What Is LocalBusiness Schema?
LocalBusiness schema is structured data markup that identifies your website as representing a physical business location. It communicates your business name, address, phone number, opening hours, and ratings to Google in a machine-readable format. Correct LocalBusiness markup directly supports your Google Business Profile, improves local pack visibility, and strengthens the NAP (Name, Address, Phone) consistency signals that local SEO depends on.
LocalBusiness Schema and Local Pack Rankings
Google's local algorithm relies heavily on NAP consistency — your business name, address, and phone number must match exactly across your website, Google Business Profile, and directory citations. LocalBusiness schema on your homepage provides Google with a canonical NAP reference. Businesses with schema markup that matches their GBP data consistently outperform competitors without schema in local pack and map results.
Choosing the Right Business Type
Using a specific business subtype rather than generic LocalBusiness improves relevance signals. A restaurant should use Restaurant, a medical clinic should use MedicalBusiness, and a hair salon should use HairSalon. Each subtype inherits LocalBusiness properties while adding type-specific context. Google's guidelines include dozens of business subtypes — always choose the most specific type that accurately describes your business.
Opening Hours Format
The openingHours field follows a specific format: two-letter day abbreviation, start time, end time — all in 24-hour format. For example: "Mo-Fr 09:00-17:00" means Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm. Separate multiple hour ranges with commas. Saturday and Sunday are "Sa" and "Su". Businesses open 24 hours use "Mo-Su 00:00-23:59".
Aggregate Ratings in LocalBusiness Schema
Adding aggregateRating to your LocalBusiness schema can enable star ratings to appear in local search results and Google Maps. The rating must reflect genuine customer reviews — it can pull from Google Reviews, Yelp, or your own on-site review system. Fabricated ratings violate Google's guidelines and can result in manual penalties, so only use real aggregate data.