What local business structured data does
Local business structured data is a block of code on your page that tells Google, in a format it can read directly, who you are, where you are and when you are open. Your page may already say all of that in plain text. The markup removes the guesswork for the machine reading it.
It matters in two places. Google uses structured data to understand a page and, when the page is eligible, to show richer results in Search. AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity also do better with facts that are stated clearly and consistently. If you are new to the idea, our explainer on what structured data is and how it helps small businesses get found on Google covers the basics, and our piece on structured data and AI search covers the second half.
What to put in the markup
Google's documentation has two rules that should shape how you fill this in. Every required property must be present for a page to be eligible for a rich result, and Google prefers complete, accurate recommended properties over many incomplete ones. So start with a short list and get it right.
- Business name. Use the same name that appears on your page and everywhere else you are listed.
- Address. Street, city, region and country, written the way it appears on the page.
- Opening hours. The days and times you are actually open.
- Phone number and website URL. The ones a customer would use.
- Logo or image. A real photo or logo that belongs to the business.
Use the schema.org vocabulary, which is what most Google Search structured data is built on. When Google's own documentation and schema.org differ on what Search supports, follow Google's Search Central documentation, because it is the definitive source for how Search behaves.
Which format to use and where it goes
Google supports three formats: JSON-LD, Microdata and RDFa. It recommends JSON-LD. JSON-LD sits in a single script block in the head or body of your page, separate from the visible content, which makes it simpler to add, update and keep correct than markup woven through your HTML.
The markup has to describe what a visitor can see. Do not add details to the code that are not on the page, and do not create a blank page just to hold the markup. If your opening hours change, change them on the page and in the markup at the same time, or the two will disagree.
Before you publish, run the page through Google's Rich Results Test to catch missing required properties. Afterwards, check the rich result status reports in Search Console to see whether Google reads the markup and whether it finds errors.
Reviews and the self-serving review problem
This is where most local businesses go wrong. It is tempting to paste the five-star testimonials from your own site into review markup and expect stars in search results. A review that a business collects and publishes about itself is a self-serving review, and marking those up is the classic mistake.
Keep the two things apart. Review and rating markup should describe genuine, visible reviews in a way that follows Google's current documentation. Never invent ratings, never mark up a testimonial you wrote yourself, and never mark up a rating that visitors cannot see on the page. Fabricated review data is a fast way to lose trust with Google, and trust is the most important part of how Google assesses content.
The safer approach is to put your effort into getting real reviews in places you do not control, and to use your own markup for the facts you can stand behind: name, address, hours and contact details.
After you add the markup
Google has to recrawl and reprocess a page before it notices a change, so do not expect results the same day. Check the page in Search Console, and confirm that the details in your markup match your page, your contact page and any directory listings.
Consistency is the part people skip. If your hours say one thing in the markup and another in the footer, both Google and AI assistants have a reason to trust neither. Write the facts once, keep them identical everywhere, and update them together.
You do not need a developer for most of this. On platforms like WordPress, Webflow, Wix and GitHub-hosted sites, Scaup connects to your site and handles structured data as part of its daily work on your pages, and you can switch on review so nothing goes live until you approve it. See the documentation for what each platform allows. If you build or manage websites for clients and want to offer this kind of work as a service, read our guide on adding SEO and AI search visibility to your services as a web designer or marketing agency. For the wider checklist of page-level fixes, use our on-page SEO checklist for small business websites.
Frequently asked questions
What is local business structured data?
It is code on your page that states your business name, address, opening hours and contact details in a format Google can read directly. It describes what is already visible on the page.
Which format should I use for structured data?
Google supports JSON-LD, Microdata and RDFa, and it recommends JSON-LD. JSON-LD sits in one script block, separate from the visible content.
Can I mark up testimonials from my own website as reviews?
You should not. Reviews a business collects and publishes about itself are self-serving, and review markup should reflect genuine, visible reviews that follow Google's documentation. Never invent ratings or mark up details visitors cannot see.
How do I test my markup before publishing?
Use Google's Rich Results Test during development to catch missing required properties. After publishing, use the rich result status reports in Search Console to monitor how Google reads it.
Does structured data help with AI assistants like ChatGPT?
Clear, consistent facts about your business make it easier for AI assistants to understand and describe you. Keep the name, address and hours identical across your page, markup and listings.
Do I need a developer to add structured data?
Not necessarily. Tools that connect to your platform can handle it for you, and Scaup works this way on WordPress, Webflow, Wix and GitHub-hosted sites, with an optional review step before changes go live.