SERP Features 2026: Winning Sitelinks, Video and FAQ Space

As of 30 September 2026, you can influence some SERP features but not all of them. FAQ rich results no longer appear in Google Search (Google's notice says from 7 May 2026), sitelinks are fully automated, and video results depend on indexed watch pages plus optional structured data. The practical playbook is to fix your site structure, give every video its own page, and stop spending time on markup that no longer produces a visible result.

Key Takeaways

• Google's FAQ rich result feature was deprecated and removed in May 2026, and its documentation was taken down on 15 June 2026. Leaving old FAQ markup in place does no harm, but it no longer earns extra SERP space on Google.
• Sitelinks cannot be requested. Google says its systems analyse your link structure, so the levers are clear titles, logical navigation and concise internal anchor text.
• Video results require the watch page to be indexed and the video to be visible in the rendered HTML. Key moments come from Clip or SeekToAction markup.
• Featured snippets cannot be marked up; Google decides. You can only make a page easy to lift from.
• Feature stacking costs clicks. Advanced Web Ranking's July 2026 study found that pages sharing a SERP with an AI Overview plus People Also Ask plus videos lost far more CTR than with an AI Overview alone.
• Audit your own target queries before choosing a feature to chase. The feature worth winning is the one that actually shows for your keywords.

The news: FAQ rich results are gone

I still see agencies quote "add FAQ schema to win more SERP space" in proposals. That advice expired this year. According to Google's own FAQ documentation, the FAQ rich result "will no longer appear in Google Search starting May 7, 2026". A deprecation notice went up on 8 May 2026, and the documentation was removed on 15 June 2026. Google also removed FAQ support from Search Console rich result reporting, the Rich Results Test and the Search appearance filters.

Two things follow.

1. Do not rip out existing markup in a panic. Google's guidance says keeping it does no harm, and other search engines or services may still read it. Removal is optional housekeeping, not a fix.
2. Do not sell FAQ schema as a ranking or SERP-space tactic. If a proposal on your desk lists it as a deliverable with a promised visibility gain, ask what it is meant to achieve.

The FAQ content still has value. Question-and-answer sections match how people search and how AI answer engines extract passages. I keep a FAQ on every post I write for that reason, not for a rich result. If you want the wider picture of what AI systems lift from pages, my write-up on featured snippets covers the extraction side.

Which SERP features are actually worth your time

Not every feature is winnable, and not every feature is worth winning. Here is how I sort them.

The order matters. Start from the query set, not the feature list.

Step 1: Audit what your queries actually show

Before you optimise anything, open your ten most valuable non-branded queries in an incognito window and note which features appear. Do the same on mobile, because Advanced Web Ranking's study reported desktop and mobile moving in opposite directions in 2026 (desktop position 1 CTR falling from 45.6% in February to 14.6% in May, mobile rising from about 30% to 39%, on its methodology). Treat those as one vendor's estimates, but the direction of the advice holds: check the device your audience uses.

Record for each query:

• Is there an AI Overview?
• Is there a video pack or video carousel?
• Is there a featured snippet or People Also Ask block?
• Do sitelinks show under the top result?
• What is your current position and CTR in Search Console?

Ten queries, five columns, under an hour.

Step 2: Sitelinks, the feature you earn rather than request

Google's documentation is blunt: sitelinks are fully automated, and you cannot directly control which appear. If you want one gone, you delete the page or apply noindex. What you can do is make your structure easy to read.

What I check on client sites:

• Titles that are compact and distinct. If five pages share nearly identical titles, none of them looks like a useful shortcut.
• Navigation that mirrors the real hierarchy. Google says it wants a logical site structure that is easy to navigate.
• Internal links from relevant places with concise anchor text. "Pricing" beats "click here to see our plans and pricing options".
• No duplicate content across sections. Google lists avoiding repeated content among its practices.

Sitelinks mostly appear for branded or navigational queries. If you are a small site with no brand searches yet, do not expect them. When I worked on social and content growth for Masai School, brand demand was the thing that changed how the brand looked in search, not any markup change. Sitelinks follow brand strength; they do not create it.

Step 3: Video, where the rules are technical and concrete

Google's video guidance is more actionable than most SERP feature documentation. The requirements I work from:

• The watch page must be indexed. Google says the page needs to be indexed and performing in Search before its video can be considered.
• The video must be embedded in the page and not hidden behind other elements, using standard HTML elements such as <video>, <iframe>, <embed> or <object>.
• It must appear in the rendered HTML. If JavaScript loads it, check with the URL Inspection tool that the rendered page shows it. Do not rely on a click to load it.
• Use a valid thumbnail at a stable URL, and stable URLs for the video file.
• One dedicated watch page per video where possible, rather than five videos stacked on one page.

Key moments

For key moments, Google's documentation gives two options: Clip structured data, where you specify timestamps and labels yourself, or SeekToAction, where you define the URL pattern that lets Google identify timestamps automatically. For a tutorial video with clear chapters, I write Clip entries by hand. It is ten minutes of work per video.

Previews

If you want video previews in results, allow Google to fetch the video file and use max-video-preview to control how much of it can be shown.

A note on YouTube

If your videos live on YouTube, the YouTube page usually competes with your own watch page. Decide which one you want ranking. For a service business, I embed the video on a dedicated page on the main site and give the page a text summary and transcript, so the site page has independent value.

Step 4: Featured snippets and AI Overviews are one workflow

Google says you cannot mark a page as a featured snippet; its systems decide whether a page would make a good one and elevate it. So the only lever is the page itself. A direct 40-to-60-word answer under a question-style heading, followed by supporting detail, is the pattern I use. I go deeper on that in how to still win featured snippets.

The same structure helps in AI Overviews, but be careful with claims. One roundup of studies reported that cited sites see higher CTR than uncited ones on the same SERP, but those figures come from third-party syntheses, so treat them as directional and check your own Search Console data.

The stacking problem: more features, fewer clicks

Advanced Web Ranking's July 2026 study (US SERPs, desktop) found that position 1 averaged a 20.02% CTR overall but 9.69% when an AI Overview was present, a 52% decline. It also reported that stacking features compounds the loss: an AI Overview plus People Also Ask plus videos was associated with an 81% CTR drop, and a local pack plus an AI Overview with 97%. Those are the vendor's estimates from its sample, not universal laws.

What this means for strategy: winning a feature does not always mean winning clicks. If a SERP is crowded, your title and description have to do more work. I cover that in my post on CTR benchmarks under AI Overviews.

Step 5: Structured data that still earns something

Structured data is not dead. Google says it does not guarantee rich results even with correct markup, and that markup must follow its quality guidelines and represent visible page content. Keep to these rules:

• Use JSON-LD, the format Google recommends.
• Validate with the Rich Results Test, and monitor the relevant Search Console reports.
• Only mark up what users can see on the page.
• Prioritise types with a visible payoff for your content, such as video, product, review snippets where eligible, articles and breadcrumbs.

If you are unsure whether a type is still supported, check Google's current search gallery documentation rather than a blog post, including this one. This area changed in 2026 and may change again.

A one-week SERP feature sprint

Here is how I would run this for a small site:

1. Day 1: run the ten-query audit on desktop and mobile.
2. Day 2: list which features appear and which you hold; ignore the rest.
3. Day 3: rewrite titles and internal anchors on pages you want sitelinks for.
4. Day 4: give each priority video a watch page, thumbnail and transcript; add Clip markup.
5. Day 5: add a direct answer paragraph at the top of your ten target pages.
6. Day 6: validate structured data; remove any promises about FAQ rich results from internal docs.
7. Day 7: annotate the date in your analytics and re-check impressions and CTR in Search Console after four weeks.

FAQ

Do FAQ rich results still work in Google Search?

No. Google's documentation says the FAQ rich result no longer appears in Google Search starting 7 May 2026, and the documentation was removed on 15 June 2026. Existing markup does no harm, but it will not produce an expandable result on Google.

Should I delete my FAQ schema?

You do not have to. Google says leaving it in place will not cause harm, and other search engines or services may still use it. Remove it only if it is cheap to do so or if it creates maintenance work.

Can I choose my sitelinks?

Not directly. Google describes sitelinks as fully automated, based on analysing your site's link structure. You can remove one by deleting the page or using noindex, and you can improve the odds with clear titles, logical navigation and concise internal anchors.

How do I get video results for my pages?

Make sure the page hosting the video is indexed, embed the video with standard HTML so it shows in the rendered page, and provide a valid thumbnail at a stable URL. Adding video structured data or a video sitemap helps Google understand the content, though Google does not guarantee any result.

How do I get video key moments?

Google supports two routes: Clip structured data with timestamps and labels you define, or SeekToAction with a URL pattern that lets Google find timestamps. Handwritten Clip markup is easier to control for short tutorials.

Can I mark up a page to get a featured snippet?

No. Google says its systems decide whether a page makes a good featured snippet. You improve the odds by writing a direct answer under a clear heading, with supporting structure below it.

Do more SERP features mean more traffic?

Not necessarily. Advanced Web Ranking's July 2026 US desktop study associated stacked features with steeper CTR losses. Winning a feature helps most when the query would otherwise show no feature at all.

How often should I audit SERP features?

Quarterly is enough for most small sites, plus after any major Google announcement. Note the date of each audit, because layouts vary by device, location and query.

Is structured data still worth doing?

Yes for types that still produce visible results and for helping search engines understand your content. Follow Google's rules, validate with the Rich Results Test, and do not expect markup alone to guarantee a rich result.

Work with me

I am Younus Fardeen, an organic growth, SEO and content strategist with 4+ years of marketing experience across edtech and startups. If you want a straight audit of which SERP features matter for your queries, and a plan that does not depend on tactics that expired, have a look at my work and send a message through the contact form at https://younusfardeen.in.

Sources: Google Search Central documentation (FAQ rich result deprecation, sitelinks, video best practices, structured data guidelines, featured snippets); Advanced Web Ranking, "Google Organic CTR by Position: 2026 Study" (July 2026 data). Verified as of 30 September 2026.