks like in practice.
Yes. On May 7, 2026, Google stopped showing FAQ rich results in search for all sites. The schema still validates but no longer produces the expandable question-and-answer display.
No. FAQ content and schema still feed Google’s AI answers, Bing and Copilot, and ChatGPT’s search. The visible snippet is gone, but the content is still quotable and still helps visitors.
Yes. AI answer engines look for pages that pair a clear question with a direct answer. FAQ sections with the answer in the first sentence and specific detail remain one of the most citable formats on a website.
Bing Webmaster Tools includes a free AI Performance report showing which pages are cited in Copilot and Bing’s AI answers and for which questions. You can also ask ChatGPT the questions your buyers ask and see who it names.
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