Schema markup, explained for breeders who don't code

Welcome back to Found. Issue five.

Two weeks ago I told you one of the reasons ChatGPT doesn't know your kennel is that your site doesn't have schema. Here's what schema actually is, in plain English.

The menu behind the page

Imagine a restaurant with two menus.

The first menu is the one on the table. Humans read it. It has words, photos, prices, descriptions.

The second menu is the one in the kitchen. Cooks read it. It has the same dishes, but each one is labeled by category: appetizer, main, side, drink. It tells the cook what station each dish goes to, what allergens it has, how to plate it.

Your website has a human menu. That's the words and photos on the page. Buyers read that.

Schema is the kitchen menu. It's the same information, but labeled for machines: this section is the kennel name, this section is the address, this photo is the sire, this paragraph is a breed description, this review is from a past buyer with 5 stars.

Google and ChatGPT are the cooks. They can read the human menu if they have to, but they're slow at it and they make mistakes. When they find a kitchen menu, they read it instantly and never misfile anything.

Why it matters more in 2026

Two reasons.

The first is Google AI Overviews. When someone Googles "Pomeranian breeders in Wisconsin," the top of the results page is now an AI-written paragraph summarizing the answer. Google writes that paragraph by pulling from sites that have clean schema. Sites without schema get skipped.

The second is ChatGPT and Perplexity citations. These tools are doing a version of the same thing. They pull structured content, rewrite it, and cite it. Schema is how you qualify to be cited.

This was always true for ranking. In 2026 it's also true for being referenced by AI.

The six schema types every breeder site needs

Don't memorize these. Just know they exist.

1. LocalBusiness. Your kennel name, address, phone, hours. Signals to Google you're a real, findable business.
2. Organization or BreedingKennel. Who you are, what you breed, your founder story. Signals expertise.
3. Product. One for each available litter. Includes breed, availability, price range, photos. Feeds Google's rich results and shopping panels.
4. FAQPage. For your frequently asked questions. Google often pulls these directly into search results as expandable accordions.
5. Review or AggregateRating. Past buyer testimonials. Gives you the star rating that appears under your search result.
6. BreadcrumbList. Tells Google the structure of your site so it can render clean breadcrumb links in results.

How to add it without coding

Two paths:

Option one, if your site is on WordPress. Install a schema plugin (Rank Math and Yoast are the common ones). Set up the types above. Check your work using Google's Rich Results Test at search.google.com/test/rich-results.

Option two, hire someone once to add schema to your site, then leave it alone. Expect to pay $200 to $800 for a full schema audit and install on a typical breeder site.

Option three is the platform I'm building. Schema is not something you configure. It's built into the site from day one. You write your kennel story, the schema happens underneath.

What to do this week

Pick one:

1. Open search.google.com/test/rich-results. Paste your homepage URL. See what Google detects. If it says "no structured data found," you have work to do.

1. If you're on WordPress, check whether you already have a schema plugin installed. If yes, make sure it's set up correctly. If no, that's your next move.

1. Grab a free visibility audit. Schema audit is part of it. You'll get a scorecard showing what Google currently sees on every page.

Talk next week, Lesli Rose Founder, Puppy Sales Success

PS. If a friend sent you this, get your own at puppysalessuccess.com/breeder-marketing.