Important Google update: reduced visibility of HowTo's and FAQs

Did you know that Google may make your FAQ and HowTo results less visible in search results? If your website relies on these rich results, this update could have significant consequences.

Google recently announced that they will reduce the visibility of rich results for FAQs and HowTos in their search results. This change will particularly affect the snippets of FAQ results and How-To results on desktop devices.

What this concretely means for businesses and organizations: If you have invested in comprehensive FAQ sections or HowTo instructions on your site, you may see a decrease in the number of clicks from Google Search. Only authoritative government and health websites will frequently be able to display rich FAQ results. The decision on which sites are allowed to show these results is algorithmically determined by Google.

However, Google emphasizes that there is no need to remove structured data from your site. While this data may not necessarily cause issues in search results, it will also not have visible effects.

For HowTos, there are also specific changes. Rich results related to HowTos will now only be visible to desktop users. If you want these results to be displayed on desktop, make sure that the mobile version of your website contains the correct markup.

These changes can have a clear impact on your website traffic. It is important to closely monitor your Google Search Console performance reports so that you can quickly identify any changes in clicks and traffic from Google Search.

Although this update does not affect the number of reported items in maintenance reports, it is crucial for webmasters and SEO experts to be aware of these changes and respond accordingly.

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