Local Business Schema
Publish valid business markup for every location, matching the profile exactly.
Business schema states your name, address, hours, phone and services in a format search engines read directly. It does not raise rankings on its own. It removes the guesswork that causes errors.
What it does
Structured data does not raise rankings by itself, and anyone selling it as a ranking tactic is overstating what it does. What it does is remove ambiguity. It states your name, address, hours, phone and services in a form search engines read directly, instead of working them out from the layout of a page.
That working out is where errors come in. A crawler reading a page has to decide which of several phone numbers is the business one, whether the hours listed are current or seasonal, and which address belongs to which branch. Every one of those decisions is a chance to get it wrong.
Markup answers the questions before they are asked. And because it is generated from the same record as your profile, the two cannot end up saying different things, which is the most common way businesses undermine their own consistency.
The other half is that it has to be valid. Broken markup is not neutral. It is ignored at best, and at worst it states something you did not mean.
Everything you get
Generated from your record
The same details as the profile, so the two cannot disagree.
Valid by construction
Markup that passes validation rather than markup somebody wrote by hand.
A block per location
Each branch gets its own, matching its own profile.
The right business type
More specific than LocalBusiness where a better type exists, because specific is better understood.
Hours including exceptions
Regular hours and holiday hours both stated.
Services and products
Stated rather than left for a crawler to infer from a list.
Geo coordinates
So the location is unambiguous.
Updates when the record does
Change the detail once and every page carrying it changes.
Validation report
What is present, what is missing and what is malformed.
From setup to first result
- 1
Get the record right first
Markup states what you tell it. Wrong details become confidently wrong markup.
- 2
Pick the most specific type
A dentist should not be marked up as a generic business if a better type exists.
- 3
Include the full address and geo
Ambiguity about where you are is the thing this is meant to remove.
- 4
Add hours and holiday hours
Seasonal exceptions are exactly what a crawler cannot infer.
- 5
State services rather than implying them
A list on a page is a guess. Markup is a statement.
- 6
Validate it
Broken markup is ignored, or worse, believed.
- 7
Keep it tied to the record
So a change to your hours updates the markup without anyone remembering.
What changes when you use it
- Treating it as a ranking tactic
- Marking up details that disagree with the profile
- Using a generic type
- Hand written markup
- Marking up one page for many branches
- It removes guesswork, not effort
- It is not a ranking tactic
- Disagreement between site and profile is common
- Specific types are understood better
- Broken markup is worse than none
It removes guesswork, not effort
Search engines otherwise infer your details from page layout, and inference is where mistakes come from.
It is not a ranking tactic
Anyone selling it as one is overstating it. It makes you unambiguous, which is a different and real benefit.
Disagreement between site and profile is common
Generating both from one record is the only reliable way to stop it.
Specific types are understood better
A generic business type tells a search engine less than the right specific one.
Broken markup is worse than none
It gets ignored at best and misread at worst.
It feeds more than search
Assistants and other systems read the same markup, and they cannot ask you to clarify.
What it measures
- Pages carrying valid markup
- Locations with their own block
- Fields populated per location
- Validation errors
- Mismatches against the profile
- Time since the markup last changed
Reports you can send
Every output can be exported and carries your branding, never ours.
Business markup
Valid JSON on every relevant page.
Per location blocks
One per branch, matching its profile.
Hours and exceptions
Stated in full.
Service and product markup
Where relevant.
Geo coordinates
Unambiguous location.
Validation report
Present, missing and malformed.
Who this is built for
State your details once, correctly.
A valid block per branch without hand editing.
Ship correct markup for a client without a developer.
Consistent markup across the whole network.
Get more out of it
- Fix the underlying record before you generate anything.
- Use the most specific accurate business type.
- Include holiday hours, not just regular hours.
- State services rather than leaving them to be inferred.
- Validate after every change.
- Generate site and profile details from one record so they cannot drift.
Treating it as a ranking tactic
It removes ambiguity. Selling it as a ranking lever sets an expectation it will not meet.
Marking up details that disagree with the profile
You have now stated two different things clearly, which is worse than stating nothing.
Using a generic type
A specific accurate type is understood better than a catch all one.
Hand written markup
It breaks quietly, and broken markup is ignored or misread.
Marking up one page for many branches
Each location needs its own block matching its own profile.
By hand, or with this
| Doing it manually | With Local Business Schema |
|---|---|
| Details inferred from page layout | Details stated directly |
| Site and profile drifting apart | Both generated from one record |
| Markup written by hand | Valid by construction |
| One block for every branch | A block per location |
| Hours without exceptions | Holiday hours included |
| No idea whether it is valid | A validation report |
- Correct the underlying business record
- Choose the most specific accurate type
- Add the full address and coordinates
- Include regular and holiday hours
- State your services
- Validate the output
- Tie it to the record so it updates itself
One of 42 tools on the same plan
Every tool below is on the same plan at the same price. Nothing here is an extra, an upgrade or a separate subscription.
Rank & Visibility
Manage Profiles
Posts & Automation
Reviews & Reputation
Reports & White-Label
Questions people ask
Does schema improve my rankings?
Not on its own, and anyone saying otherwise is overstating it. What it does is state your details clearly instead of leaving them to be inferred, which removes a common source of errors.
What should it include?
Name, address, geo coordinates, phone, regular and holiday hours, services and the most specific accurate business type.
Why does it have to match my profile?
Because clearly stating two different things is worse than stating nothing. Generating both from one record is the only reliable way to stop them drifting.
What happens if the markup is broken?
It is ignored at best. At worst it clearly states something you did not mean, which is why validation matters after every change.
Do I need a separate block per location?
Yes. Each branch has its own address, hours and phone, and one shared block cannot represent them.
Does anything other than Google read it?
Yes. Assistants and other systems read the same markup, and unlike a person they cannot ask you to clarify.
Do I have to maintain it?
No, provided it is generated from the record you already keep. Change the hours once and the markup follows.
Every tool. One price. Nothing extra to buy.
$5.33 per location per month gets you Local Business Schema and the other 41 tools.