Definition
FAQ schema is structured data of the FAQPage type (schema.org) that marks up the questions and answers on a page in a machine-readable way. Each question becomes a Question with an acceptedAnswer, usually as JSON-LD in the head. Search engines and AI systems can then see which question belongs to which answer without guessing.
For years, FAQ schema produced expandable questions beneath your search result, taking up a lot of SERP space. In August 2023, Google restricted that rich result to authoritative government and health sites; for most sites the visible FAQ enhancement has been gone since. That does not mean the schema became useless. Google still reads it and uses it to understand content, and answer engines benefit from it directly.
For GEO, an FAQ block with matching schema is one of the most quotable structures you can build. A question as a heading with a direct answer of two to four sentences beneath it is exactly the form in which ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews assemble their answers. The schema confirms that structure for machines that do not fully render the HTML. Questions that literally match how customers phrase them get picked up most often.
Google's rules are strict: the questions and answers must be visible on the page, written by you (no user-generated questions on a forum), not abused for advertising or promotional purposes, and not repeated across multiple pages. One FAQ block per page, with questions specific to that page, is the norm. A generic FAQ pasted everywhere counts as duplicate content and helps nothing.
Write the answers to stand alone: a reader or a model that sees only that answer should understand it without the rest of the page. Name the entity in the answer rather than saying 'it' or 'this'. Traze adds an FAQ built from real search and AI questions to every page it writes, and publishes the FAQPage schema automatically alongside it.