One SEO professional was concerned about accordion embeds. Basically, their main question was: can Google use content that is initially hidden within an accordion tab and drop down elements to use for Featured Snippets and People Also Ask?
The design elements on this particular page are great for user experience. However, they have the same probability of being used by Google for rich snippets compared to standard paragraphs within an article that’s always visible, without the user having to click on anything.
John answered that for structured data-type elements like FAQs, Google does require that the question is always visible.
However, the answer can be within the according-based setup.
For the other elements that the SEO pro mentioned, such as the Featured Snippets and People Also Ask, this does not really apply.
Featured Snippets are just normal snippets of a page that Google shows. They can sometimes include things that are behind an accordion.
John’s understanding is that they try not to show much of the non-visible content in snippets in general.
However, this can still happen if Google thinks that the content in these elements is particularly relevant for a page and it makes sense to give the user additional context, so they know why your page is a good match for what they are looking for.
His assumption is that People Also Ask is more based on what people are actually searching for, rather than any of the content that’s visible on your physical page.
This happens at approximately the 41:35 mark in the video.
John Mueller Hangout Transcript
Can Google use content that is initially hidden within accordions tabs and drop down elements to use for Featured Snippets and People Also Ask.
The design elements are great for user experience. However, they have the same probability of being used by Google for Rich Snippets compared to a standard paragraph within an article that is always visible without requiring the user to click anything.
John (Answer) 41:58
So for structured data type things like FAQs, we do require that the information is visible on the page. And specifically for FAQs, we require that the question is visible. The answer can be kind of within this kind of accordion setup. For the elements that you mentioned, the Featured Snippets and People Also Ask, I don’t know if that really applies there.
So Featured Snippets are essentially just normal snippets of a page that we would show. And they can sometimes include things that are behind an accordion. My understanding is that we try not to show much kind of like initially not visible content in snippets in general. But it can happen. If we think that this is particularly relevant for a page, that it makes sense to give the user additional context so that they know why your page is a good match for what they’re looking for, then maybe it does make sense for us to show some of that.
With regards to People Also Ask—I don’t know, my assumption is probably also similar. But my assumption is also that People Also Ask is probably more based on what people actually search for, rather than content that is visible directly on your pages.
