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HowTo schema — what it does & how to ship it

Short answer

HowTo marks up ordered steps, tools, supplies and time required for tutorials and setup guides — unlocking the step-by-step SERP module and voice assistant task guidance.

What it does

HowTo carries a step array of HowToStep (with position, name, text and optional image). Supporting fields include totalTime, tool, supply and estimatedCost. It signals to Google, Assistant and LLMs that the page teaches a concrete procedure.

SERP / AI benefit

HowTo unlocks Google's step-by-step SERP module (list of steps with images), Google Assistant task guidance, and preferential retrieval by ChatGPT/Perplexity for 'how to' queries. LLMs specifically lift HowToStep text verbatim.

Where to use it

Tutorials, migrations, setup guides, DIY procedures, lesson steps.

JSON-LD example

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "HowTo",
  "name": "How to migrate from Yoast to WBP Omni SEO Pro",
  "step": [
    { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": 1, "name": "Backup", "text": "Take a full site backup before starting." },
    { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": 2, "name": "Install", "text": "Install WBP Omni SEO Pro from the plugin repository." }
  ]
}

Copy, edit for your site, and drop into your page head inside a<script type="application/ld+json">block. Validate with Google's Rich Results Test.

In WBP Omni SEO Pro

Emitted from every /docs/*, /kb/* and /academy/* lesson with steps, with automatic HowToStep numbering and optional image binding.

Ship HowTo without touching code

Frequently asked

HowTo vs Article — which do I use?›

Use both. Article for authorship and dates, HowTo for the procedure. They stack cleanly as two separate JSON-LD blocks on the same page.

Do I need images on every HowToStep?›

Not required, but images on each step materially increase eligibility for Google's visual step carousel.

Can HowTo have nested sections?›

Yes — wrap groups of steps in HowToSection for multi-phase tutorials.