TL;DR: FAQ in Elementor with Yoast SEO plugin doesn’t work well together. Here’s the easy solution, including the Script code, so that Googlebots from GSC will love it.
Skip to summary
Why fixing the FAQ schema in Elementor and Yoast matters. In March 2022 John Mueller (Senior Search Analyst / Search Relations team lead @ Google) talked about how the search engine would be showing less results from FAQ sources on websites. Obviously, the SEO Gurus went into meltdown and said that FAQ was bad for search results.
Top tip: FAQ schema is fine to use, as long you use it in the right way. The Gurus just took what he said out of context.
As with all things SEO, write for your audience not bots. And if you see a so called SEO Guru spouting about Google leaks etc, take time to research what they say and how the original source used what they are trying to manipulate.
Fixing FAQ Schema in Elementor with Yoast
Last week we’ve been working with a new client on one of One Plan websites, which includes basic SEO. When we got an email from Google Search Console (GSC).
So you build your FAQ using the Accordion widget as you would do normally, at right at the very bottom of the Content >> Layout tab is this toggle
Leave it at <NO>. This may seem counter-intuitive, but all will become clear on how it conflicts with Yoast.
Next, select the HTML widget and what you need to do is add your questions and answers from your accordion in a way that Google crawlers can read them effectively.
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "FAQPage",
"mainEntity": [
{
"@type": "Question",
"name": "YOUR QUESTION 1 HERE?",
"acceptedAnswer": {
"@type": "Answer",
"text": "YOUR ANSWER 1 HERE."
}
},
{
"@type": "Question",
"name": "YOUR QUESTION 2 HERE?",
"acceptedAnswer": {
"@type": "Answer",
"text": "YOUR ANSWER 2 HERE."
}
}
// Add more questions and answers as needed
]
}
</script>
Next we move to the Yoast settings, underneath your content you’ll find the Yoast toolkit.
Next, go to Google’s Rich Results test tool, and paste in your website URL:
TL;DR: Step by Step FAQ schema in elementor and yoast guide:
1.Configure Elementor Accordion
Edit your page with Elementor
Select your accordion widget
Go to the widget settings
Find the “FAQ Schema” toggle (usually near the bottom of settings)
Turn this toggle OFF (set to “No”)
Update/save your page
2. Add Custom FAQ Schema via HTML Widget
While still in Elementor editor, add a new HTML widget to your page
Preferably place it after your accordion widget
This HTML widget will be invisible to users but readable by search engines
Keep each answer relatively concise
Maintain the exact structure of the JSON markup
Make sure each question has a “name” property
Make sure each answer has a “text” property
3. Configure Yoast SEO Settings
Edit the page containing your FAQ accordion
Scroll to the Yoast SEO section (meta box)
Click on the “Schema” tab
Set “Page type” to “WebPage” (not “FAQ Page”)
Save these settings
4. Update and Test
Update/save your page
Clear any cache (Elementor, WordPress, hosting, browser)
Test your schema using Google’s Rich Results Test tool:
Visit https://search.google.com/test/rich-results
Enter your page URL
Verify that your FAQ schema is detected without critical errors
5. Submit to Google Search Console
Go to Google Search Console
Request indexing of the updated page
Monitor for any structured data errors.
Sit back and enjoy your handy work whilst your readers benefit from you answering their questions in an efficient manner – which is what Jon Mueller was talking about.
