HowTo Schema
Schema.org type for marking up step-by-step instructions.
Full definition
HowTo is a schema.org type that describes a sequence of steps to accomplish a task. When present, search engines can render the steps as a rich result, and AI engines can extract individual steps as citable units.
HowTo schema is ideal for tutorial, setup, and recipe pages. Pages with HowTo markup get cited prominently in 'how do I X' queries across all major AI engines.
Example
<script type='application/ld+json'>{"@type":"HowTo","name":"...","step":[{"@type":"HowToStep","text":"..."}]}</script>Related terms
Structured data (usually JSON-LD) that describes a page's content in a machine-readable way.
Answer Engine Optimization — optimizing for direct-answer surfaces like AI assistants and voice search.
Schema.org type for marking up question-and-answer content so search and AI engines can extract Q&A pairs.
Put it into practice
Run a free OptimAIze scan to see how your site handles HowTo Schema and the rest of the GEO checklist.
Run free scanFrequently asked questions
Is HowTo Schema the same as SEO?
No. HowTo Schema is one piece of the broader GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) program that sits on top of classical SEO. The two work together — classical SEO gets you crawled and indexed; HowTo Schema is part of what gets you cited by AI engines.
Do I need a tool to implement HowTo Schema?
For most teams, a free scanner like OptimAIze is enough to identify what's missing. Implementation is usually a copy-paste of generated markup or a small code change — no specialist tool required.