Schema markup for small businesses: which types to add, and which to skip

Schema markup sounds technical, and a lot of advice about it is out of date. For a small business, it comes down to a handful of short code snippets that tell search engines and AI assistants facts about you in a format they can't misread: your name, your logo, your address, your opening hours, your prices.

Here's what's worth adding, what isn't, and how to check it works.

What schema markup is

Schema markup (also called structured data) is a block of code, usually in a format called JSON-LD, that describes a page using the shared vocabulary at schema.org. Visitors never see it. Search engines and AI tools read it to understand the page without guessing.

It looks like this:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "LocalBusiness",
  "name": "Larkfield Physio",
  "url": "https://larkfieldphysio.com",
  "telephone": "+1 555 0100",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "12 Mill Lane",
    "addressLocality": "Larkfield",
    "postalCode": "12345",
    "addressCountry": "US"
  }
}

(Larkfield Physio is a made-up example.) It goes inside a <script type="application/ld+json"> tag in your page's HTML.

What it does, honestly

• It can make you eligible for rich results, such as product prices and star ratings in Google, or your logo in search features. Eligible isn't guaranteed: Google decides when to show them.
• It removes ambiguity. Your name, address, phone number, prices and authors become facts rather than text a crawler has to interpret. That helps search engines and AI assistants describe you accurately.
• It isn't a ranking boost on its own. Adding schema to a thin page won't make it rank. It helps good pages get understood and displayed well.

The types worth adding

1. Organization (every business, on the homepage). Your official name, URL, logo and social profiles (sameAs). It helps search engines connect your site with your brand and your profiles elsewhere.

2. LocalBusiness (if customers visit you or you serve an area). Name, address, phone, opening hours, and the area you serve. Use the most specific type that fits, for example Dentist, Restaurant or HomeAndConstructionBusiness; there are many. Keep it identical to your Google Business Profile.

3. Product (if you sell products). Name, image, description, brand, price, currency and availability. This is what powers prices and stock status in shopping results. Most store platforms (Shopify, WooCommerce) add it automatically through the theme, so check before adding your own, or you'll have duplicates.

4. Article (for blog posts). Headline, image, publish date and author. Most blogging platforms and SEO plugins already add this too.

5. SoftwareApplication (for software and apps). Name, category, operating system and price (offers). Useful for SaaS and apps.