Google changed several structured data rules that affect ecommerce in 2026. FAQ rich results ended, the review snippet guidelines gained a rule on fake reviews, and the merchant listing documentation added guidance on categories and sale dates. All four are recorded in Google's Search Central changelog.
FAQ Rich Results Have Ended
Google's changelog entry of 8 May says the FAQ rich result "will no longer appear in Google Search starting May 7, 2026." The documentation was removed on 15 June. Product page FAQ markup therefore no longer produces expandable answers in search results.
Google's notice doesn't say existing markup must be removed, and we wouldn't rush to strip it out. The visible FAQ is what matters: shoppers still ask the same pre-purchase questions, and clear answers on the page help conversion and give AI features something accurate to quote. What changes is the expectation, so don't report FAQ markup as a ranking or click win.
Review Rules: Fake and Undisclosed Incentivised Reviews
On 24 July, Google added a guideline to the review snippet documentation: don't include fake or undisclosed incentivised reviews on your page or in your markup. That covers reviews not based on genuine experience, and reviews given for a benefit without clear and prominent disclosure.
The stated consequence is a possible manual action, after which the structured data on the page is ignored, though the page can still appear in results. Other guidelines on the same page are worth auditing against your own templates:
- Review information must be about a specific item, not a category or a list of items.
- Multiple individual reviews need an aggregate rating.
- Marked-up reviews must be readable on the page.
- Don't aggregate reviews or ratings from other websites.
Category and Sale Dates in Merchant Listings
On 7 July, Google updated its merchant listing documentation in two ways. Product.category can now carry both merchant-defined text and Google-defined category codes, aligning with the feed attributes product_type and google_product_category. A new "Sale duration" section explains how to use validFrom, validThrough and priceValidUntil to set the effective range of a sale price, aligning markup with the feed attribute sale_price_effective_date.
A Short Audit
- Check any incentivised review programme (discounts for reviews, free product) is disclosed clearly next to the reviews.
- Confirm review markup on product pages describes that product only.
- Make sure category values in your markup match your feed.
- Put end dates on sale prices in both markup and feed, so expired prices don't linger.
The full picture of which types matter is in Schema Markup for Ecommerce, and the page-level fixes are in the product page SEO checklist.