Fixing LocalBusiness Schema Markup - Tips?

[ceeze]

Hi Everyone,

I started looking into a client's website and found that their LocalBusiness Schema was done horribly - whoever did it had multiple blocks of the same kind of schema pasted one after another in the head scripts and it hadn't been updated in a long time because it was still using their old company name, old social profiles, and old address.

I've been updating their schema markup and will continue to do so because I also noticed their other schema types are outdated too. I added "contactPoint" and "parentOrganization" to the local business schema markup to add more beneficial info. I also specified the city they service for the location page and set their contactType as Legal Intake.

Any recommendations for other things to add to it to help with local SEO? For reference, this is specifically a LegalService local business type.

Additional question - I know Google documentation says they want the phone number format in the schema markup to be +1XXXXXXXXXX (country code and then the digits with no dashes or parentheses). Is that fine, considering it will differ from the formatting used in the Google Business Profile number?

Thank you in advance.

 

[ElizabethRule]

Hard to say without seeing the schema itself, but in general make sure the LocalBusiness schema is complete, detailed, and regularly updated. For example, if you're using the "review" property, keep it updated with new reviews as they come in. If the business expands into new service areas, make sure to reflect that in the "areaServed" property.

It's fine if the formatting differs between the GBP and the schema. Just follow the formatting best suited for schema markup to ensure it's parsed correctly.

 

[fisicx]

Any recommendations for other things to add to it to help with local SEO? For reference, this is specifically a LegalService local business type.

This should be your guide:

https://schema.org/LegalService

 

[Jessica C]

Hard to say without seeing the schema itself, but in general make sure the LocalBusiness schema is complete, detailed, and regularly updated. For example, if you're using the "review" property, keep it updated with new reviews as they come in. If the business expands into new service areas, make sure to reflect that in the "areaServed" property.

It's fine if the formatting differs between the GBP and the schema. Just follow the formatting best suited for schema markup to ensure it's parsed correctly.

Hi Elizabeth! I had a question on the "review" property- is that something that SEO's are still doing for local businesses that provide a service and get reviewed on? I thought I read that Google is saying now that the "review" property only applies to actual products/items?

 

[fisicx]

Hi Elizabeth! I had a question on the "review" property- is that something that SEO's are still doing for local businesses that provide a service and get reviewed on? I thought I read that Google is saying now that the "review" property only applies to actual products/items?

I don't think it ever was part of schema. Review is generally used for a review of a creative work:

https://schema.org/Review

 

[Jessica C]

I don't think it ever was part of schema. Review is generally used for a review of a creative work:

https://schema.org/Review

I thought so too, but read what Elizabeth wrote so wanted to clarify. and I know plenty of services that use review schema for their service (not products).

 

[fisicx]

I thought so too, but read what Elizabeth wrote so wanted to clarify. and I know plenty of services that use review schema for their service (not products).

You can do whatever you want with schema. You could put the address in the telephone field if you want - schema doesn't care. But Google will only take note of correctly formatted and structure schema. And it may be that it took note of business review scheme entries and either ignored then or check to see if they were valid. Nobody can ever be sure.

What we do know is Google uses schema info when building the snippet and possibly a profile. I'm not sure it's a ranking signal.