Local business structured data: the practical basics

Structured data gives search systems a machine-readable version of facts already shown to customers. It can clarify the business type, name, URL, contact details, address and hours. It cannot repair a vague, inaccurate or incomplete page.

Fix the visible page first

Confirm the public name, location or service area, phone, opening hours and booking path. Use the business-details audit if several profiles disagree. Markup should mirror the current visible facts, not introduce claims customers cannot verify.

Choose the closest supported type

Use the most specific recognised business type that honestly describes the main operation. Do not stack several types merely to target more searches. A business with genuinely different locations or operations may need separate page-level markup, but each entity should remain clear.

Start with a small accurate set

• name and canonical page URL;
• public phone and address or service-area context;
• opening hours shown on the same page;
• a representative image the business may publish;
• official profile identifiers only when they belong to the business.

Do not mark up testimonials, ratings, prices, events or services that are absent from the page. Event details should use appropriate event markup on the event page rather than being forced into the business record.

Validate and monitor

Run the page through current validator tools after publishing, then check again after theme, plugin or template changes. Record errors separately from optional recommendations. A valid result does not guarantee a rich result or higher ranking; it only confirms that the machine-readable format meets the tested rules.

This is technical implementation guidance, not a substitute for the current documentation of the search platform or schema vocabulary you use.