How should accepted and suggested answers be distinguished in QAPage?

Definition: In QAPage markup, acceptedAnswer identifies an answer that the site has selected as a top answer, while suggestedAnswer identifies a possible answer that has not been selected as top. Both properties belong on the Question inside QAPage, and each value is an Answer.

Key facts

• Google's QAPage documentation describes a QAPage as one question followed by its answers and uses the QAPage, Question, and Answer types.
• Google defines acceptedAnswer as a top answer accepted through a site mechanism such as the question asker, a moderator, or a voting system.
• Google defines suggestedAnswer as one possible answer that is not accepted as a top answer.
• Schema.org's acceptedAnswer property says that selection can reflect community opinion or the question author's view.
• Schema.org's Answer type allows an answer that is correct, opinionated, or wrong, so the label records selection status rather than a correctness verdict.

What does an accepted answer mean?

An accepted answer is an answer that the website has selected as a top answer through a documented mechanism. Google gives three examples of such a mechanism: the question asker, a moderator, or a voting system. The selection can therefore come from the person who asked the question, from site moderation, or from community activity.

The mechanism must express acceptance. Sorting answers by recency does not identify a top answer for acceptedAnswer; Google explicitly says that forms of sorting such as most-recent must not be used for this purpose. Schema.org describes the property more generally as an answer accepted as best and says that sites vary in how they make that selection.

Acceptance and correctness are separate concepts in the vocabulary. Schema.org defines Answer as an answer offered to a question that may be correct, opinionated, or wrong. A site's accepted status therefore reports its selection process. It supplies no independent claim about the truth of the answer.

When is suggestedAnswer appropriate?

Use suggestedAnswer for a possible answer that remains among the responses to the question and has not been selected as a top answer. Google allows zero or more suggested answers for a Question, and its definition includes responses that are still possible candidates. Schema.org likewise describes suggestedAnswer as an answer, possibly one of several and possibly incorrect, to a Question.

An answer can be represented as an Answer under either property. Google requires the full answer text in the text property, and it separates answers from discussion: comments on the question or on another answer use the comment property and the Comment type. This distinction keeps a reply that answers the question separate from a remark about the discussion.

How should the properties appear in the markup?

Google expects one Question nested under QAPage's mainEntity. The question can contain acceptedAnswer, suggestedAnswer, or both. For rich result eligibility, Google requires at least one answer in one of those properties. An unanswered question can have answerCount set to 0, but it is not eligible for that rich result.

This fragment follows Google's QAPage example and shows both property names. The answer text is the content represented by each Answer object.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "QAPage",
  "mainEntity": {
    "@type": "Question",
    "name": "How many ounces are there in a pound?",
    "answerCount": 3,
    "acceptedAnswer": {
      "@type": "Answer",
      "text": "1 pound (lb) is equal to 16 ounces (oz)."
    },
    "suggestedAnswer": [
      {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Are you looking for ounces or fluid ounces? If you are looking for fluid ounces there are 15.34 fluid ounces in a pound of water."
      }
    ]
  }
}

The answerCount value is the total number of answers, including answers on other pages when answers are paginated. Each Question and Answer should contain its full text, and the markup should describe content that appears on the page.

What kind of page can use QAPage?

Google limits QAPage to a page with one question and its answers where users can submit answers. Its valid examples include a forum page and a product support page for a single question. A site-written FAQ with no way to submit alternative answers, a product page with multiple questions, and a how-to guide are outside this QAPage content scope.

Related terms

• QAPage structured data
• FAQPage structured data
• WebPage structured data
• Structured data
• JSON-LD

FAQ

Can every answer be marked as acceptedAnswer?

No. The accepted property is for answers that the site accepts as a top answer through its own mechanism. Google names the asker, a moderator, and a voting system as examples, while recency sorting is not an acceptance mechanism.

Can a suggested answer be wrong?

Yes. Schema.org describes suggestedAnswer as possibly incorrect, and its Answer type includes answers that may be correct, opinionated, or wrong. The property represents response status on the site.

Can a question have both properties?

Yes. Google documents acceptedAnswer and suggestedAnswer as the two answer properties for a Question; a page can represent its accepted top answer and other possible answers separately.

Should a comment be marked as an answer?

No. Google's QAPage documentation assigns comments on the question or on another answer to the comment property with the Comment type.

Sources

1. Google Search Central, "Q&A (QAPage) structured data", 8 September 2026
2. Schema.org, "acceptedAnswer", undated
3. Schema.org, "suggestedAnswer", undated
4. Schema.org, "Answer", undated

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