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Google recently announced that it would be rolling out changes to how-to-rich and FAQ-rich results. The changes are intended to provide users with cleaner results and a more consistent experience when they conduct searches.
What Are Rich Results?
Google Rich Results prominently feature certain types of content and help drive extra traffic to websites. Publishers have to create extra content and structured data to trigger rich results.
What’s Changed?
Under the new policy, FAQ-rich results will only be shown for government and health websites that are well-known and considered authoritative. FAQ rich results won’t be regularly shown for other websites that don’t meet those criteria.
If you don’t operate an authoritative government or health website, you can remove FAQ rich data from your website, but you don’t have to. Leaving that structured data as is won’t cause problems or have any visible effect in Google Search.
Google has also decided to stop displaying how-to rich results. The company initially stated that the change would only apply to mobile versions of websites, but it later issued an update that said the change would also apply to desktop versions.
The updates were rolled out around the world and affect all countries and websites in all languages. Google noted that these changes should not be considered a change in ranking.
What Does This Mean for You?
If you’re impacted by these updates, you’ll most likely see changes when you review your website’s Google Search Console reporting. Pay particular attention to your performance report’s metrics for FAQ and How-To search appearances and the number of impressions listed in your enhancement reports. You shouldn’t see a difference in the number of items reported in your enhancement reports.
Get Professional Help with Your Company’s Website
It can be difficult to understand how Google’s search algorithm works and how changes like the ones that were recently announced can impact your business. At Keyword Performance, we stay on top of updates and trends to provide our clients with the best results possible. We can explain what these recent changes mean and work with you to help your company thrive in an ever-changing landscape.
Our team can create original content for your website, update existing content, and suggest ways to make your website more user-friendly, increase traffic, and boost conversions. We work with companies of varying sizes in a wide array of industries. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your business.
