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HowTo Schema Generator

Turn any step-by-step procedure into valid HowTo JSON-LD that answer engines can extract cleanly.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "HowTo",
  "name": "How to publish an llms.txt file",
  "description": "Create, validate and publish an llms.txt file so AI engines read the right pages on your site.",
  "totalTime": "PT15M",
  "supply": [
    {
      "@type": "HowToSupply",
      "name": "Access to your web server"
    },
    {
      "@type": "HowToSupply",
      "name": "A text editor"
    }
  ],
  "step": [
    {
      "@type": "HowToStep",
      "position": 1,
      "name": "Draft the file",
      "text": "List your canonical pages in markdown with a short description each."
    },
    {
      "@type": "HowToStep",
      "position": 2,
      "name": "Upload it to your root",
      "text": "Place the file so it resolves at https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt."
    },
    {
      "@type": "HowToStep",
      "position": 3,
      "name": "Verify it is reachable",
      "text": "Fetch the URL with curl and confirm it returns 200 and plain text."
    }
  ]
}
</script>

Why HowTo markup matters for AI search

Answer engines love procedures. When someone asks ChatGPT or Perplexity how to do something, the engine looks for a source where the steps are unambiguous and ordered. HowTo JSON-LD removes the guesswork: each step is labelled, positioned, and separated from the surrounding prose.

Worked example

The defaults above produce a three-step HowTo for publishing an llms.txt file, including the supplies and a totalTime in ISO 8601 duration format (PT15M means fifteen minutes). Swap in your own steps and paste the output into the <head> of the page that contains those exact instructions.

Rules worth following

  • Every marked-up step must be visible on the page.
  • Write step names as imperatives — "Upload the file", not "Uploading".
  • Keep each step body self-contained so it survives extraction.
  • Pair HowTo with FAQPage when your page also answers questions — the two stack happily.

Want the full picture?

This tool generates one piece. OptimAIze scans your whole site, audits structured data, content, crawler access, and answer-readiness — then gives you everything you need to be cited by AI.

Run a full GEO + AEO scan on your site

Frequently asked questions

What is HowTo schema used for?
HowTo JSON-LD tells search and answer engines that a page contains an ordered procedure. It lets Google, Perplexity and ChatGPT extract each step intact rather than guessing where the instructions start and stop, which makes step-by-step content far more quotable.
Does HowTo schema still get rich results?
Google reduced HowTo rich results on desktop and mobile, but the markup still matters for answer engines and AI Overviews, which parse structured data to identify procedural content. Treat it as AEO infrastructure rather than a rich-snippet play.
Do the steps have to match the visible page?
Yes. Structured data must describe content a visitor can actually see. Marking up steps that do not appear on the page is a policy violation and risks manual action, so generate the markup from your real headings.
How many steps should a HowTo have?
Two at minimum, and usually three to eight. If your procedure runs past ten steps, split it into stages with their own pages — both readers and answer engines handle shorter, focused procedures better.