Local SEO Guide

LocalBusiness Schema: The Complete Setup

LocalBusiness schema hands Google and every AI assistant your business facts in a format they don’t have to guess at. It takes thirty minutes to do right, and one common mistake in it can earn you a manual action.

Featured answer: what is LocalBusiness schema and what does it need?

LocalBusiness schema is JSON-LD structured data that tells search engines your business name, address, hours, phone, and location. Google requires only two properties, name and address, but you should use the most specific subtype available (Dentist, Plumber, Restaurant) and add geo coordinates, opening hours, telephone, and sameAs links. Never mark up your own star ratings.

Key takeaways

• Only two properties are required: name and a full PostalAddress. Everything else is recommended, and worth adding.
• Never mark up your own star ratings. Google’s guidelines state aggregateRating and review in LocalBusiness are for sites that review other businesses. Self-serving review markup can trigger a manual action, and several popular plugins add it by default.
• Always use the most specific subtype (Dentist, Plumber, Restaurant), never the generic LocalBusiness type when a better one exists.
• Schema clarifies; it does not rank. Google’s policies require markup to represent content visible to users, and rich results are never guaranteed.
• Your markup must match your Google Business Profile character for character. A mismatch is a machine-readable contradiction, and worse than no markup at all.
• Service-area businesses still include their real address in the markup, plus areaServed to describe coverage.
• Multi-location pattern: Organization schema on the homepage, one LocalBusiness block on each location’s own page. Never identical markup sitewide.

Jump to what you need

Article note: Written by Rahul Saini at Search Counsel Co. Property requirements follow Google’s Local Business structured data documentation and the schema.org LocalBusiness definition, which are the only authorities that matter here. For schema fundamentals beyond the local application, see our complete guide to schema markup.

How we researched this

Every factual claim on this page is traced to a named primary source, listed with a link in the sources table near the end. Where the available studies disagree with each other, we say so and explain why rather than quoting the convenient figure. Where a claim rests on a practitioner survey rather than data from Google, it is labelled as such. Where a widely repeated claim is not supported by evidence, we say that too.

Local search changes without announcements, so figures are dated and re-verified on each update. If you find something here that is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.

First decision, before the subtype: is LocalBusiness even right for you? If your business has a physical location customers can visit, yes. If you’re a purely online business with no address at all, the broader Organization type is the better fit. Service-area businesses that travel to customers sit in between, and section 7 covers them.

Property	Status	Notes
name	Required	Character-for-character identical to your Google Business Profile.
address	Required	A nested PostalAddress with streetAddress, addressLocality, addressRegion, postalCode, addressCountry.
telephone	Recommended	Your authoritative number, with country code. Not a tracking number.
geo	Recommended	GeoCoordinates with latitude and longitude. Pins you precisely.
openingHoursSpecification	Recommended	24-hour format. Handles special and holiday hours too.
url	Recommended	The canonical URL for this location.
image	Recommended	Real photos of the business, multiple aspect ratios where possible.
priceRange	Recommended	A simple indicator, not a price list.
sameAs	Recommended	Your profiles elsewhere: social, industry directories, review platforms. This is your entity-disambiguation play.
aggregateRating / review	Don’t	See section 5. This is the one that gets people penalized.

Example 1: a storefront business (single location)

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Dentist",
  "@id": "https://example.com/#dentist",
  "name": "Sharma Dental",
  "image": [
    "https://example.com/photos/exterior.jpg",
    "https://example.com/photos/interior.jpg"
  ],
  "logo": "https://example.com/logo.png",
  "url": "https://example.com/",
  "telephone": "+91-141-555-0123",
  "priceRange": "$$",
  "description": "General and cosmetic dentistry in Malviya Nagar, Jaipur.",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "12 Shanti Path, Malviya Nagar",
    "addressLocality": "Jaipur",
    "addressRegion": "RJ",
    "postalCode": "302017",
    "addressCountry": "IN"
  },
  "geo": {
    "@type": "GeoCoordinates",
    "latitude": 26.8505,
    "longitude": 75.8060
  },
  "openingHoursSpecification": [
    {
      "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
      "dayOfWeek": ["Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday","Friday"],
      "opens": "09:00",
      "closes": "18:00"
    },
    {
      "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
      "dayOfWeek": "Saturday",
      "opens": "09:00",
      "closes": "13:00"
    }
  ],
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.facebook.com/example",
    "https://www.instagram.com/example",
    "https://in.linkedin.com/company/example"
  ]
}
</script>

Example 2: a service-area business (no public address)

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Plumber",
  "@id": "https://example.com/#plumber",
  "name": "Ashfield Plumbing",
  "url": "https://example.com/",
  "telephone": "+44-20-7946-0123",
  "image": "https://example.com/photos/van.jpg",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "4 Bridge Road",
    "addressLocality": "Ashfield",
    "addressRegion": "Nottinghamshire",
    "postalCode": "NG17 1AA",
    "addressCountry": "GB"
  },
  "areaServed": [
    { "@type": "City", "name": "Ashfield" },
    { "@type": "City", "name": "Mansfield" },
    { "@type": "City", "name": "Sutton-in-Ashfield" }
  ],
  "hasOfferCatalog": {
    "@type": "OfferCatalog",
    "name": "Plumbing services",
    "itemListElement": [
      { "@type": "Offer",
        "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Emergency leak repair" } },
      { "@type": "Offer",
        "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Boiler installation" } },
      { "@type": "Offer",
        "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Bathroom fitting" } }
    ]
  },
  "openingHoursSpecification": {
    "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
    "dayOfWeek": ["Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday","Friday","Saturday","Sunday"],
    "opens": "00:00",
    "closes": "23:59"
  }
}
</script>

Example 3: multi-location (homepage plus one location page)

On the homepage, describe the parent brand:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "@id": "https://example.com/#organization",
  "name": "Sharma Dental",
  "url": "https://example.com/",
  "logo": "https://example.com/logo.png",
  "sameAs": ["https://www.facebook.com/example"]
}
</script>

Then on each location page, one LocalBusiness block that points back at the parent:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Dentist",
  "@id": "https://example.com/locations/malviya-nagar/#dentist",
  "name": "Sharma Dental, Malviya Nagar",
  "parentOrganization": { "@id": "https://example.com/#organization" },
  "url": "https://example.com/locations/malviya-nagar/",
  "telephone": "+91-141-555-0123",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "12 Shanti Path, Malviya Nagar",
    "addressLocality": "Jaipur",
    "addressRegion": "RJ",
    "postalCode": "302017",
    "addressCountry": "IN"
  },
  "geo": {
    "@type": "GeoCoordinates",
    "latitude": 26.8505,
    "longitude": 75.8060
  }
}
</script>

A shorthand worth knowing, and why to skip it. There is a compact text form for hours: “openingHours”: “Mo-Fr 09:00-17:00”. It is valid and it is quicker. Use the full openingHoursSpecification version anyway, because it handles split shifts and holiday hours through validFrom and validThrough, and the shorthand cannot. Since being open at the moment of search is now a top-five local ranking factor, hours are not the place to save four lines.

Go and check right now. Open your homepage source, search for “aggregateRating,” and see whether your site is currently telling Google how great your site thinks your site is. If it is, remove it. Ratings should reach Google from third-party platforms, which is exactly what your Google Business Profile and your review platforms are for.

Mistake	Consequence
Marking up your own star ratings	Self-serving review markup. Can trigger a manual action.
Using generic LocalBusiness when a subtype exists	You’ve told Google you’re a business. You haven’t told it what kind.
Schema that doesn’t match your Business Profile	A machine-readable contradiction. Worse than saying nothing.
Identical full markup on every page	Duplication and ambiguity.
Marking up invisible content	Against Google’s structured data policies.
Stale schema after a move or hours change	You’re now confidently publishing the wrong facts in a format machines trust.
A tracking number in telephone	Breaks the consistency the whole exercise exists to establish.

Source	What it supports
Google Search Central: Local Business structured data documentation	Required and recommended properties, the instruction to use the most specific subtype, and the guidance that aggregateRating and review are for sites reviewing other businesses.
Google structured data general guidelines	Markup must represent content visible to users; violations can result in manual action; rich results aren’t guaranteed by markup alone.
Google Search Central: Organization structured data	When Organization is the better type, and the multi-location pattern of Organization on the home page with LocalBusiness on location pages.
schema.org/LocalBusiness	The type definition, its inheritance from Organization and Place, the available subtypes, and the areaServed and OfferCatalog patterns.

What are the required properties for LocalBusiness schema?

Name and address, with the address as a nested PostalAddress object containing streetAddress, addressLocality, addressRegion, postalCode, and addressCountry. Everything else is recommended, but geo coordinates, telephone, opening hours, url, and sameAs are all worth adding.

Can I add my own star rating to my LocalBusiness schema?

No. Google’s guidelines state that aggregateRating and review in LocalBusiness markup are intended for sites that review other businesses, not for a business publishing ratings about itself. Self-serving review markup violates the structured data guidelines and can trigger a manual action. Several popular plugins generate it by default, so check your source code.

Should I use LocalBusiness or a more specific type?

Always the most specific subtype that accurately describes you: Dentist, Restaurant, Plumber, LegalService, AutoRepair, and so on. Google explicitly recommends this. The generic LocalBusiness type tells Google you exist without telling it what you do.

Does LocalBusiness schema improve my rankings?

Not directly. Schema is a clarification layer that makes your facts machine-readable and makes you eligible for rich results and knowledge panel details. Google’s policies state that markup must reflect content visible to users and that rich results aren’t guaranteed. It won’t rescue a thin page.

How do I add schema for a service-area business with no public address?

Include your real address in the markup even though it’s hidden on your Google Business Profile, and add areaServed to describe the towns or regions you cover. Consider Service markup with a provider reference alongside it. If you have no physical address at all, the Organization type may fit better than LocalBusiness.

Where should LocalBusiness schema go on my site?

For a single location, on the homepage or a page describing the business, such as contact or about. For multiple locations, use Organization schema on the homepage and one LocalBusiness block on each location’s own page. Don’t repeat identical full markup across every page.

Does my schema need to match my Google Business Profile exactly?

Yes. Name, address, phone, and hours should be character-for-character identical. A mismatch between your own structured data and your Business Profile is a machine-readable contradiction, and it’s more damaging than having no markup at all.

What format should I use, JSON-LD or microdata?

JSON-LD. It’s Google’s recommended format, it sits in a script tag without touching your visible HTML, and it’s far easier to maintain than microdata woven through your markup.

How do I test my LocalBusiness schema?

Use the Schema Markup Validator for syntax and Google’s Rich Results Test for rich-result eligibility. They answer different questions. Then use URL Inspection in Search Console to see how Google actually renders the page, and monitor the Enhancements reports for errors that appear after template changes.

How often should I update my schema?

Whenever your hours, address, phone number, name, or services change, and re-test after any change to your site template. Outdated schema creates exactly the same trust problem as an outdated Business Profile, except it’s the version machines trust most.

Editorial note: This guide is general marketing information. Google’s structured data requirements and rich result eligibility change over time. Always validate against the current Google Search Central documentation and the Rich Results Test before deploying.