What exactly are rich result types?
Rich result types, also known as rich snippets or rich results, are enhanced search results displayed by search engines like Google. They go beyond the traditional blue link and brief description by providing more visual and structured information to users directly in the search results. Rich results are designed to make search results more informative, visually appealing, and user-friendly.
Changes to HowTo and FAQ rich results
Google has implemented a change in which some rich result types are displayed in the search index. The visibility of FAQ and How-To rich results will be limited to desktop devices in order to provide users a more consistent results page.
Site Owners will notice this change in the coming months if they employ either FAQ or How-To structured data. If your site was displaying this information in the index previously it is now being limited to authoritative government and health websites. All other sites will not have these types of search results shown regularly.
While this structured data can now be removed from your site if you are no longer seeing them in the search results, Google has stated it is not necessary to remove it as it will not cause issues with the crawlers.
Changes in Search Console
Search console reporting will also be updated to reflect these most recent changes. The metrics shown for certain search appearances within the performance report and number of impressions via the enhancement reports will now be different.
This will not be considered a ranking change in Googles eyes if your FAQ or HowTo has been removed from the index so you will not see any ranking changes in search console for now.
If your company needs help addressing these changes or updating your site to be inline with the ever changing updates at Google contact our Organic Website Optimization Company today!
