What is HowTo, the step-by-step instructions schema?

If someone proposes marking up your guides with HowTo so they show up in Google with the steps in view, that promise expired on September 13, 2023. The type still exists in Schema.org and is still correct; what disappeared was the Google result that displayed it. It still matters to a store, because instructions are common ecommerce content: how to assemble a piece of furniture, how to choose a size, how to care for a garment or how to install a part. Knowing what the markup does today keeps you from paying for something that no longer delivers what it promised.

What it includes

Schema.org defines HowTo as instructions that explain how to achieve a result by performing a sequence of steps. It is a type of work (Thing > CreativeWork > HowTo) and its properties describe the whole task:⁠^{[1]Schema.org. HowTo}

HowTo has a more specific type, Recipe, for cooking recipes.⁠^{[1]Schema.org. HowTo} According to the Schema.org page, with data from Google's index as of August 2026, HowTo is used on between 100,000 and a million domains.⁠^{[1]Schema.org. HowTo}

As with any structured data markup, the usual format is JSON-LD, and Google's rule that does not depend on the type still stands: do not mark up content the visitor can't see. If the markup describes some steps, the page has to show those same steps.⁠^{[2]Google Search Central. General structured data guidelines}

What Google did with the HowTo result

Of Google's rich results, the instructions one disappeared in two steps and within a few weeks:

Google framed it as part of its effort to simplify the results page.⁠^{[3]Google Search Central Blog (John Mueller, August 8, 2023, updated September 14, 2023). Changes to HowTo and FAQ rich results} Today, HowTo is not on the list of structured data features Google supports, and Recipe is.⁠^{[5]Google Search Central. Structured data markup that Google Search supports}

What the markup does today

In Google, nothing visible. In the 2023 announcement, Google wrote that structured data it doesn't use causes no problems in Search, though it has no visible effects there either.⁠^{[3]Google Search Central Blog (John Mueller, August 8, 2023, updated September 14, 2023). Changes to HowTo and FAQ rich results} What remains true of any markup is that Google uses the structured data it finds to understand the content of a page and to gather information about the web.⁠^{[6]Google Search Central. Introduction to structured data markup in Google Search} Since it removed the HowTo documentation,⁠^{[4]Google Search Central. Latest documentation updates} Google describes no specific use of that markup, and there is no special markup for its generative AI features either.⁠^{[7]Google Search Central. Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search}

Outside Google, HowTo is still the standard way to describe instructions with structured data: a current vocabulary type, with steps, materials, tools and times that any system that reads Schema.org can interpret.⁠^{[1]Schema.org. HowTo} What really counts is the content it marks up: clear instructions, with the steps in order and the concrete details, are still useful to the shopper even if no search engine dresses them up.

In a store

A made-up example: a furniture store publishes the guide "How to assemble the Arga bookshelf", with the steps visible on the page. The markup repeats exactly what is read:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "HowTo",
  "name": "How to assemble the Arga bookshelf",
  "totalTime": "PT30M",
  "tool": [{ "@type": "HowToTool", "name": "Phillips screwdriver" }],
  "supply": [{ "@type": "HowToSupply", "name": "Wall anchors and screws" }],
  "step": [
    { "@type": "HowToStep", "text": "Screw the two sides to the base." },
    { "@type": "HowToStep", "text": "Slot the three shelves into the guides." },
    { "@type": "HowToStep", "text": "Fix the bookshelf to the wall with the anchors." }
  ]
}

It reads like this: totalTime says half an hour in ISO 8601 format (PT30M), the screwdriver is a tool because it isn't used up, the anchors are a supply because they stay in the wall, and each step is a HowToStep with the same text as the guide. That markup goes on the guide's page, not on the bookshelf's product page, which is described with Product. Today it will not produce any special result in Google; what it does give you is a well-written guide that the product page can link to.

How to check it

1. Search for HowTo in the source code of your guides and your product pages. On a product page, not finding it is the normal outcome.
2. Compare step by step. Each step in the markup has to be on the page, with the same words and in the same order.⁠^{[2]Google Search Central. General structured data guidelines}
3. Validate the syntax with a Schema.org validator, not with the Rich Results Test, which stopped supporting HowTo.⁠^{[3]Google Search Central Blog (John Mueller, August 8, 2023, updated September 14, 2023). Changes to HowTo and FAQ rich results}
4. Don't look for it in Search Console. The HowTo search appearance and report were removed in 2023.⁠^{[3]Google Search Central Blog (John Mueller, August 8, 2023, updated September 14, 2023). Changes to HowTo and FAQ rich results}
5. Decide what to do with the markup you already have. If it is correct and matches the page, it causes no problems;⁠^{[3]Google Search Central Blog (John Mueller, August 8, 2023, updated September 14, 2023). Changes to HowTo and FAQ rich results} if it doesn't match, fix it or remove it. What makes no sense is creating new HowTo expecting a result Google no longer shows.

Related concept: FAQPage

FAQPage fell in the same announcement, by another route. In August 2023 Google limited the FAQ result to well-known, authoritative government and health sites,⁠^{[3]Google Search Central Blog (John Mueller, August 8, 2023, updated September 14, 2023). Changes to HowTo and FAQ rich results} and in 2026 it stopped showing it altogether and removed its documentation.⁠^{[4]Google Search Central. Latest documentation updates} The difference at heart is in the content: FAQPage marks up questions with their answers; HowTo marks up a task with its steps. An assembly guide is a HowTo; the section "Can it be fixed to a drywall wall?" in that same guide is a frequently asked question.

To go further, the product graph explains what markup does hold up a product page, and the structured data reading path orders the rest of the types.