Structured data is code you add to your pages that tells search engines exactly what your content means. Without it, Google reads your text and makes educated guesses. With it, you're giving Google a clear map: this is a business, this is its address, this is an article, this is who wrote it and when. Here's the checklist we run before every site goes live.
What structured data actually does
It doesn't directly boost rankings, but it does:
- Unlock rich results in search: star ratings, FAQ dropdowns, breadcrumbs in search listings
- Help AI tools (Google AI Overviews) summarise your content accurately
- Make your page easier for crawlers to understand, which reduces misclassification
- Give your listings a visual advantage in search results over competitors without it
The four schema types we always implement
1. Organization or LocalBusiness
Every site gets an Organization schema on the homepage at minimum. If you're a local business in Kampala or elsewhere in Uganda, use LocalBusiness instead. It includes your address, phone number, opening hours, and map coordinates.
What to include:
- Name, URL, logo, and social media links
- Phone number in international format (+256...)
- Physical address with city, region, and country
- Opening hours if you're a physical business
- Business category, used by Google Maps and local search
Getting this right is especially important for searches like 'web design company Kampala' or 'restaurant near me'. Google pulls this data directly into its local results.
2. WebSite with SearchAction
Add WebSite schema on your homepage. If your site has internal search, add a SearchAction pointing to the search URL. This can trigger a sitelinks search box directly in Google results.
What to include:
- Website name and URL
- Brief description of what the site is about
- SearchAction with the query URL pattern (if your site has search)
3. BreadcrumbList
Add BreadcrumbList to every page that sits below the homepage. It tells Google how your site is structured and appears in search listings as a breadcrumb trail (Home > Blog > Article Name), which makes your results look more trustworthy.
Rules to follow:
- Every level of the URL path should have a label and href
- Match the breadcrumb exactly to what's visible on the page
- Don't fabricate levels that don't exist in your navigation
4. Content-specific schema
The schema type on your content pages depends on what the page actually is:
- Article or BlogPosting for blog posts: include headline, author, datePublished, dateModified, and image
- FAQPage for FAQ sections: Google can display questions and answers directly in results without clicking
- Product for e-commerce product pages: price, availability, and reviews
- Service for service pages: name, description, and provider
The most common mistakes we see
These are the mistakes that get structured data ignored or penalised:
- Marking up content that isn't actually on the page
- Missing required fields like 'name' or 'url' in Organization
- Using the wrong type (Organization instead of LocalBusiness for a physical shop)
- Having identical structured data on every page instead of page-specific schemas
- Not updating schemas when pages change
Google checks that your structured data matches your visible page content. If it doesn't, you lose the rich result and potentially trigger a manual action.
How to test before you launch
Run these on every page template before going live:
- Rich Results Test (search.google.com/test/rich-results): shows which rich results your page is eligible for and flags errors
- Schema Markup Validator (validator.schema.org): broader validation against the full schema.org specification
- Google Search Console: after launch, check the Enhancements section for structured data errors across the whole site
Check Search Console again four to six weeks after launch. Schemas often break when page templates are updated, so build this into regular site maintenance.
If you want us to audit your current structured data or implement it from scratch as part of a new build, get in touch. It's one of the fastest wins in technical SEO.
