Organization and LocalBusiness schema explained

The short answer

Organization schema describes who you are: name, website, logo and official profiles. LocalBusiness schema, a more specific type, adds details tied to a place, such as address, opening hours and phone number. Both are added as structured data, usually JSON-LD, and must match what visitors can see on the page.

What schema markup is

Schema markup, also called structured data, is a standard vocabulary published at schema.org. You add small blocks of labelled information to a page, so software can read facts directly rather than infer them from the text.

For a person, "Open Monday to Friday, nine to five" is obvious. A search engine has to work it out. With markup, the same fact is labelled as opening hours, and nothing is left to interpretation.

Google supports several formats and says it prefers JSON-LD, which sits in a block in the page and does not change how the page looks. Check the current Google documentation on structured data for supported types and rules, because they are updated.

Organization schema

Organization is the general type for any company, charity, school or group. It tells search engines which entity your website belongs to.

Properties you might include:

• name: your official business name.
• url: your home page address.
• logo: an address of your logo image.
• sameAs: addresses of your official profiles elsewhere, such as your company page on a professional network or a business listing.
• contactPoint: a customer-service phone number or email, with the languages and areas served if useful.
• description: a sentence about what you do.

Use it once, normally on your home page or about page, rather than repeating it across every page. Its job is to give search engines a consistent, clear identity for your business. It does not guarantee any special display in results.

LocalBusiness schema

LocalBusiness is a more specific kind of Organization. It is meant for businesses with a physical presence or a defined service area, such as a shop, clinic, restaurant or plumber. There are also narrower sub-types, for example for restaurants or dentists, listed on schema.org. Use the most specific type that honestly fits.

On top of the Organization details, it can describe:

• address: street, town, region, postcode and country.
• telephone.
• openingHoursSpecification: days and times.
• geo: latitude and longitude of the location.
• areaServed: where you work, for businesses that travel to customers.
• priceRange and other optional fields, where relevant and accurate.

If you work from a home or an office that customers do not visit, think carefully before publishing the address. See local SEO for service-area businesses for how to handle this.

Which one should you use?

When in doubt, use Organization. A correct simple answer is better than a detailed wrong one.

Rules for honest markup and how to add it

Rules that keep markup honest

• Match the page. Markup must describe content that visitors can actually see. Do not mark up details that appear nowhere on the page.
• Use real facts. Never publish a made-up address, hours or phone number.
• Keep it current. When hours or contact details change, update the page and the markup together.
• No fake reviews or awards. Marking up ratings or awards you cannot show breaks Google's guidelines and can lead to the markup being ignored or to a manual action.
• Be consistent. Your name, address and phone number should match across your site, your business profile and other listings. See Google Business Profile SEO basics.

How to add it

1. Collect the facts in a plain document: legal or trading name, address, phone, hours, logo address, official profile addresses.
2. Choose the type: Organization, LocalBusiness or a sub-type.
3. Write the JSON-LD block, using schema.org's type pages and Google's documentation for the property names. Most content management systems and SEO plug-ins can generate it from a form.
4. Place it in the head or body of the relevant page.
5. Publish and test.

Do not copy a template wholesale. Delete any field you cannot fill truthfully rather than leaving example values behind. A leftover sample phone number is a common and embarrassing error.

How to test and monitor

Google offers a Rich Results Test and a Schema Markup Validator at schema.org for checking syntax. Run your page through both. Our guide to rich results and structured data testing walks through the process.

Look for three things: no errors, no warnings you do not understand, and values that match the visible page. Then check Search Console for any structured-data reports on your site over the following weeks. Report names and availability change, so check the current documentation.

Keep realistic expectations. Valid markup helps search engines understand you; it is not a ranking switch, and for business details it may not change how your result looks at all. Trust signals such as clear authorship and real expertise still do much of the work; see E-E-A-T explained.

An example of the facts you would gather

This is an invented example to show the kind of list to prepare. A fictional bakery, "Corner Loaf", has one shop. Its fact sheet reads: trading name, the street address as shown on the shop sign, a phone number that is answered during opening hours, opening times for each day (with the Sunday hours written out, and the days it is closed marked as such), the address of its logo file, and the addresses of its two official social profiles.

The fact sheet then drives three places at once: the visible footer of the site, the contact page, and the LocalBusiness markup. When all three come from the same sheet, they cannot drift apart. When the owner changes the Sunday hours, she edits the sheet and updates all three.

For a larger site with named experts, structured data about people can sit alongside the business markup. Real profiles with real roles support trust more than any label; see author pages and bylines for SEO and trust for how to present them.

Mistakes to avoid

• Adding markup to every page when once on the right page is enough.
• Using LocalBusiness for a business with no real location or service area.
• Marking up details copied from a competitor.
• Forgetting the markup after a redesign, so it quietly disappears or goes stale.
• Using several plug-ins that each output their own version, producing conflicting blocks.

If your site has several location pages, give each its own correct LocalBusiness block, with the right address and phone for that branch only.

Review the markup whenever you change opening hours, move premises, rebrand or add a profile. A short reminder in your quarterly site check is enough to keep it accurate.

Related guides

• SEO services
• Google Business Profile SEO Basics
• Local SEO for Service-Area Businesses Explained
• Schema markup for small business websites
• Retargeting explained for small business
• Instagram for business how to start

Questions and answers

Is schema markup a ranking factor?

Google says structured data helps it understand content and can make pages eligible for certain features, but it does not present it as a direct ranking boost. Check the current documentation.

Do I need both Organization and LocalBusiness?

Not always. A local business can use LocalBusiness alone, since it is a type of Organization. Larger companies often use Organization sitewide and LocalBusiness on location pages.

Can I use markup for a business without a shop?

Yes. Use Organization, or LocalBusiness with a service area if you travel to customers. Leave out an address you do not wish to publish.

Which format should I use?

JSON-LD is the format Google recommends, and it is the easiest to maintain.

How long before markup shows any effect?

There is no fixed time. Search engines need to recrawl the page, and there may be no visible change at all.