Schema markup for small business sites: the JSON-LD that is worth adding, with copy-paste examples

What is schema markup, and what does it actually do?

Schema markup is code that labels the facts on a page. Instead of a search engine guessing that "Mon to Fri 8:00 to 17:00" is your opening hours, you state it in a standard format. The vocabulary comes from schema.org, a shared project founded by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex.

Google documents two main effects. Structured data helps Google understand the content of a page, and it makes the page eligible for rich results: product snippets with price and stock, breadcrumb trails, article details, business information and more. Eligible is the important word. Google's structured data guidelines say it does not guarantee that rich results will appear.

What about AI assistants? Google's guide to optimizing for generative AI features is direct: structured data is not required for its generative AI search, and there is no special schema.org markup you need to add. It still recommends structured data as part of normal SEO because of rich results. Other AI companies have not published documentation on how, or whether, schema affects which sources their assistants cite, so be wary of anyone who promises that it does.

The honest case for schema is this: it states facts about your business in an unambiguous, machine readable way, it can earn richer search listings, and it costs little to add correctly.

Which schema types should a small business add?

Most small sites need only a handful of types. Google supports JSON-LD, Microdata and RDFa, and recommends JSON-LD because it sits in one script block and does not tangle with your HTML.

• Type

  Organization

  Put it on

  Home page or About page

  What Google can use it for

  Logo, name and details in knowledge panels

• Type

  LocalBusiness (or a subtype)

  Put it on

  Home page or each location page

  What Google can use it for

  Address, hours and contact details for local results

• Type

  Product with Offer

  Put it on

  Each product page

  What Google can use it for

  Product snippets and merchant listings with price and availability

• Type

  Article or BlogPosting

  Put it on

  Blog posts and news articles

  What Google can use it for

  Headline, image, dates and author

• Type

  BreadcrumbList

  Put it on

  Any page with a breadcrumb trail

  What Google can use it for

  Breadcrumb path in the search result

Many platforms already output some of this. WordPress SEO plugins, Shopify themes and Wix all add structured data by default, so check what your pages already contain before adding more. Two plugins each printing their own Organization block is a common source of conflicting data.

Organization and LocalBusiness: tell machines who you are

Organization markup describes the business itself. Google says it has no required properties and recommends adding every one that applies. The most useful are name, url, logo (at least 112 by 112 pixels and crawlable), sameAs (links to your official profiles elsewhere) and contactPoint.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Northside Plumbing Ltd",
  "url": "https://www.northsideplumbing.example/",
  "logo": "https://www.northsideplumbing.example/images/logo.png",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.facebook.com/northsideplumbing.example",
    "https://www.linkedin.com/company/northsideplumbing-example"
  ],
  "contactPoint": {
    "@type": "ContactPoint",
    "telephone": "+44-113-496-0000",
    "email": "hello@northsideplumbing.example",
    "contactType": "customer service"
  }
}
</script>

If customers visit you or you serve a local area, use LocalBusiness, or better, the most specific subtype that fits, such as Plumber, Dentist or Restaurant. Google requires name and address for local business rich results, and recommends telephone, url, opening hours and geo coordinates.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Plumber",
  "name": "Northside Plumbing",
  "url": "https://www.northsideplumbing.example/",
  "telephone": "+44-113-496-0000",
  "image": "https://www.northsideplumbing.example/images/van.jpg",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "12 Example Road",
    "addressLocality": "Leeds",
    "postalCode": "LS1 1AA",
    "addressCountry": "GB"
  },
  "geo": {
    "@type": "GeoCoordinates",
    "latitude": 53.7997,
    "longitude": -1.5492
  },
  "openingHoursSpecification": [{
    "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
    "dayOfWeek": ["Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday"],
    "opens": "08:00",
    "closes": "17:00"
  }]
}
</script>

Use the same name, address and phone number here as on your Google Business Profile and your contact page. Consistent facts across sources are easier for any system to trust.

Product with Offer: prices and stock for online shops

On a product page, Product markup with a nested Offer describes what you sell, the price, the currency and whether it is in stock. Google uses it for product snippets and, on pages where people can buy, for merchant listings. Google's product structured data documentation lists the full set of properties for each.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Thermostatic Shower Valve TX-200",
  "image": "https://shop.example/images/tx200.jpg",
  "description": "Brass thermostatic shower valve with anti-scald cut-out.",
  "sku": "TX-200",
  "brand": { "@type": "Brand", "name": "Example Brand" },
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "url": "https://shop.example/products/tx-200",
    "price": "149.00",
    "priceCurrency": "GBP",
    "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock",
    "itemCondition": "https://schema.org/NewCondition"
  }
}
</script>

Only add aggregateRating or review if the page really shows those reviews. Shop platforms usually generate this markup from your product data, which keeps prices in sync automatically. Hand-written markup goes stale the first time a price changes.

Article and BreadcrumbList: content pages and site structure

Article (or the more specific BlogPosting or NewsArticle) helps Google show the right headline, image and dates. There are no required properties, but headline, image, datePublished, dateModified and author are the useful ones.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BlogPosting",
  "headline": "How to bleed a radiator in five minutes",
  "image": ["https://www.northsideplumbing.example/images/radiator.jpg"],
  "datePublished": "2026-10-01T09:00:00+01:00",
  "dateModified": "2026-10-20T14:30:00+01:00",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Sam Example",
    "url": "https://www.northsideplumbing.example/about/sam"
  }
}
</script>

BreadcrumbList shows where a page sits in your site. Each item needs a position and a name, and every item except the last needs the URL in item.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
  "itemListElement": [
    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Blog", "item": "https://www.northsideplumbing.example/blog" },
    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Heating", "item": "https://www.northsideplumbing.example/blog/heating" },
    { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "How to bleed a radiator" }
  ]
}
</script>

What happened to FAQ schema?

FAQPage markup used to produce expandable questions under a search result, which made it hugely popular. In 2023 Google limited FAQ rich results to well-known, authoritative government and health websites. In May 2026 Google deprecated the feature entirely: FAQ rich results no longer appear in Google Search from 7 May 2026, and Google removed the documentation in June 2026.

FAQPage is still a valid schema.org type, and leaving existing markup in place does no harm. Just do not add it expecting a richer Google listing. A visible FAQ section that answers real questions is still worth having for readers, whether or not it is marked up.

How to test schema markup, and the mistakes to avoid

Use two free tools. Google's Rich Results Test shows which Google rich result features a page is eligible for and flags errors in properties Google uses. The Schema Markup Validator checks your markup against the full schema.org vocabulary, including types Google does not use. After publishing, the enhancement reports in Google Search Console track errors across the whole site.

The most important rule from Google is that markup must be a true representation of the page. Do not mark up content readers cannot see. Beyond that, these mistakes come up again and again:

• Mismatched facts: the markup says 149.00 and the page says 129.00, or the hours differ from the contact page.
• Self-serving reviews: Google does not show review stars for LocalBusiness or Organization markup when the business publishes reviews about itself.
• Duplicate blocks: a theme and a plugin each output Organization or Product data with different values.
• Broken JSON: a missing comma or a stray quote makes the whole block unreadable. The validators catch this.
• Wrong type: marking a service page as Product, or every page as Article.
• Markup added only by JavaScript that some crawlers never run. Google can process it, but server HTML is safer. See JavaScript SEO for AI crawlers.

Test a real URL, not a pasted code snippet, so you see what crawlers actually receive after your theme, plugins and cache have done their work.

Structured data is one of the checks in a free Growli audit, alongside canonicals, titles, JavaScript-only content and llms.txt (see our llms.txt guide). Each issue is rated High, Medium or Low with fix steps for WordPress, Shopify, Wix and other platforms.