Local Schema Deep Dive Every Markup Type for Local Business

LocalBusiness schema and its subtypes

The LocalBusiness schema type (and its many subtypes like Restaurant, Dentist, PlumbingService, HairSalon) lets you mark up your business name, address, phone number, hours, price range, accepted payment types and geographic coordinates in a structured format search engines can parse with certainty, rather than inferring them from unstructured page text. Use the most specific subtype available for your business rather than the generic LocalBusiness type, mirroring the category-selection principle covered for Google Business Profile.

Mark up every physical location individually on multi-location sites, matching the NAP data exactly to what appears on the corresponding Google Business Profile listing — a mismatch between schema data and the actual visible page content or Google Business Profile data undermines the trust in the structured data being an accurate reflection of reality.

Review, FAQ and service schema for local pages

Review schema (or the AggregateRating property within LocalBusiness) can enable star ratings to display directly in search results, which noticeably improves click-through rate, though it requires genuine review data and must comply with structured data guidelines around what can be marked up. FAQ schema on local pages covering common location-specific questions (parking availability, accessibility, specific local service area boundaries) can also earn expanded search result real estate.

Service schema listing specific services offered at a location, paired with an Offer type where pricing is public, gives search engines additional structured detail to match against specific service-plus-location searches beyond what the page's visible text alone communicates.

Implementing and validating schema in RankLocal

RankLocal's schema generator produces valid LocalBusiness JSON-LD markup pre-filled from your connected Google Business Profile data, reducing manual entry errors and keeping the two data sources naturally in sync when either is updated. Always validate generated markup with Google's Rich Results Test before publishing to catch any structural errors that would prevent the markup being read at all.

Re-validate schema after any website platform change, theme update or migration, since these frequently strip or break structured data silently without any visible change to the page itself, and the loss often goes unnoticed for months until a rich result unexpectedly disappears from search.

• Use the most specific LocalBusiness subtype available
• Match schema NAP data exactly to the live Google Business Profile
• Add Review, FAQ and Service schema where genuinely applicable
• Validate every schema implementation with Google's Rich Results Test

Key takeaways

• ✓Use the most specific LocalBusiness schema subtype for your category
• ✓Keep schema NAP data in exact sync with your Google Business Profile
• ✓Add FAQ and Review schema where genuine content supports it
• ✓Validate schema after every site change and before every publish

Why this lesson matters

This lesson belongs to Links, Multi-Location and Advanced Local, the part of Local SEO Mastery where the goal is: extend local authority through community-based link building, manage multiple locations at scale, and implement local schema correctly.

Read it once, then do it straight away on a real site inside RankLinks. Nothing here is theory for its own sake — every step produces something you can show a client.

Do it now

1. 1Open RankLinks with sample data already loaded, so you are not stuck on setup.
2. 2Browse real placement inventory.
3. 3Identify three local link opportunities in RankLinks and add LocalBusiness schema to your primary location page.