Schema markup for service businesses: a practical guide

Schema.org is a shared vocabulary for describing things on the web: organisations, places, services, articles, products, events and many more. It was launched in 2011 by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, with Yandex joining later that year. Markup written in this vocabulary sits in the page code, invisible to visitors, and states facts in a form machines can read without guessing.

Google supports three formats, JSON-LD, Microdata and RDFa, and recommends JSON-LD because it sits in one script block, separate from the visible HTML, and is the easiest to maintain.

Not directly. Google has said structured data is not a ranking factor in itself, and its documentation is clear that valid markup makes a page eligible for rich results without guaranteeing them. What schema does is remove ambiguity: it tells Google which business the site belongs to, where it operates, what it offers and how pages relate to each other. Rich results that do appear can make a listing stand out and help click-through.

Choose the most specific LocalBusiness subtype that fits, such as Dentist, LegalService or HomeAndConstructionBusiness, rather than the generic type. Review markup needs care: Google does not show review stars for reviews a business publishes about itself on its own site, a rule in place since 2019.

1. Map types to templates. Decide which types each page template needs: Organization site-wide, LocalBusiness on contact or location pages, Service on service pages, Article on posts, BreadcrumbList everywhere.
2. Write the JSON-LD. Add one script block of type application/ld+json per page. Generate it from your content management system so it updates when the content does.
3. Connect the entities. Give the organisation an @id and reference it as the provider of each Service and the publisher of each Article, so the markup describes one connected business.
4. Match the visible content. Google's guidelines require markup to describe content users can see on the page. Do not mark up reviews, prices or questions that are not shown.
5. Test before release. Use Google's Rich Results Test for rich result eligibility and the Schema Markup Validator at validator.schema.org for general correctness.
6. Monitor in Search Console. The enhancement reports flag errors and warnings across all pages using each type.

Google's guidance on AI features in Search says there is no special markup needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and repeats that structured data should match the visible text. Other AI engines have not published how they use schema. Our view is that clean, connected markup is worth having because it makes the facts about your business unambiguous to any system that reads it, but it is not a shortcut to being cited. For that, see how to get cited in AI answers.

• Marking up content that is not on the page, especially reviews and FAQs.
• Using several plugins that each output their own, conflicting Organization markup.
• Leaving out required properties, so the markup is valid but not eligible for any feature.
• Setting it once and never updating it after the address, phone number or services change.

We build connected JSON-LD into every site at the template level as part of our web design and SEO work, so it updates when the content does.