Google updated its guidelines for the use of FAQ structured data with recommendations regarding repetitive content.
The following line has been added to Google’s developer document for FAQ structured data:
“If you have FAQ content that is repetitive on your site (meaning, the same question and answer appear on multiple pages on your site), mark up only one instance of that FAQ for your entire site.”
This change was spotted by Kenichi Suzuki who shared the information on Twitter.
Presumably, Google added the new line about marking up repetitive content to prevent sites from hogging up too many spots in the SERPs.
Suzuki shared examples of suspicious use of FAQ structured data by Expedia:
e.g. Expedia looks suspicious. pic.twitter.com/PYYzYoWKUM
— Kenichi Suzuki💫鈴木謙一 (@suzukik) February 28, 2020
In these examples you can see how the same questions about Tokyo are marked up on several different pages. Using FAQ structured data in this manner goes against Google’s new guidelines.
Instead, those questions about Tokyo should only be marked up once. Ideally on a page dedicated to questions about Tokyo.
If the same question must be included on multiple different pages, site owners should refrain from marking it up every time it appears.
Repeated violations of Google’s structured data guidelines may result in a site losing its eligibility to appear in featured snippets.
For more information about correct and incorrect uses of FAQ structured data, see Google’s documentation here.
