Local Business Schema in JSON-LD: A Practical Guide to LocalBusiness, Service, FAQPage and Breadcrumb Markup
Structured data is how you tell search engines and AI assistants, in their own language, who you are, where you work and what you sell. The parts that matter, with the mistakes we fix most often.
By Ads Ninza · Published 29 October 2026 · 6 min read
What structured data does
Structured data is a standard vocabulary, schema.org, that describes the things on a page in a way machines can read without guessing: this is a business, this is its address, these are its opening hours, this is a service it sells at this price, these are questions and answers. Google uses it for rich results and to understand pages; AI assistants and other search engines use it to extract facts accurately. It does not replace good content, and on its own it will not lift a weak page to the top, but it removes ambiguity, which matters more every year as AI answers summarise pages instead of linking to them.
Google recommends JSON-LD: a block of JSON inside a script tag in the page, separate from the visible HTML. It is the easiest format to generate, maintain and test, and it is what we use on every page of this site and on client sites.
Organization and WebSite: the foundation
Every site should declare who publishes it. An Organization object (or a more specific type) carries the legal or trading name, URL, logo, contact points, address and sameAs links to official social profiles. Give it a stable @id, such as your home page URL plus #organization, so every other object on every page can refer to it instead of repeating it. A WebSite object with its own @id names the site and its publisher. On adsninza.com these two objects appear on every page and everything else points back to them.
LocalBusiness: choose the most specific type
LocalBusiness has many subtypes: HVACBusiness, Plumber, Electrician, RoofingContractor, AutoRepair, Dentist, LegalService, ProfessionalService and more. Use the most specific one that fits. The properties that matter most are name, address (PostalAddress with street, locality, region, postal code and country), geo coordinates, telephone, openingHoursSpecification, url, image, priceRange and areaServed for businesses that travel to customers. Service-area businesses without a public address can omit the street and rely on areaServed. Black Label Mobile Detailing, one of our October 2026 launches, publishes its Toms River shop address and coordinates alongside its service towns, which helps search engines place it correctly for both shop and mobile searches.
Service and Offer: what you sell and for how much
For each service page, a Service object names the service, describes it, sets provider to your Organization @id, lists areaServed (City, State or Country objects) and can carry offers with price, priceCurrency and a description. If you publish starting prices, mark them up; they are exactly the kind of fact AI assistants quote. Our service and location pages each carry a Service with an Offer of $500 per month or INR 35,000 per month, an audience and the place served. Our home service lead generation pages add an OfferCatalog listing each lead type, so a page about pest control leads in Louisiana tells machines it covers termites, bed bugs, cockroaches and rodents there.
FAQPage, BreadcrumbList and WebPage
FAQPage wraps the questions and answers visible on the page. Google now shows FAQ rich results only for a narrow set of authoritative government and health sites, but the markup still helps machines read the page, and the visible FAQs are what AI assistants quote. Keep answers short, factual and identical to what users see.
BreadcrumbList describes the page's place in the site, for example Home, Lead Generation, HVAC, Texas. Google shows breadcrumbs in results and uses them to understand site structure.
WebPage with a SpeakableSpecification can point voice assistants to the most important text, such as the H1 and summary. Articles use BlogPosting or Article with headline, author, datePublished, dateModified and image.
Connecting it all with @id
The difference between scattered markup and a clear entity graph is @id. When the Service on a location page says its provider is the Organization with @id https://example.com/#organization, and the WebPage says it is about the Service with @id of that page plus #service, search engines see one consistent business offering specific services in specific places, rather than dozens of unconnected fragments. You can publish objects as separate script blocks or in a single @graph array; both work if the references are consistent.
The mistakes we fix most often
Marking up content that is not on the page, such as reviews nobody can see or FAQs hidden from users, which breaks Google's guidelines. Self-serving review markup on a business's own LocalBusiness, which Google ignores for star ratings. Copy-pasted plugin markup with a different business name, an old address or the wrong type. Prices in markup that differ from prices on the page. Missing or inconsistent @id values so objects never connect. Invalid JSON from a stray quote or comma, which silently disables the whole block. Each of these is easy to catch with testing.
How to test and maintain it
Run every page template through Google's Rich Results Test and the Schema Markup Validator before launch, then check Search Console's enhancement reports for errors after Google crawls the site. Generate markup from the same data that builds the page, rather than pasting it by hand, so a price or address change updates both at once. That is how this site works: the data files that produce our pages also produce the JSON-LD, the sitemap and llms.txt. See our AI crawler guide and SEO, GEO, AEO and AIO explained.
Who should do this
Every business with a website, but especially local service businesses, multi-location brands, clinics, law firms, e-commerce stores and anyone whose buyers ask AI assistants for recommendations. If your site runs on WordPress or Shopify, plugins and apps can cover the basics; check their output, because many add generic or wrong markup. For custom sites, generate it from your data. Our Search Everywhere Optimisation and website development services build it for clients in the USA, India, the UK, the UAE and Canada.
Frequently asked questions
What is JSON-LD?
A format for structured data that sits in a script tag on the page, recommended by Google.
Does schema markup improve rankings?
Not directly. It helps search engines and AI assistants understand your pages and can earn rich results.
Which schema type should a local business use?
The most specific LocalBusiness subtype that fits, such as Plumber, HVACBusiness or Dentist.
Should I add FAQPage schema?
Yes, for visible FAQs. Rich results are limited, but the markup helps machines read the page.
What is @id in schema?
A stable identifier that lets objects refer to each other, such as a Service pointing to its provider Organization.
Can I mark up my own reviews?
Google ignores self-serving review markup on your own business for star ratings.
How do I test schema?
With Google's Rich Results Test, the Schema Markup Validator and Search Console enhancement reports.
Should prices be in schema?
If you publish them on the page, yes, and they must match exactly.
Does schema help AI search?
It helps AI systems extract accurate facts about your business, which supports citations.
How do we start with Ads Ninza?
Apply through the form on this page. The first step is a paid discovery call, $9 outside India or INR 499 in India, 45 to 60 minutes with a senior consultant on your numbers. Services start at $500 per month outside India and INR 35,000 per month in India.