LocalBusiness Schema Markup for Small Business Websites

Short answer: LocalBusiness markup is structured data, written in JSON-LD, that tells search engines your business name, address, phone number, opening hours and other facts in a form machines read reliably. It does not guarantee a special result, but it removes guesswork, supports your local listing and keeps the details consistent. Use the most specific business type, mark up only what visitors can see on the page, and test it before you publish.

What LocalBusiness markup is

Schema.org is a shared vocabulary that search engines use to understand pages. Inside it, LocalBusiness is a type for a physical business or an organisation with a specific place and hours, such as a bakery, a clinic, a hair salon or a plumber. Under it are many more specific types, for example Dentist, Restaurant, Store, AutoRepair and LegalService. When you add markup to a page, you state in a fixed format: this is a business of this type, with this name, this address, this telephone number and these opening hours.

People read your contact page and understand it at once. Search engines usually manage too, but they must infer which line is the address and which number is a fax. Markup removes the inference. It does not replace good content, it adds a layer of certainty on top of it.

What it can and cannot do

Be realistic about the benefit. Google uses structured data to understand a page and may use it for rich results, but it does not promise a special appearance for local business markup. The map listings and the knowledge panels for a business mostly come from the business profile and from other trusted sources, so set up your Google Business Profile first. Markup is one of the signals that support those sources, particularly for consistency. It also helps other tools, such as assistants and directories, that read the same data.

It will not fix a site with thin content, no reviews or an unclear location. See the overview of structured data for small businesses for where markup fits among other priorities.

The properties that matter

@type. The most specific type that fits, such as Dentist or Bakery. If you are unsure, LocalBusiness itself is acceptable.
name. The real name of the business, the same as on your sign and your listing.
address. A PostalAddress with street, city, postal code and country.
telephone. The number customers should call, with the international prefix.
url. The canonical address of the page or the home page.
image. A photo or logo of the business, with a stable address.
openingHoursSpecification. The days and hours when you are open, in a structured form.
geo. Latitude and longitude of the location, if you know them accurately.
priceRange. A short indication such as €€, where it makes sense.
sameAs. Links to official profiles on other sites, such as social networks.

Add more only when you can keep them correct. A smaller block that is always accurate is better than a large one with outdated hours.

An example in JSON-LD

JSON-LD is a block of data placed in a script tag in the head or body of the page. This is a minimal example for a small dental clinic. Replace the values with your own.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Dentist",
  "name": "Rose Dental Clinic",
  "url": "https://www.example.com/",
  "image": "https://www.example.com/images/clinic.jpg",
  "telephone": "+370 600 00000",
  "priceRange": "€€",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "Gedimino pr. 1",
    "addressLocality": "Vilnius",
    "postalCode": "01103",
    "addressCountry": "LT"
  },
  "openingHoursSpecification": [{
    "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
    "dayOfWeek": ["Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday","Friday"],
    "opens": "09:00",
    "closes": "17:00"
  }]
}

All of these values must also appear on the page as ordinary text. If the markup says the clinic opens at nine and the page says eight, the markup is wrong, and search engines may ignore it.

Where to put it

Put the markup on the page that represents the business: the home page for a single location, or the page of each location if you have several. Do not copy the same block with the same address to every page of the site. For multiple locations, make one block per location on its own page, with unique content, in line with the advice on location pages. The organisation as a whole can have a separate description, see Organization markup, and the two can reference each other.

In WordPress, a good SEO plugin or a dedicated schema plugin can output the block from a settings screen. If you add it by hand, use a header or footer feature of the theme, and check that the plugin is not already printing a conflicting block. Two blocks that disagree are worse than one.

Keep it consistent with everything else

The name, address and phone number in the markup should match the page, the footer, your Business Profile and the directories where you are listed. Differences such as “Street” and “St.” or a missing postal code create doubt. The article on local citations and NAP consistency explains how to find and clean up mismatches. When the business moves or changes hours, update the markup in the same work session as the visible text and the profile.

Special hours for holidays are a common gap. If your plugin supports them, add them before the season. If it does not, avoid claiming normal hours on days when you are closed.

A worked example for a business with two branches

Imagine a small chain of two bakeries in the same city. The owner first creates a block of type Bakery for each shop, each on its own page with a short description, a photo, a map and the opening hours in text. Each block has its own address and its own phone number, because customers phone the shop they intend to visit. The home page carries Organization markup that names the company and lists both shops. On the page of the second shop, the owner notices that the plugin also prints the first shop’s address in the footer markup. That error would make the two locations look like one, so it is removed. Finally, the owner adds special hours for the public holidays and checks both pages in the validator. The whole task takes about an hour and leaves a clean, consistent structure that is easy to maintain when a third shop opens.

Test and monitor

Validate the syntax. Use the Schema Markup Validator or Google’s Rich Results Test to catch errors such as a missing comma or a wrong type.
Compare with the page. Open the page and check each value against what a visitor sees.
Watch Search Console. If the property reports enhancements for your markup, errors and warnings appear there. The guide to structured data errors in Search Console explains what they mean.
Re-check after changes. Themes, plugins and redesigns can remove or duplicate the block without any warning.

Another habit worth building is to review the markup whenever you change something visible. A new phone number, a second entrance, a seasonal schedule or a rebrand each touch a value in the block. Keep a short note next to your content checklist that says “update the markup too”, so that the visible page and the data never drift apart for long. Drift is the main reason that structured data that was correct at launch turns into a liability a year later.

Plugins can make this easy, but they are not magic. Many fill the fields from a single settings screen and print the same details on every page, which is right for a single location but wrong for several. Check what your plugin outputs by viewing the page source and searching for “ld+json”. If you find several blocks, decide which one is authoritative and remove the others. Also keep a copy of the final block in your notes, so that you can restore it after a theme change or a migration to a new host.

Common mistakes

Marking up a business at an address where customers cannot actually visit, such as a virtual office.
Putting reviews or ratings in the markup that are not shown on the page. See review stars in search results for the rules.
Using Product or Service types for the business itself.
Leaving example values from a template, such as a placeholder phone number.
Marking up hidden content that visitors never see.

A site audit also shows whether your pages carry valid markup and whether titles, descriptions and contact details are in place, and it takes only a few minutes.

A site audit shows whether your pages carry valid markup and whether titles, descriptions and contact details are in place. Run a free check with Site AI Audit and review the SEO findings.

The bottom line

LocalBusiness markup is a short, simple block that states your key details in a form machines understand. Use a specific type, keep every value identical to the visible page and to your listings, validate it, and update it whenever the business changes.

FAQ

Will LocalBusiness markup improve my rankings?

It is not a ranking switch. It helps search engines understand and verify your details, which supports local visibility alongside your profile, content and reviews.

Which format should I use?

JSON-LD, which is the format Google recommends. It sits in one block and does not mix with the visible HTML.

Do I need markup if I have a Google Business Profile?

The profile is the main source for map results, but markup on your website adds consistency and helps other services. Doing both is the better choice.

Can I use it for an online-only business?

If there is no physical location, Organization markup fits better than LocalBusiness. Use LocalBusiness only for a real place or service area.

How do I mark up several locations?

Create a separate block for each location on its own page, with its own address, phone and hours, and unique page content.