## TL;DR

Google retired HowTo rich results in 2023 and FAQ rich results in 2024-2026, so markup chasing those is dead effort. What still earns visual SERP treatment: Q&A markup on forum and Q&A pages, product and review markup where eligible, and TechArticle or Article markup that helps AI extraction even without a rich result. Spend schema effort where the SERP still rewards it, not on nostalgia.

```text
schema markup that actually moves CTR: Q&A, HowTo, FAQ
```

## Use this when

- You are deciding which schema types to implement on content pages
- Someone proposes FAQ or HowTo markup for rich results (check this first)
- You run Q&A or forum pages that qualify for Q&A rich results
- You want structured data that helps AI overviews and agents parse your pages

## Not for this skill when

- You need a from-scratch schema implementation tutorial (use schema.org docs)
- You want rich results for a type Google never supported
- Your pages have no eligible content for any rich result type

## Steps

1. Check what Google currently supports. Before writing any markup, verify the type still earns rich results in Google's current docs. Expected: no effort spent on retired types.

```
Checklist: search "Google search gallery" for the type.
If HowTo or FAQ: retired, skip. If Q&A on a Q&A page: eligible.
```

2. Implement Q&A markup on question pages. Mark up the question, accepted answer, and author data on forum threads and Q&A content. Expected: eligibility for the Q&A rich result with its expanded SERP display.

```
Page types: forum threads, Q&A pages, support questions with accepted answers.
Markup: Question with acceptedAnswer, author, datePublished.
```

3. Use Article or TechArticle for everything else. It wont buy a rich result, but it gives search engines and AI systems clean headline, author, and date metadata. Expected: better extraction by AI overviews and agent readers.

```
Markup: TechArticle with headline, description, author, datePublished, dateModified.
Keep it accurate: dates must match the visible page.
```

4. Validate before shipping. Run pages through Google's Rich Results Test. Expected: zero errors, and the test confirms which rich results the page is eligible for.

```
Tool: Rich Results Test on a sample of each template.
Fix errors at the template level, not per page.
```

5. Measure the CTR delta. Compare CTR for pages before and after eligible markup ships, using GSC. Expected: Q&A pages show a measurable CTR lift; Article markup shows extraction benefits, not CTR jumps.

```
Measure: CTR per template in GSC, 4 weeks before vs 4 weeks after.
Dont expect miracles: markup amplifies good snippets, it doesnt fix bad ones.
```

## Variant phrasings

### Does FAQ schema still work

No. Google removed FAQ rich results; the markup is harmless but buys nothing visible.

### HowTo schema rich results gone

Retired September 2023. Use TechArticle and put the steps in clean HTML instead.

### Best schema for developer content

TechArticle for articles and docs, Q&A for forum threads, SoftwareApplication or Product only where genuinely eligible.

## Why it happens

Google trims rich result types that get spammed or that clutter the SERP; FAQ and HowTo were both abused at scale, so they were cut. Q&A survived because it is hard to fake well and genuinely helps searchers. The lesson: schema is a contract where Google sets the terms, and the terms change. Build markup for types with current SERP payoff plus clean metadata for machine readers, and recheck the gallery yearly.

## Edge cases / pitfalls

- Markup on pages that dont visibly contain the marked-up content is a spam signal; keep markup honest.
- Review markup requires genuine reviews; fake review stars get manual actions.
- Googles gallery is the only source of truth; third-party "schema still works" posts age badly.
- JSON-LD in the head is the preferred format; microdata in the body works but is harder to maintain.
- Dont mark up every page with everything; irrelevant markup dilutes nothing but wastes your time.

## Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_LqxLyTvwYIbNLAM4g4BTAQ