Local Business Schema Markup: Structured Data That Helps Search Engines, AI and Local SEO Understand Your Business
Search engines read your website, but they do not always understand it. Local business schema spells out who you are, where you are and when you are open, in a format Google is built to read.
What is local business schema?
Think of local business schema as a short, labelled fact sheet about your business, hidden in your website's code. It uses the LocalBusiness type from Schema.org to describe your business in a standard, machine-readable way: your business name, address, phone number, opening hours, website, location on the map, and more.
Your visitors never see it. Search engines do, and structured data can help them read your business details without guessing. Google notes that a business search on Search or Maps can bring up a large knowledge panel showing that business's details. Structured data is one of the ways you help Google understand your business details correctly.
Why structured data matters for local search
Local SEO depends on consistency. Google compares what your Google Business Profile says, what your website says, and what directories across the web say. When they agree, Google can trust the information.
Local business schema markup puts your core business details on your website in a format that removes guesswork. It will not rank you by itself, and nobody should promise that it will. What it does is make your website a clear, reliable source of truth that supports your profile and your listings.
What we include in your LocalBusiness schema
The right schema type
Google recommends using the most specific LocalBusiness sub-type that fits your business, such as Dentist, Plumber, LegalService or HealthAndBeautyBusiness, rather than the generic type. We match your schema type to what your business is.
Required properties
Google's structured data documentation lists the properties a LocalBusiness must include to be eligible, starting with your business name and physical address. We build these exactly to spec, so the markup is eligible for rich result features where Google chooses to show them.
Recommended properties
Then we add what makes the markup useful:
- Opening hours, using openingHoursSpecification, including special hours
- Business phone number with country and area code
- Your website URL and the URL of each location page
- Geo coordinates for your location
- Price range where it applies
- Links to your official profiles, such as your Google Business Profile and social accounts
- Logo and images
Connected to the rest of your site
Local business structured data works best as part of a connected structure. We link it to your Organization schema, your WebSite and, where it helps, the Service schema on each service page. Search engines then see one consistent entity instead of scattered fragments.
Multi-location businesses
Each location gets its own LocalBusiness markup on its own location page, with its own address, phone, hours and geo coordinates, all linked back to the parent brand.
How we implement schema: JSON-LD, validated
We write your LocalBusiness schema in JSON-LD, the format Google recommends for adding structured data. It lives in a script tag and leaves your page design alone. Before anything goes live, we test it with Google's Rich Results Test and the Schema Markup Validator, then check it again in Google Search Console after launch.
If your site runs on WordPress, you may already have a WordPress plugin such as Yoast SEO, Yoast Local SEO or Schema App producing schema. We check what it outputs, because plugins often add generic or conflicting markup that needs fixing.
Common schema markup mistakes
- Using the generic LocalBusiness type when a more specific business type exists
- Opening hours in schema that do not match the hours on your Google Business Profile
- A different business name, address or phone number than the one on your profile
- Several plugins each adding their own, conflicting schema
- Marking up reviews on your own site in ways that break Google's guidelines
- Schema added once and never updated after the business moved or changed hours
How we work
- Audit. We check your existing structured data as part of a local SEO audit.
- Plan. We choose the right types and properties for your business and locations.
- Build. Clean JSON-LD, connected across your site.
- Validate. Rich Results Test, Schema Markup Validator and Search Console.
- Maintain. We update the markup whenever your business details change.
Who needs local business schema
- Local businesses in Toronto and the GTA that want their website to back up their Google Business Profile
- Businesses with several locations or several service pages
- Sites that were built without structured data, or where a plugin added it and nobody checked
- Teams preparing for AI search, where clear, structured facts about a business matter more than ever
Local business schema, AI search and AI citations
AI systems such as Google's AI features and assistants like ChatGPT answer questions about local businesses by pulling facts from across the web: your website, your Google Business Profile, reviews and listings. Structured data puts your core facts in one clearly labelled place on your own site.
Nobody outside those companies can prove exactly how much schema influences AI answers, and we will not claim it guarantees AI citations. What schema can help with is consistency: when your website, your profile and your listings all state the same name, address, hours and services, search engines and AI systems have fewer conflicting facts to choose between.
Local business schema FAQs
What is a local business schema?
It is a block of JSON-LD code built on Schema.org's LocalBusiness type that lists a business's key facts: its name, address, phone number, opening hours, website, geo coordinates and related details. It helps search engines understand the business without guessing.
Can you give me an example of a local business schema?
A dental clinic would use the Dentist type, a sub-type of LocalBusiness, with its business name, full postal address, phone number, website URL, opening hours for each day, latitude and longitude, and links to its official profiles. All of it sits in one JSON-LD script in the page's code.
Does schema directly improve rankings?
No. Local business schema does not directly improve rankings on its own. It helps Google understand and trust your business information, which supports your local SEO. Anyone promising a ranking jump from schema alone is overselling it.
Does structured data guarantee rich results?
No. Even flawless markup comes with no promise from Google that anything extra will appear in search. Valid schema only qualifies a page for enhanced results, and Google chooses when to display them.
Can schema hurt SEO?
Schema can cause problems when it is wrong or misleading. If markup breaks Google's structured data policies, the page can receive a manual action and lose eligibility for rich results. According to Google, that penalty removes rich result eligibility but leaves normal web rankings untouched.
Is schema still relevant for local SEO?
Yes. Local business schema is still relevant because it gives search engines and AI systems a clear, machine-readable statement of your business details. Its value is accuracy and consistency, not a ranking shortcut.
Does schema markup directly influence ChatGPT or Perplexity?
There is no public proof that schema markup directly controls what ChatGPT or Perplexity say about a business. These systems read web content, and clear, consistent facts on your website help any system that reads it. Treat schema as good hygiene for AI search, not a guaranteed AI citation.
Should I use LocalBusiness or Organization markup?
For a business customers visit, or one that travels to customers within a set area, LocalBusiness is the better fit. LocalBusiness is a subtype of Organization, and Google recommends including the Organization fields as well.
Should every page have local business schema?
No. The full LocalBusiness markup belongs on the homepage or on each location's page. Service pages can use Service schema that references the business, and every page can carry breadcrumb markup. Repeating full business markup on every page adds noise without adding information.
How do I add local business schema to WordPress?
In WordPress, add local business schema with an SEO plugin such as Yoast SEO or a dedicated schema plugin, or add your own JSON-LD in the page's head section with a code injection tool. Check the output either way, because plugins often add generic or conflicting markup.
Is geo coordinates structured data essential?
Geo coordinates are recommended rather than required in Google's LocalBusiness documentation. Adding the exact latitude and longitude of each location is a small, useful detail, especially for businesses with multiple locations.
Should I add FAQPage schema to my local business pages?
Google stopped showing FAQ rich results in Search in May 2026, so FAQPage markup no longer produces the expandable questions under a listing. It can still describe genuine question-and-answer content in a machine-readable way, so keep it only where the page really has FAQs, and do not add it expecting a visual boost.
How often do I need to update my schema?
Update local business schema whenever your business details change: new hours, a new phone number, a move, a new location or a rebrand. Outdated schema that contradicts your Google Business Profile works against you.
How do I test my local business schema?
Paste the page's URL into Google's Rich Results Test, then run it through the Schema Markup Validator as a second check. After launch, Search Console flags any structured data errors Google finds.
Make your website speak Google's language
Using structured data is a small piece of code that removes a lot of guesswork and can help your local SEO. Start with an audit and see what your site is telling search engines today.