Skip to content
Open app Sign in
Blog

Structured data for small business websites, explained

- 9 min read - by , Founder

Dentist looking at his clinic in search results on a laptop

Structured data is a block of standardized labels in your page's code that tells search engines who you are, where you are, when you are open and what you offer. For a small business it usually means schema.org markup in JSON-LD: a LocalBusiness type, opening hours, services and breadcrumbs. It can earn richer Google listings, but never guarantees them.

What is structured data, in plain words?

Structured data is information about your business written in a fixed, machine-readable format, so search engines do not have to guess what your page means. Google describes it as a standardized way to describe a page and classify its content.

The labels come from schema.org, a shared vocabulary founded by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex. According to schema.org, more than 45 million web domains used its markup as of 2024.

Markup can be written as JSON-LD, Microdata or RDFa. Google recommends JSON-LD because it is the easiest to add and maintain, and it sits in a separate block of code that visitors never see. For a hair salon, the markup typically states:

  • the business type, for example HairSalon
  • the name, street address, city, postal code and country
  • the phone number and website address
  • opening hours for each day of the week

Which schema types matter for a small business?

Most small business websites need only a handful of schema.org types: a specific LocalBusiness subtype with opening hours, Organization details with sameAs links, Service, and BreadcrumbList. Reviews come with strict rules, covered further down.

LocalBusiness and its subtypes

LocalBusiness describes a physical business or a branch. Google requires only two properties, name and address, and recommends telephone, url, geo coordinates, opening hours and priceRange (under 100 characters).

Google also asks you to use the most specific subtype possible. Schema.org has ready-made types for many trades:

  • HomeAndConstructionBusiness: Plumber, Electrician, HVACBusiness, Locksmith, RoofingContractor, HousePainter, MovingCompany
  • HealthAndBeautyBusiness: HairSalon, NailSalon, BeautySalon, DaySpa, HealthClub
  • other subtypes of LocalBusiness, such as Dentist, LegalService, ChildCare and FoodEstablishment

OpeningHoursSpecification

OpeningHoursSpecification states your hours day by day, using dayOfWeek, opens and closes. Google's local business documentation covers the edge cases:

  • a day you are closed uses 00:00 for both opening and closing
  • a 24-hour day runs from 00:00 to 23:59
  • validFrom and validThrough add dates for seasonal or holiday hours

Service

Service is the schema.org type for a service an organization provides, with properties such as provider, areaServed, serviceType and offers. Google's search gallery has no rich result for it, but it still states in machine-readable form what you do and where.

Organization with sameAs

Organization markup describes your business as an entity, and Google suggests placing it on the home page or an about page. Its sameAs property lists the URLs of your profiles on other websites, such as social media or review sites. A logo must be at least 112x112 pixels. For a local business, Google points you to the most specific LocalBusiness subtype, which inherits all Organization properties.

BreadcrumbList

BreadcrumbList shows where a page sits in your site, such as Home, then Services, then Boiler repair, with a position, name and URL for each step. Since January 2025, Google shows breadcrumbs only in desktop results, because they get cut off on small screens.

What rich results can a small business still get from Google?

As of September 2026, the Google rich results that matter most to a small business are business details in the local knowledge panel, review snippets under strict conditions, breadcrumbs on desktop, and your logo and organization details. Google's search gallery says the knowledge panel can show details such as open hours, ratings and directions.

FAQ rich results are now gone for everyone. On August 8, 2023, Google limited them to well-known, authoritative government and health websites, and it deprecated How-to rich results fully on September 13, 2023. Google's changelog then recorded that FAQ rich results stopped appearing from May 7, 2026, and removed the FAQ documentation on June 15, 2026.

According to Search Engine Journal, Google's notice also dropped FAQ support from the Rich Results Test in June 2026. Existing FAQPage markup can stay: Google said in 2023 that unused structured data causes no problems.

Even for supported types, correct markup is not a promise. Google's guidelines state that it does not guarantee rich results, and the Rich Results Test help page notes that results depend on factors such as the user's location and search history.

Does structured data help you show up in AI answers?

Structured data helps machines read your facts, but Google says you do not need any special schema.org markup to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. Its AI features page says there are no extra requirements, and asks that your structured data match the visible text on the page.

Google's May 2026 guide to generative AI features still recommends structured data as part of normal SEO, because it makes pages eligible for rich results. The same guide says a Google Business Profile can help local businesses be visible in AI responses. Since May 15, 2026, Google's documentation also states that its spam policies apply to generative AI responses.

Microsoft's advertising blog wrote in October 2025 that schema helps search engines and AI systems understand content. It also warned against hiding important answers in tabs or expandable menus, because AI systems may not render hidden content. Be wary of claims that one schema type raises your odds of being cited by a chatbot by a fixed percentage: neither Google's nor Microsoft's guidance gives such a number.

What are the most common structured data mistakes?

The most common structured data mistake is markup that says something different from what visitors see on the page. Google's guidelines forbid marking up content that readers cannot see, and require the data to be a true, up-to-date representation of the page. Watch for these errors:

  1. Hours in the markup that differ from the hours on the page, often after a holiday or schedule change.
  2. Star ratings for your own business. Google's review snippet rules say that when a business controls the reviews about itself, its LocalBusiness or Organization pages are ineligible for review stars.
  3. Fake reviews, which Google names as misleading content that must not be marked up.
  4. A generic type where a specific one exists, such as LocalBusiness instead of Plumber.
  5. Missing required properties, such as the address, which makes the markup ineligible for rich results.
  6. Markup on the wrong page, such as one branch's details on another branch's page.

Fake reviews are also a legal issue. In the US, the FTC announced a final rule on August 14, 2024 that bans fake reviews and testimonials, including AI-generated ones. If you are unsure how you collect or display reviews, ask a lawyer.

Breaking Google's rules can lead to a structured data manual action. Google says the page then loses eligibility for rich results, although its ranking in regular web search is not affected.

How do you test structured data on your website?

You test structured data with two free tools: Google's Rich Results Test, which shows which Google rich results a page can get, and the Schema Markup Validator, which checks all schema.org markup without Google-specific rules. Google lists both on its structured data tools page. A simple routine:

  1. Paste your page URL or a code snippet into the Rich Results Test. It uses a smartphone crawler by default and separates critical errors from non-critical warnings. Fix the errors first.
  2. Run the same URL through the Schema Markup Validator, which also covers types the Rich Results Test does not, such as Service and FAQPage.
  3. In Google Search Console, use the URL Inspection tool on the live page, then ask Google to recrawl it. Google notes this can take several days.
  4. Check the rich result reports in Search Console, and retest whenever you change hours, prices or services.

Every SiteCreatorEngine site comes with page titles, descriptions, schema.org structured data and a sitemap, but it is still worth running your key pages through both tools after you edit your hours or services. If you want to see it on your own business, you can build a free site with SiteCreatorEngine.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to write code to add structured data?

Not necessarily. Google notes that if your site runs on a content management system, it may be easier to use a plugin built into that system than to write markup by hand. What you do need is accurate information: the right business type, your full address, your phone number and current opening hours, matching what the page shows.

Should I delete my old FAQ schema?

You do not have to. FAQ rich results stopped appearing in Google Search in May 2026, and Google said back in 2023 that structured data it does not use causes no problems but also has no visible effect. Keep the visible FAQ section if customers find it helpful, and remove the markup whenever it is convenient.

Can I show star ratings for my business in Google results?

Not from reviews you collect about yourself. Google's review snippet rules make LocalBusiness and Organization pages ineligible for stars when the business controls its own reviews. Stars are meant for independent reviews of other businesses or products. Showing genuine testimonials on your page is fine, but marking them up will not produce stars.

Is structured data the same as a Google Business Profile?

No. Structured data lives in your website's code, while a Google Business Profile is a listing you manage directly with Google. They work together: Google's generative AI guide says Business Profiles can help local businesses appear in AI responses and search results, so your markup should state the same name, address and hours as your profile.

Sources

On SiteCreatorEngine

Keep reading

Start free More articles

This site uses the cookies it needs to work. With your permission, we also use Google Analytics cookies to count visits and sign-ups, and record how these pages are used - clicks and scrolling, never what you type - to find what gets in people's way. May we use analytics cookies to count visits and sign-ups? Privacy