Web pages that carry proper JSON-LD schema markup are cited in AI responses about 3.2 times more often than pages without it. For a local business the reason is simple: LocalBusiness schema tells an AI crawler exactly who you are, where you are and what you offer, in a format it can read without guessing. A page without it makes the model infer all of that from prose, and models are cautious about inferring.
The four types that matter
- LocalBusiness — or better, the specific subtype: Dentist, Attorney, Plumber, HairSalon, Restaurant. Name, address, phone, hours, service area, price range. This is the entity record. Put it on the homepage and make every value match your Google Business Profile exactly.
- Service — one per service page. Name, description, provider, area served. This is what lets an AI match "emergency plumber in Denver" to a specific page on your site rather than to your homepage.
- FAQPage — wherever you answer customer questions. Each question and answer becomes a discrete, quotable unit. This is the single most effective schema type for appearing in AI answers, because it hands the model a ready-made answer.
- BreadcrumbList — the page's position in the site. Minor on its own, but it helps the model understand that a service page belongs to a business, which belongs to a location.
The mistake that cancels it out
Inconsistency. If your schema says the business opens at 8am, your Google profile says 9am and Yelp says 8:30am, the model does not average them. It concludes it cannot trust any of the three and may omit your hours entirely, or omit you. Schema only helps when the details in it match the details everywhere else. Fix the listings first, then add the markup that confirms them.
How to check whether you have it
Paste your homepage into Google's Rich Results Test. If it reports no structured data, you have none. Most local business websites built on templates report exactly that. It is also one of the first things we check in a visibility audit, because it is cheap to fix and the effect is measurable within weeks.
Schema is not a ranking trick. It is the difference between an AI knowing what your business is and an AI guessing. Models recommend what they know.
Questions
- What is schema markup?
- Schema markup is a block of structured data, usually JSON-LD, added to a web page that describes the page's content in a format machines read directly: this is a business, here is its name, address, hours, services and reviews. Search engines and AI systems use it to understand a page without inferring.
- Which schema types does a local business need?
- LocalBusiness (or a specific subtype such as Dentist or Plumber) on the homepage, Service on each service page, FAQPage wherever there are questions and answers, and BreadcrumbList for navigation. Together they tell an AI who you are, what you do, where, and what people ask.
Sources
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