JSON-LD Rich Results 2026: What Google Still Shows

As of November 10, 2026, Google no longer shows FAQ rich results for any site. The feature stopped appearing on May 7, 2026, per Google's Search Central documentation changelog, and Google removed the FAQ docs on June 15, 2026. It is the latest cut in a cleanup that started with HowTo in 2023, took out the sitelinks search box in 2024, and cut six more types in 2025 (Google announced seven, then kept Book actions in a limited form). What still works is the list on Google's structured data search gallery: Article, Product, Review snippet, Breadcrumb, Organization, Local business, Video, Event, Recipe, Job posting, Software app and a handful of others. Below: a status table with dates and sources for every type, minimal JSON-LD for the five types most sites need, and a testing workflow that won't send you chasing a feature Google has already removed.

How we checked: the WOWHOW team read Google's search gallery, the Search Central changelog, the relevant Search Central blog posts and each feature's documentation page on November 10, 2026. Every status below links to the Google page it comes from. Where Google's own wording is narrower than "shown" or "retired", the table says so.

TL;DR

Retired: FAQ (May 7, 2026), HowTo (September 13, 2023), sitelinks search box (November 21, 2024), Course info, Estimated salary, Learning video, Special announcement, Vehicle listing, ClaimReview (phased out in 2025) and Practice problem (docs removed January 6, 2026).
Limited: Breadcrumbs show on desktop only, Book actions is restricted to large book providers, Dataset markup feeds Dataset Search rather than Google Search, and Event results require a physical venue.
Still documented: Article, Product (snippets and merchant listings), Review snippet, Organization, Local business, Video, Recipe, Job posting, Software app, Q&A, Discussion forum, Profile page, Education Q&A, Math solver, Carousel, Employer aggregate rating, Subscription and paywalled content and more.
Valid markup makes a page eligible. Google states plainly that it does not guarantee a rich result.

Rich result status in November 2026

The table sorts every type we could pin to a Google source. "Still shown" means the type sits in the current search gallery with a live documentation page. Dates are when the change took effect or, where Google gave no effective date, when it was announced.

Rich result type	Status	Date	Google source

| FAQ | Retired | May 7, 2026 | Changelog |

| Course info, Estimated salary, Learning video, Special announcement, Vehicle listing | Retired | Announced June 12, 2025; docs removed September 9, 2025 | Search Central blog |

Google's 2023, 2024 and June 2025 retirement posts each say the change does not affect ranking. The June 2025 announcement put it as "This update won't affect how pages are ranked." Losing a rich result changes how a listing looks, not where it sits.

What happened to FAQ rich results

FAQ went in two steps. On August 8, 2023, Google limited FAQ rich results to "well-known, authoritative government and health websites." For everyone else the accordion under the blue link disappeared that week. That restriction no longer matters: on May 8, 2026 Google added a deprecation notice saying the feature "will no longer appear in Google Search starting May 7, 2026," and on June 15, 2026 it removed the documentation entirely. Government and health sites lost it too.

You don't have to strip FAQPage markup out of your templates. Google's 2023 post said "there's no need to proactively remove it" because "structured data that's not being used does not cause problems for Search." The sitelinks search box post made the same point about unsupported markup: it "won't cause issues in Search, and won't trigger errors in Search Console reports." Remove it when you next touch the template, to keep your HTML lean. Don't schedule a sprint for it.

The visible FAQ section on the page is a separate question. It can still answer a reader's follow-up, and it still gives Google plain text to work with. Keep the content; just stop expecting a rich result from the markup.

Minimal JSON-LD for the types most sites need

Google recommends JSON-LD "if your site's setup allows it," per its intro to structured data. Each example below is the smallest block that meets the required properties on the linked Google page. Swap in your own values, and make sure the markup describes content a visitor can actually see on the page.

Article or BlogPosting

The Article docs say: "There are no required properties; instead, add the properties that apply to your content." These five are the ones most templates can fill reliably.

{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BlogPosting", "headline": "How to Replace a Bike Chain", "image": ["https://example.com/photos/chain-1x1.jpg"], "datePublished": "2026-11-10T08:00:00-05:00", "dateModified": "2026-11-10T08:00:00-05:00", "author": [{ "@type": "Organization", "name": "Example Cycles", "url": "https://example.com/about" }] }

BreadcrumbList

The only required property is itemListElement, an ordered list of ListItem entries, per the breadcrumb docs. Expect it on desktop results only.

{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Guides", "item": "https://example.com/guides" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Repairs", "item": "https://example.com/guides/repairs" } ] }

Product (product snippet)

Product snippets need a name plus at least one of review, aggregateRating or offers, per the product snippet docs. Stores that want merchant listing features should follow the stricter merchant listing requirements instead.

{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Product", "name": "Trail Pro Bike Chain, 12-speed", "image": "https://example.com/photos/trail-pro-chain.jpg", "offers": { "@type": "Offer", "price": 39.99, "priceCurrency": "USD", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock" } }

Organization

No required properties here either, per the Organization docs. Put it on your home page or About page.

{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Organization", "name": "Example Cycles", "url": "https://example.com", "logo": "https://example.com/logo-512.png", "sameAs": ["https://www.linkedin.com/company/example-cycles"] }

SoftwareApplication

Required: name, offers.price (use 0 for a free app) and either aggregateRating or review, per the software app docs. The rating has to come from real reviews shown on the page.

{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "SoftwareApplication", "name": "Example Route Planner", "operatingSystem": "Android", "applicationCategory": "TravelApplication", "offers": { "@type": "Offer", "price": 0 }, "aggregateRating": { "@type": "AggregateRating", "ratingValue": 4.6, "ratingCount": 812 } }

Wrap any of these in <script type="application/ld+json">. Our free schema markup generator builds Article, Product, Organization, BreadcrumbList, LocalBusiness, Event, Recipe and VideoObject blocks with a form and a one-click Rich Results Test link. It also still offers FAQPage and HowTo, which are valid schema.org but no longer produce Google rich results.

How to test without chasing dead features

Each tool answers a different question, so use them in this order.

Rich Results Test tells you which Google rich result types a URL or code snippet is eligible for. Google removes retired types from it: when Course info, ClaimReview and four others went, Google said they "will be removed from Search Console rich result reporting, the Rich Result Test, and the list of Search appearance filters." A retired type simply stops appearing in the test.
Schema Markup Validator checks "syntax and compliance of markup with schema.org standards," in Google's description. It does not check Google rich result types. Use it for types Google doesn't consume, or to catch a misspelled property.
Search Console rich result reports show errors and warnings for indexed pages, grouped by type. Google's docs suggest deploying a few pages first, checking them with the URL Inspection tool, then watching the relevant rich result status report after indexing.
Search Console Performance report, filtered by search appearance, is where you see whether a rich result actually earned impressions.

Then check the rest of the listing. Your title and meta description still do most of the work in a plain result, so preview them with the meta tags previewer. Our developer guide to meta tags covers the tags that matter next to your JSON-LD.

Eligible is not the same as shown

Google's structured data policies say it directly: "Google does not guarantee that your structured data will show up in search results, even if your page is marked up correctly according to the Rich Results Test." A clean test result means you passed the entry check. Whether the rich result appears for a given query depends on Google. Treat markup as a prerequisite and measure what happens in Search Console instead of assuming it.

The same page lists common reasons markup gets ignored, including "The content referred to by the structured data is hidden from the user" and markup that "is not representative of the main content of the page." Reviews have their own trap. Self-serving reviews are spelled out in the review snippet docs: LocalBusiness and Organization reviews only count from sites that review other businesses.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do FAQ rich results still work in 2026?

No. Google stopped showing FAQ rich results on May 7, 2026 and removed the documentation on June 15, 2026. The 2023 exception for government and health sites ended with it.

Will leftover FAQPage or HowTo markup hurt my rankings?

No. Google has said unused structured data does not cause problems for Search, and its HowTo, sitelinks search box and June 2025 retirement posts all say the change does not affect ranking. You can remove it whenever it suits you.

Which rich result types should a typical business site use?

Organization on the home page, BreadcrumbList on deep pages, Article or BlogPosting on posts, and Product, LocalBusiness, Event or SoftwareApplication where the page really is one of those things.

Is JSON-LD better than Microdata for Google?

Google says all three formats are equally fine when valid, but recommends JSON-LD because it is easiest to implement and maintain at scale.

Why doesn't my valid markup show a rich result?

Valid markup only makes a page eligible. Google does not guarantee display, and it skips markup that breaks its policies, such as markup describing hidden content or self-serving reviews.

Do breadcrumbs still appear on mobile?

No. Since January 23, 2025, Google shows breadcrumbs in the visible URL on desktop only. Mobile results show the domain. Breadcrumb markup is still supported.

Originally published at wowhow.cloud