Fixing FAQPage Schema Errors

What FAQPage markup is, and who gets the rich result

FAQPage is a schema.org type for a page that lists questions written by the site owner, each with one answer, also written by the site owner. The markup is a list: one FAQPage whose mainEntity holds a Question for each question, and each Question holds an acceptedAnswer of type Answer.

Since August 2023 Google only shows the FAQ rich result, the expandable questions under a search listing, for well-known, authoritative government and health websites. For every other site the markup is still read and still valid, but the drop-down questions are not shown in Google Search. That change is why many site owners saw FAQ results disappear without touching their pages: nothing was broken, the display was withdrawn.

So why fix it at all? Because the markup is still used. Other search engines read it, AI answer engines use clear question-and-answer pairs when they quote a page, and a broken block is reported as an error in Search Console and in audits, which hides real problems among the noise. A clean, accurate FAQPage block costs nothing to keep and removes a warning from every report.

When FAQPage is the wrong type

• Visitors can post answers (a forum thread, a product question with customer replies): use QAPage, not FAQPage.
• A single question with several possible answers: that is a QAPage too.
• Advertising: Google does not allow FAQ markup used for advertising.
• The same FAQ repeated on many pages (a site-wide delivery FAQ in the footer): mark it up once, on the page where it lives, not on every page it appears.

The fields FAQPage needs

FAQPage has very few fields, and every one of them is required. A missing field is the most common error in audits and in the Rich Results Test.

Everything else is optional. Adding extra properties such as author or dateCreated to a Question does no harm, but it does not help the FAQ result either.

A correct block you can copy

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "How long does delivery take?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Orders placed before 2pm are sent the same day and usually arrive in 1 to 2 working days."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "Can I return an item?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Yes. You have 30 days to return an unused item. <a href=\"https://example.com/returns\">Start a return</a>."
      }
    }
  ]
}
</script>

Note the link inside the second answer: the double quotes around the address are escaped with a backslash (\"). Without the backslashes the JSON ends early and the whole block is unreadable.

The errors you will see, and what each one means

These are the messages the Rich Results Test, the Schema Markup Validator, Search Console and the Schema Debugger give for FAQPage, with the cause behind each one.

Fixing JSON that cannot be read

An unparsable block is worse than a missing field: the whole script is ignored, including any other types in the same block, such as your Organization or BreadcrumbList. Four mistakes cause almost all of them.

1. A comma after the last item

    { "@type": "Question", "name": "...", "acceptedAnswer": { ... } },
  ]      <-- the comma before ] breaks the JSON

JSON does not allow a comma after the last item in a list or the last field in an object. This happens most often when a question is deleted by hand and the comma before it is left behind.

2. Curly quotes

Word processors and some CMS editors turn " into “ and ”. JSON only accepts straight double quotes around names and values. Curly quotes are fine inside the text of an answer, but never as the quotes that open or close a value.

3. A double quote inside the answer

"text": "Use the "Returns" button on your account page."          <-- broken
"text": "Use the \"Returns\" button on your account page."        <-- fixed

4. A line break inside the text

A raw line break inside a value ends the string. Keep each answer on one line, or use <br> or <p> tags inside the text for breaks that should show.

Making the markup match the page

Google's rule is simple: every question and answer in the markup must be visible to the reader on the same page. Markup for content that is hidden, on another page, or different from what the reader sees is treated as misleading and can lead to a manual action that removes all rich results from the site.

• Collapsed answers are fine. An accordion that the reader opens with a click counts as visible content.
• Answers loaded later are a risk. If the answers only appear after a script calls an API, check the rendered page in the URL Inspection tool to confirm Google sees them.
• Shortened answers are a mismatch. If the page answer is three paragraphs and the markup has one sentence, bring them into line. The markup can use the whole answer.
• Old questions left in the markup after the page was edited are the most common mismatch. When you remove a question from the page, remove it from the markup too.

The fix, step by step

FAQPage inside a larger @graph

Many sites output one JSON-LD block with an @graph that holds the WebPage, Organization, BreadcrumbList and FAQPage together. That is fine, and it keeps everything in one place. Two points matter:

• Give the FAQPage its own @id, such as https://example.com/delivery#faq, so it is not confused with the WebPage node.
• Do not make the WebPage itself "@type": "FAQPage" and also add a separate FAQPage node; that is a duplicate.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@graph": [
    { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://example.com/delivery#webpage", "url": "https://example.com/delivery", "name": "Delivery" },
    { "@type": "FAQPage", "@id": "https://example.com/delivery#faq", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://example.com/delivery#webpage" },
      "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "...", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "..." } } ] }
  ]
}

Stopping it from coming back

• One source. Decide which tool outputs FAQPage across the site and switch the FAQ output off in every other plugin and theme.
• Escape at output. Generate the JSON with json_encode() or JSON.stringify(), never by joining strings, so a quote in an answer can never break the block.
• Test after updates. Theme and plugin updates are the most common cause of a new duplicate block. Re-run the Schema Debugger after each update on one page that has an FAQ.
• Edit the FAQ in one place. If the visible FAQ and the markup come from the same data, they cannot drift apart.