HowTo Schema Markup: Still Worth It After Google's 2023 Change?

If you came here to add HowTo schema for the step-by-step rich result with the little images down the side of the page: that result is gone. Google limited HowTo rich results to desktop in August 2023 and then fully deprecated them later that year. There is no HowTo rich result on desktop or mobile in 2026, and there hasn't been for a long time now.

That's the headline a lot of guides still bury. The schema itself isn't deprecated; HowTo remains a valid schema.org type, Google parses it without error, and other consumers read it. But the visual SERP feature that justified most HowTo implementations no longer exists. This guide is about what's left: when the markup still earns its keep, the working JSON-LD, and where to put your effort instead.

For the full type catalogue see Schema Markup Types Explained; for JSON-LD fundamentals, the Schema Markup Guide.

What changed, precisely

Google's August 2023 announcement did two things at once: it narrowed FAQ rich results and it limited HowTo rich results to desktop. The HowTo restriction didn't stay a "desktop only" half-measure for long; Google removed the HowTo rich result entirely and pulled the HowTo documentation and case study, because the feature was deprecated. Search Console stopped reporting HowTo as a search-appearance type in the same wave.

The stated reason was a cleaner, more consistent results page. The unstated pattern: HowTo (like FAQ) was being bolted onto pages that weren't really procedures, and the rich result wasn't earning its space. Google has since retired a string of other low-usage types on the same logic, so don't expect HowTo to return.

When HowTo schema is still worth adding

There are real reasons, they're just narrower than they used to be:

• AI and answer engines. LLM-based assistants and answer engines parse structured data when it's present, and HowTo gives them clean, ordered step boundaries instead of forcing them to infer steps from prose. If feeding those systems matters to you, the markup is a tidy way to do it.
• Non-Google search and aggregators that still consume HowTo structured data.
• Internal or sitewide consistency, if your CMS emits schema for all structured content and the cost of including HowTo is effectively zero.

If none of those apply and you were only after the Google rich result, skip it. You're not missing anything Google will show.

When to reach for a different type

| Your content | Use this instead | Why | | --- | --- | --- | | A cooking recipe | Recipe | Recipe cards are alive and one of the richest results left | | A how-to article with prose and steps | Article / BlogPosting | Earns article signals; clean H2 steps can win a list featured snippet | | A software/code tutorial | TechArticle | Better semantic fit for developer content |

Recipe is the important one: it's a food-specific type that still earns a visible rich result, so cooking steps should never be marked up as generic HowTo.

A complete HowTo example

If you do implement it, here's a correct, full block with supplies, tools, and ordered steps:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "HowTo",
  "name": "How to generate a favicon set",
  "description": "Create a complete favicon bundle from a single source image.",
  "totalTime": "PT10M",
  "supply": [
    { "@type": "HowToSupply", "name": "A 512x512 PNG or SVG source image" }
  ],
  "tool": [
    { "@type": "HowToTool", "name": "Favicon Generator" }
  ],
  "step": [
    {
      "@type": "HowToStep",
      "name": "Prepare the source image",
      "text": "Create a square 512x512 image, centred with safe padding.",
      "url": "https://example.com/guide#step-1",
      "image": "https://example.com/img/step-1.png"
    },
    {
      "@type": "HowToStep",
      "name": "Upload to the generator",
      "text": "Drop the file into the generator and let it produce every size.",
      "url": "https://example.com/guide#step-2",
      "image": "https://example.com/img/step-2.png"
    },
    {
      "@type": "HowToStep",
      "name": "Add the HTML",
      "text": "Paste the generated link tags into your head element.",
      "url": "https://example.com/guide#step-3"
    }
  ]
}

totalTime is an ISO 8601 duration (PT10M = 10 minutes). Each step gets a name, a text, and ideally a deep-link url to that step's anchor and an image. supply is what gets consumed; tool is what you use but keep.

Rules that still apply

Even with no rich result on the line, sloppy markup is still bad markup:

• Every step must be visible on the page. Don't mark up steps a user can't see.
• One discrete action per step. Steps are "do this," not "here's my strategy for this phase."
• No promotional or affiliate copy inside step text; it's instructional content, not ad space.
• Match the markup to the page. A HowTo on a page that isn't a procedure is a mismatch.

Where to put the effort instead

Since the rich result is gone, the visibility wins for step-by-step content come from the page itself, not the schema:

• Clean H2-per-step structure is what Google pulls into "list" featured snippets, a real and current SERP feature.
• Numbered HTML lists with concise steps read well and snippet well.
• A genuinely useful Article with good headings will out-earn a HowTo-marked page that reads like filler.

Build any of these blocks with our Schema Generator and run them through the Schema Markup Validator. Just go in knowing the payoff is parser/AI consumption and consistency, not a Google rich result.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do HowTo rich results still appear in Google?

No. They were limited to desktop in August 2023 and fully deprecated shortly after. There is no HowTo rich result on desktop or mobile in 2026. The HowTo schema type is still valid but produces no visual result in Search.

Should I remove existing HowTo schema?

You don't have to; it still validates and doesn't harm anything. Remove it only if you're cleaning up markup you no longer want to maintain. Keep it if it feeds AI/answer engines or your CMS emits it automatically.

Will HowTo rich results ever come back?

Almost certainly not. Google cited a cleaner results page and has since retired several other low-usage rich result types on the same reasoning. Plan as if the visual feature is permanently gone.

What should I use for cooking instructions?

Recipe, not HowTo. Recipe is a food-specific type that still earns a rich card with image, time, and rating, one of the richest results Google still shows.

Does HowTo schema help AI search?

It can. AI answer engines parse structured data when present, and HowTo gives them clean, ordered step boundaries to work from. That, plus non-Google parsers and consistency, is the main remaining reason to add it.