Structured data for local businesses: a practical example

A person looking at your website immediately sees that your address is at the bottom and that "Mon-Fri 8-5" are your opening hours. For software that is less obvious. With structured data you put that information in a fixed format that search engines and AI systems can read without any doubt.

What is structured data?

It is a piece of code on your website, usually in JSON-LD format, following the schema.org conventions. Visitors do not see it, but search engines do. For local businesses the LocalBusiness type (or a more specific type such as Plumber, Dentist or HairSalon) is the most important.

Why does it help with AI?

AI assistants get information from search engines and from websites themselves. Structured data makes that information unambiguous: this is the name, this is the address, these are the places the business serves. That reduces the chance of mistakes and confusion with another business with a similar name.

Example

This is an example for a plumber. Adjust the details and choose a type that fits your business.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Plumber",
  "name": "Duinstad Plumbing",
  "url": "https://www.duinstad-plumbing.com",
  "telephone": "+31 70 123 4567",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "Example Street 1",
    "postalCode": "2500 AA",
    "addressLocality": "The Hague",
    "addressCountry": "NL"
  },
  "areaServed": ["The Hague", "Rijswijk", "Voorburg"],
  "openingHours": "Mo-Fr 08:00-17:00",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.facebook.com/duinstadplumbing",
    "https://www.linkedin.com/company/duinstad-plumbing"
  ]
}
</script>

A few fields explained:

• @type: look up the most specific type for your industry on schema.org. If none fits, use LocalBusiness.
• areaServed: the places you serve. Important if you visit customers at home.
• sameAs: links to your profiles on other sites. This lets a system connect those profiles to your business.

Where do you put the code?

Place the code on your homepage, in the head or at the bottom of the page. If you use WordPress, many SEO plugins can do this for you; fill in your business details fully in the settings. Website builders such as Wix or Squarespace often have an option to add custom code.

Checking

Then test your page with Google's Rich Results Test or the validator at validator.schema.org. They show whether the code is read correctly and whether it contains errors.

Add an FAQ?

If you have a page with frequently asked questions, add FAQPage data to it as well. See also our article on an FAQ page AI likes to cite.

Whether your website already has structured data is shown in the report from the free AI check. Subscribers get this code ready-made, filled in with their own details.