Google's Retired Rich Results: What to Check in 2026

Before adding structured data to a page, identify the result you expect it to support. A valid piece of markup, an eligible page, and a visible search enhancement are three different things.

That distinction matters when reviewing an older WordPress site. You may find FAQ markup, a search box declaration, and several schema types added by different plugins. Counting them tells you little about whether they still serve a purpose.

What changed

These are changes to specific Google Search features. They are not a list of types removed from the schema vocabulary.

Sources checked September 13, 2026: Google’s HowTo and FAQ announcement, sitelinks search box announcement, 2025 feature retirement announcement and update, and documentation change log.

The dates explain why an old tutorial or screenshot may no longer match current search results. They do not establish that the page itself has lost ranking eligibility.

Be careful with similarly named features. Course info was retired, but course list remains in Google’s supported feature gallery, alongside article, breadcrumb, product, organization, local business, recipe, and other specialist features. Choose from the current guide for your actual content, rather than a historical count of schema types. Checked September 13, 2026.

Review what your site publishes

Start with a small sample: the homepage, an article, a service page, a product if you sell one, and an archive. Inspect the markup on the rendered pages and record which component produces it.

For each declaration, ask:

• Does it describe something the visitor can see on this page?
• Are the name, URL, image, dates, and other supplied facts current?
• Does another plugin or the theme publish a conflicting version?
• Is there a documented consumer or feature you are maintaining it for?
• Can you identify who will update it when the page changes?

Suppose a service page contains answers to common questions. Keep those answers if they help prospective customers. Decide separately whether maintaining the associated markup is useful. Removing a search enhancement does not make the underlying explanation less helpful.

Likewise, avoid deleting an entire website identity declaration because it contains an obsolete search box action. Google’s retirement notice distinguishes the removed search box from the continuing use of WebSite for site names. Read that distinction, checked September 13, 2026.

Test eligibility and inspect the facts

A validator can catch syntax and missing required properties. It cannot confirm that your business hours are true or that a product is available.

Google says correctly marked up pages are not guaranteed a rich result. Its structured data guidelines also require markup to represent the visible content and prohibit misleading information. Checked September 13, 2026.

After changing a schema setting, check both the validation result and the page:

1. Confirm that the intended declaration appears.
2. Look for conflicting values from other components.
3. Compare the markup with the visible text and images.
4. Check the relevant feature’s requirements.
5. Record any remaining error and the component responsible for it.

Treat an absent optional enhancement differently from a broken page, an incorrect canonical, or a publishing error. They call for different investigations.

In WP Visibility

WP Visibility provides schema output for ordinary site identity, pages, articles, and other supported content. Configuration still needs to match the site. Installing a schema feature does not supply missing business facts or guarantee a particular search display.

Use the schema and sitemap documentation to configure the plugin, then follow the markup validation steps on representative pages.

If the next task is rewriting page copy, the keyword guide covers what an editorial checklist can tell you and where it stops.