Google Removing FAQ Rich Results: Will CTR Go Up or Crash?
For years, FAQ rich results helped websites dominate more SERP space.
More visibility.
More pixels.
More attention.
Often higher CTR.
But now that Google is reducing/removing FAQ rich results for most websites, the real question is:
What happens to organic CTR now?
Here’s the interesting part most people are missing:
CTR may actually drop for informational websites
Many publishers relied on FAQs to:
Increase SERP height
Push competitors lower
Pre-answer objections
Improve perceived authority
Without FAQs, listings become visually smaller and less differentiated.
Sites that heavily depended on FAQ expansion could see noticeable CTR decline, especially on mobile.
But some sites may benefit
FAQ removal also creates a cleaner SERP.
Users now:
Scan results faster
Face less visual clutter
Focus more on titles, brands, and snippets
This may increase clicks for:
Strong brands
Trusted domains
Pages with compelling titles/meta descriptions
In short:
Google may be shifting CTR advantage from “SERP formatting tricks” back to brand trust and content relevance.
The bigger concern: AI Overviews
The FAQ removal itself is not the biggest threat.
The real issue is:
Google is replacing expandable FAQ space with AI-generated answers.
That means:
More zero-click searches
Fewer reasons to visit websites
Higher importance of brand recognition
Websites that survive this shift will likely be the ones building:
Authority
Community
Unique insights
Multi-platform visibility
My prediction
The websites most affected will be:
Affiliate blogs
Generic informational sites
Low-brand-content publishers
The websites least affected:
Real businesses
Strong brands
Communities
Niche experts with topical authority
FAQ schema once helped win attention.
Now Google seems more focused on reducing SERP clutter and keeping users inside its own ecosystem.
The next SEO battle may not be about “ranking higher.”
It may be about becoming memorable enough to earn the click anyway.