LocalBusiness Schema Markup: Complete Guide

Schema markup is structured data that you add to your website so Google and other search engines can understand exactly what kind of business you are, what you offer, and where you serve. It is invisible to human visitors and deeply useful to search crawlers and AI answer engines.

For local service businesses in 2026, schema is no longer optional. It is a foundational signal that affects eligibility for rich results, knowledge panels, and the growing number of AI-driven search experiences that read schema directly.

What LocalBusiness Schema Actually Does

LocalBusiness is a Schema.org type that packages your core business data (name, address, phone, hours, services, geo coordinates, reviews, price range) into a machine-readable format called JSON-LD. Google reads that JSON-LD and uses it as a high-confidence signal about your business identity.

The practical benefits:

• Helps Google confirm your NAP across the web (pairs with your Google Business Profile).
• Makes your site eligible for rich result features (aggregate rating snippets, hours displays, logo in SERP).
• Feeds AI answer engines (ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews) with structured facts about your business.
• Disambiguates your business from similarly named companies elsewhere.

LocalBusiness vs Its Subtypes

LocalBusiness is the generic parent type. You should almost always use a more specific subtype if one fits. Schema.org has hundreds:

• Plumber
• Electrician
• HVACBusiness
• RoofingContractor
• DentistOrDental Clinic
• AutoRepair
• LawyerOrLegalService
• HomeAndConstructionBusiness
• RealEstateAgent
• And many more

Use the most specific one that fits. Specificity is a signal.

The Required Fields

At minimum, Google wants these fields on a LocalBusiness schema:

• @type (the subtype above)
• name
• address (as a PostalAddress object)
• telephone
• url

That is the floor. To actually get value, you want more.

The High-Value Optional Fields

• geo (Latitude and longitude. Google uses this.)
• openingHoursSpecification (Structured hours per day.)
• areaServed (Service area as places or geometries.)
• priceRange ($ to $$$$.)
• image (Logo and other representative images.)
• sameAs (Array of URLs to your Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp, BBB, Google Business Profile. Critical for entity consolidation.)
• aggregateRating (Your review rating and count. Earns review snippets in SERP.)
• hasOfferCatalog (Structured service list.)
• founder (Can help with E-E-A-T.)

A Clean LocalBusiness Example

Here is a reference structure you can adapt. Replace the bracketed values with your own.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Plumber",
  "name": "[Your Business Name]",
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "telephone": "+1-555-123-4567",
  "priceRange": "$$",
  "image": "https://example.com/logo.png",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "123 Main St",
    "addressLocality": "Henderson",
    "addressRegion": "NV",
    "postalCode": "89011",
    "addressCountry": "US"
  },
  "geo": {
    "@type": "GeoCoordinates",
    "latitude": 36.0395,
    "longitude": -114.9817
  },
  "areaServed": ["Henderson", "Las Vegas", "Summerlin"],
  "openingHoursSpecification": [
    {
      "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
      "dayOfWeek": ["Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday","Friday"],
      "opens": "07:00",
      "closes": "18:00"
    }
  ],
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.facebook.com/yourpage",
    "https://www.yelp.com/biz/your-biz",
    "https://g.co/kgs/yourkg"
  ],
  "aggregateRating": {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    "ratingValue": "4.8",
    "reviewCount": "312"
  }
}

Where to Put It

Wrap the JSON in a script tag with type "application/ld+json" and drop it in your site's head or body. Every important page (homepage, service pages, location pages) should carry it. The schema can be identical across pages for the same business, or tailored per service page using the Service schema type.

Service Schema for Service Pages

For each service page, layer a Service schema on top of the LocalBusiness one. Fields that matter:

• name
• provider (references your LocalBusiness)
• areaServed
• description
• offers (if you publish prices)

This gives search engines one more layer of context about what the specific page covers.

Validation

Two tools should be bookmarked:

• Google's Rich Results Test (tests for eligibility)
• Schema.org Validator (tests syntactic validity)

Run every schema change through both before deploying. A single broken comma can disable the whole schema block.

Common Mistakes

• Fake aggregate ratings. Google will penalize or ignore a rating that cannot be verified against a real review source. If you do not have real reviews visible on the page, leave this out.
• Mismatched NAP. The schema NAP must match your website, footer, GBP, and citations.
• Outdated hours. Update schema when you change hours. Stale data is worse than no data.
• Multiple conflicting schemas. Only one LocalBusiness per page.
• Ignoring sameAs. This is how you tell Google "this website and this Facebook and this Yelp are all the same entity." Do not skip it.

Schema for AI Search

With AI answer engines pulling from structured data, schema is becoming the primary way your business gets represented in AI-generated results. A thorough LocalBusiness schema with a complete sameAs array, hasOfferCatalog, and clear geo fields is genuinely important for the next wave of search.

If you have not updated your schema since 2021, it is almost certainly leaving visibility on the table in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.

The 20-Minute Schema Upgrade

1. Use our schema markup generator to create fresh JSON-LD.
2. Paste it into the head of your homepage.
3. Run Google's Rich Results Test on the URL.
4. Fix any warnings.
5. Deploy to service pages and location pages.

That is all it takes to get this right. If you handle it properly once, you do not have to touch it for a year unless your NAP changes.

Related Tools

• GBP Audit - Match your schema to your Google Business Profile.
• NAP Citation Checker - Validate consistency across the web.
• Landing Page Analyzer - Check schema plus 21 other conversion factors.