Google Just Expanded Preferred Sources and Killed FAQ Rich Results in the Same Quarter. The Publisher Trust Layer Is Getting Rebuilt.

Google has expanded Preferred Sources in Search across all supported languages. Users can now mark publishers and sites they want to see more often in Top Stories. The data Google released alongside the rollout said readers are twice as likely to click through after marking a site as a preferred source.

In the same quarter, Google announced the removal of FAQ rich results from Search. The deprecation runs in three phases starting May 7, 2026. The FAQ schema markup that drove millions of expandable result snippets is on the way out.

Both moves change the visibility model. Preferred Sources gives the user the lever. FAQ rich result removal takes a SERP feature away from publishers. The trend is consistent. Organic visibility is moving from technical optimisation to demonstrated reader preference.

The Preferred Sources expansion is the more strategic of the two moves. Google has been signalling for two years that it wants to reward sites users actively choose to read, not sites that game technical signals. Preferred Sources is the most direct version of that signal yet. A user click in the publisher panel is now a ranking input.

FAQ rich result removal is the cleaner news. The schema markup is not banned, the rich result is. Sites can keep the FAQPage schema in the code without penalty, but the expandable answer box that was driving the click-through gain is being pulled out of Search. Sites that built whole content strategies around FAQ visibility need a new plan.

For Australian publishers and content sites, both changes hit the same place. Pages that ranked because of technical wrapping are vulnerable. Pages that ranked because readers actively chose to read them are more durable.

The Preferred Sources expansion is also a brand signal. The reader who marks your site is making a brand affinity statement. That signal is now baked into Google's surface decisions. Brand-driven content strategies are getting an explicit ranking benefit for the first time.

The FAQ rich result removal is the most material short-term loss. Some sites are reporting 15 to 30 per cent of their featured snippet share comes from FAQ markup. That share is going away. The pages need to be re-optimised for direct on-page question-and-answer treatment rather than schema-driven expansion.

Add a save-as-preferred-source prompt on your most-visited pages. The conversion happens inside Google but the prompt is the moment of behavioural commitment.

Audit which of your URLs currently rank with FAQ rich result expansions. Those URLs need new on-page treatment. Move the questions and answers above the fold and into the body, not into hidden expandable blocks.

Re-read Google's quality guidance on what makes a result satisfying. Preferred Sources is rewarding sites that have already convinced readers to come back. Brand search volume and direct traffic are now organic ranking inputs in everything but name.

Do not panic-strip FAQPage schema. The schema is still valid. The rich result is what is being removed. Leave the markup, restructure the page.

Watch the next three months of Search Console data closely. The Preferred Sources signal will surface in queries that previously underperformed. The FAQ deprecation will hit impressions before clicks.

Google is rebuilding the trust layer underneath organic results. The publishers who own the reader signal will outrank the publishers who own the schema.