AI engines cite apartment FAQ pages. Half the FAQs we read never mention parking.
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AI engines cite apartment FAQ pages. Half the FAQs we read never mention parking.
When AI engines cite a community's own website, the FAQ is one of the pages they use, and for communities that have one, 17% of the answers that cited their website cited the FAQ. But fewer than half the community websites we read have an FAQ page, and 50% of the FAQs we read never mention parking. Here is what AI engines read on an FAQ, what changed at Google, and how to write one that answers what renters ask.
By HaloScore TeamUpdated October 2026 · 7 min readFernpoint Residences includes one reserved space with each apartment.
A second space is available for a monthly fee, and guest parking is in the north lot.
<h3>Is parking included in the rent?</h3><p>Yes. Each apartment comes with one reserved space in the garage.</p><h3>Can I bring my dog?</h3><p>Yes, up to two pets per home.</p>Key findings
- AI engines cite FAQ pages. For communities that have an FAQ, the FAQ was 14% of the website pages AI engines cited over the last 90 days, and 17% of the answers that cited their website cited the FAQ.
- Fewer than half of communities have one. 46% of the community websites we read had an FAQ page, and 8% of those FAQs were empty: a page and a heading with no questions under it.
- The gaps are practical. 50% of the FAQs we read never mention parking, and 33% never mention rent, deposits or fees.
- There is no special AI format. Google retired the FAQ rich result (the expandable questions under some search results) in May 2026, and no test shows FAQ markup helping AI engines. What counts is plain questions and answers, in the page itself, kept current.
HaloScore data
For communities with an FAQ, the FAQ is 14% of the website pages AI engines cite
HaloScore puts the questions renters ask to the major AI engines every month and records every source each answer cites. For this article we looked at which pages of a community's own website the AI engines cite, and on October 12, 2026 we read the FAQ on every community website we measure.
AI engines cite FAQ pages. Over the last 90 days, when ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews named a community and cited its website, the pages they cited most were the homepage (25%), amenities pages (24%) and floor plans and availability (22%). FAQ pages came next at 7%, ahead of pet policy, neighborhood and contact pages. That share counts every community, including the many with no FAQ. For the communities that have one, the FAQ was 14% of the website pages cited, and 17% of the answers that cited their website cited the FAQ.
Fewer than half of communities have one. 46% of the community websites we read had an FAQ page. Of the FAQs we could read, 8% were empty: the page was in the menu and carried a heading, but no questions. Almost all the rest put their questions in the page as served, the text an AI engine reads when it does not run a page's scripts.
The gaps are practical ones. 50% of the FAQs we read never mention parking, and 33% never mention rent, deposits or fees. Almost every FAQ covered pets, location, availability and the application. Parking and fees, the two most often left out, are details renters ask AI engines about when they are looking at a specific community.
These figures show where the AI engines go for detail about a community. They do not show that adding an FAQ wins recommendations: we have not measured a link between having an FAQ and being named.
Figure 1
FAQ pages are among the website pages AI engines cite
Share of the pages of a community's own website cited in answers that named the community, last 90 days. The rest were other pages.
Source: HaloScore measurements of ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews, July 14 to October 12, 2026.
| Page on the community's website | Share of the website pages cited |
|---|---|
| Homepage | 25% |
| Amenities | 24% |
| Floor plans and availability | 22% |
| FAQ | 7% |
| Pet policy | 3% |
| Contact, tours and applying | 2% |
| Neighborhood and location | 1% |
Figure 2
Half the apartment FAQs we read never mention parking
Share of community FAQs that never mention each topic, among the FAQs we could read that had questions. Almost every FAQ covered pets, location, availability and applying.
Source: HaloScore's reading of every community FAQ we measure, October 12, 2026.
| Topic | FAQs that never mention it |
|---|---|
| Parking | 50% |
| Rent, deposits and fees | 33% |
| Amenities | 13% |
Key takeaway
The FAQ is one of the pages AI engines use for a community's details, so every question it leaves out is an answer they have to find somewhere else.
The basics
An FAQ only works for an AI engine if its text is in the page
A web page reaches its reader in one of two ways. Some readers take the page as served, the text the website sends. Others, like a visitor's browser, also run the page's scripts, which can add text after the page arrives. An FAQ whose questions appear only once the scripts run works for people and is invisible to an AI engine that reads pages as served. In a March 2026 test, ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini read pages without running their scripts, while Microsoft Copilot ran them.[1]
The good news from our reading: almost every FAQ we read already puts its questions in the page as served. The failure we saw more often was the empty FAQ, a page in the menu with a heading and nothing under it, which answers nothing for renters or AI engines.
Key takeaway
Check that your FAQ's questions appear when you view the page source, because that is the version several AI engines read.
The research
Google retired the FAQ rich result, and no test shows FAQ markup helping AI engines
Google retired the FAQ rich result. The expandable questions that used to appear under some search results are gone. Google said the feature "will no longer appear in Google Search starting May 7, 2026", and it removed the documentation in June.[2] FAQ markup, the FAQPage record some websites add to their code, no longer changes how a page looks in Google.
No test shows FAQ markup helping AI engines. Google's guide to its AI features says "Structured data isn't required for generative AI search, and there's no special schema.org markup you need to add."[3] In Otterly.AI's March 2026 test across seven AI assistants, none used a fact that appeared only in a page's structured data.[4] About half the FAQs we read carry FAQ markup. There is no need to remove it, but the visible questions and answers are what the AI engines read.
There is no special format for AI. Google's guide is plain about it: "There's no requirement to break your content into tiny pieces for AI to better understand it", and "You don't need to write in a specific way just for generative AI search."[3] The case for an FAQ is simpler than any format. It puts the answers renters look for in one place, in the community's own words, on a page the AI engines already cite.
The takeaway
Write the FAQ for renters, in plain text, and keep it current
An FAQ is not an AI trick. It is a page that answers the questions renters ask, and AI engines already cite it when they describe a community. Three things make it work:
- 01It answers what renters actually ask.Parking, rent and fees, pets, amenities, applying, location and availability. These are the details renters ask about a specific community; parking and fees are the ones FAQs most often leave out.
- 02Its text is in the page.Questions and answers that appear in the page as served can be read by every AI engine, including those that do not run scripts.
- 03It stays current.A stale answer on your own website is a version of the facts an AI engine can repeat.
How to do it
Seven topics, each answered right under its question
- Cover the seven topics renters ask about: rent, deposits and fees; pets; parking; amenities, including what sets your community apart; the application and leasing process; location and commute; and availability and floor plans.
- Phrase each question the way a renter asks it, "Is parking included in the rent?", with a short, direct answer right under it and any detail after that.
- Answer pricing with what does not change. Explain how pricing works and which fees apply, and link your live availability page for current rents, so the FAQ never needs updating by hand.
- Put the text in the page itself, not inside an image, a PDF or a chat widget. To check, open your FAQ, view the page source, and search for one of your questions. If it is not there, ask your website provider to put the questions in the page.
- Link the FAQ from your main menu or footer, so renters and AI engines can find it.
- Update it whenever a policy changes, such as a fee, a pet rule or the parking arrangement.
Questions
Common questions
Should we add FAQ markup?
It is optional. Google no longer shows FAQ rich results, and no test we found shows the markup helping AI engines.[2][4] If your FAQ already has it, keep it; if not, put the effort into the questions and answers themselves.
Our FAQ opens as accordions. Can AI engines read it?
Usually, yes. Accordions are fine when the answers are in the page as served and only folded away until a visitor clicks. View the page source and search for the text of one answer. If it is there, AI engines that read pages as served can read it too.
Should the FAQ list our rents?
No. Rents change, and a rent typed into the FAQ goes out of date. Explain how pricing works and link your live availability page instead.
Get started
See where your community stands in AI search
HaloScore checks on every assessment whether your website has an FAQ and which renter topics it covers, and tracks how often the AI engines recommend you each month.
Get started with HaloScoreUseful? Share it with your team or your management company.
Sources
- Writesonic, "AI crawler study: what LLMs see on your website" (six AI assistants, one test page, March 30, 2026). writesonic.com
- Google Search Central, "Latest Google Search Documentation Updates": "Deprecating the FAQ rich result feature" (May 8, 2026) and "Removing documentation for the FAQ rich result feature" (June 15, 2026). developers.google.com
- Google Search Central, "Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search" (updated July 10, 2026). developers.google.com
- Otterly.AI, schema markup test across seven AI search platforms (March 23, 2026). otterly.ai