How-to schema (officially, the HowTo schema type) is a type of structured data markup used in the context of search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine result enhancements. Structured data is a standardized format that helps search engines understand the content and context of web pages more effectively. Unlike “plain” page data, structured data provides additional information to search engines so that they are crawled and indexed better.
Sometimes, if the page ranks for its target keyword properly, the content can be displayed as a rich result in SERPs. Similar to featured snippets, rich results are located at the top of the SERP and go beyond the usual title, URL and meta description. In the case of how-to, they contain the outline of the necessary steps to complete a task.
The how-to schema is specifically designed to mark up content that provides step-by-step instructions on how to perform a particular task or achieve a specific goal.
This includes all sorts of tutorials, guides, instructions, DIY projects, recipes (although there’s a separate schema type for recipes), etc. Thanks to structured data, search engines gain insight into specific information that makes up the instructions and then helps display them as a rich result in a step-by-step form that’s easy to read and understand.
