9 min read · AI Visibility · Last updated July 2026
Quick answer: LocalBusiness schema tells search engines and AI systems your business name, address, phone, hours, location, and category using structured data. When implemented correctly with geo coordinates, opening hours, and aggregateRating, it significantly improves your eligibility for local AI answers, Knowledge Panel, and map pack results.
Introduction
When someone asks ChatGPT or Google Gemini “best digital marketing agency in Kathmandu” or “SEO agency near me in Sydney,” the AI systems that respond draw from multiple signals — Google Business Profile, web content, schema markup, and third-party reviews.
LocalBusiness schema is your direct line to telling these systems who you are, where you are, when you’re open, and what you do — in a machine-readable format that requires no interpretation.
Without it, AI systems infer this information from unstructured content. With it, they extract it with high confidence.
What you’ll learn:
– The full LocalBusiness schema property set
– Subtypes for specific business categories
– Geo coordinates and address formatting
– Opening hours specification
– aggregateRating for review signals
– Service area and multi-location implementations
Table of Contents
- LocalBusiness Schema Subtypes
- Core Properties Every Local Business Needs
- Address and Geo Coordinates
- Opening Hours Specification
- Service Area and Multi-Location
- Reviews and aggregateRating
- Complete JSON-LD Example
- LocalBusiness Schema Generator
- Frequently Asked Questions
LocalBusiness Schema Subtypes
Schema.org provides specific subtypes for different business categories. Use the most specific type available:
Service businesses:
– ProfessionalService — legal, accounting, consulting
– MarketingAgency — marketing and advertising agencies
– FinancialService — banks, insurance
– HealthAndBeautyBusiness — salons, spas, gyms
Food and hospitality:
– Restaurant — restaurants with cuisine type
– CafeOrCoffeeShop — cafes
– Bakery — bakeries
– Hotel — accommodation
Retail:
– Store — general retail
– ClothingStore, BookStore, ElectronicsStore
Health:
– MedicalClinic, DentalClinic, Hospital, Pharmacy
Education:
– EducationalOrganization, School, CollegeOrUniversity
If your specific business type exists as a subtype, always use it. AI systems can more accurately categorize and recommend your business for category-specific queries.
Core Properties Every Local Business Needs
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "MarketingAgency",
"name": "Ignited Nepal",
"legalName": "Ignited Nepal Pvt. Ltd.",
"url": "https://ignitednepal.com",
"logo": "https://ignitednepal.com/images/logo.png",
"image": "https://ignitednepal.com/images/office.jpg",
"description": "Growth engineering company specialising in SEO, AEO, and AI Visibility for B2B and SaaS companies in Australia, UAE, USA, and Nepal.",
"telephone": "+977-1-XXXXXXX",
"email": "hello@ignitednepal.com",
"priceRange": "$$"
}
Why each property matters:
– name — exact business name (match GBP exactly)
– legalName — official registered name
– url — canonical homepage URL
– logo + image — visual entity signals
– description — used by AI for business summaries
– telephone — NAP consistency signal
– priceRange — helps AI answer “how much does X cost” queries
Address and Geo Coordinates
Precise location data is critical for local AI queries:
"address": {
"@type": "PostalAddress",
"streetAddress": "Jhamsikhel Road, Lalitpur",
"addressLocality": "Kathmandu",
"addressRegion": "Bagmati Province",
"postalCode": "44700",
"addressCountry": "NP"
},
"geo": {
"@type": "GeoCoordinates",
"latitude": 27.6778,
"longitude": 85.3182
},
"hasMap": "https://maps.google.com/?cid=YOUR_GOOGLE_MAPS_CID"
Geo coordinates: Include precise latitude/longitude coordinates. AI systems use geo data to accurately place your business on location-based queries. Get coordinates from Google Maps (right-click your location → “What’s here?”).
addressCountry: Use ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes (NP for Nepal, AU for Australia, AE for UAE). This is machine-readable and avoids ambiguity.
Opening Hours Specification
Opening hours are critical for “open now” queries — a high-volume local intent signal:
"openingHoursSpecification": [
{
"@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
"dayOfWeek": ["Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday"],
"opens": "09:00",
"closes": "18:00"
},
{
"@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
"dayOfWeek": "Saturday",
"opens": "10:00",
"closes": "15:00"
}
]
For businesses closed on specific days: Omit those days from the specification.
For 24/7 businesses: Use "opens": "00:00" and "closes": "23:59".
Special holiday hours: Use validFrom and validThrough date properties on individual OpeningHoursSpecification entries.
Service Area and Multi-Location
Service area businesses (serve customers at their location):
"areaServed": [
{"@type": "City", "name": "Sydney"},
{"@type": "City", "name": "Melbourne"},
{"@type": "Country", "name": "Australia"}
]
Multi-location businesses: Create separate LocalBusiness schema for each location with unique addresses and URLs. Use branchOf to link branches to the parent organization:
{
"@type": "MarketingAgency",
"name": "Ignited Nepal - Sydney Office",
"branchOf": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Ignited Nepal",
"url": "https://ignitednepal.com"
}
}
Reviews and aggregateRating
AggregateRating signals are high-impact for AI local recommendations:
"aggregateRating": {
"@type": "AggregateRating",
"ratingValue": "4.9",
"reviewCount": "47",
"bestRating": "5",
"worstRating": "1"
}
Important: Only include aggregateRating if you have real reviews and the rating data is accurate and visible on the page. Google’s rich results guidelines prohibit fake or unpublished ratings.
When AI systems answer “best [business type] in [city]” queries, aggregateRating data heavily influences which businesses are mentioned. A 4.9-star rating with 47 reviews is a strong citation signal.
Complete JSON-LD Example
LocalBusiness Schema Generator
Generate complete LocalBusiness JSON-LD
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Should LocalBusiness schema go on every page or just the homepage?
A: Place the most complete LocalBusiness schema on your homepage and contact/about page. You can include simplified versions on other pages, but the homepage is the primary entity page Google associates with your business.
Q: Do I need both LocalBusiness schema and a Google Business Profile?
A: Yes. They serve different purposes. GBP controls your local Knowledge Panel and Maps presence. LocalBusiness schema on your website reinforces entity signals and helps AI systems that crawl your site. Both together are stronger than either alone.
Q: How do I handle multi-location businesses in schema?
A: Create a separate JSON-LD block for each location with its unique address, URL, and phone. Use branchOf to link each location to the parent organization. If you have a dedicated location page, put that location’s schema on its page.
Conclusion
LocalBusiness schema is one of the highest-impact schema implementations for businesses with a physical or service-area presence. It directly feeds the data that AI systems use when answering “best [service] in [city]” queries. Combined with a complete GBP profile and consistent NAP across platforms, it builds the entity foundation for local AI citation.
Get AI-Ready with Ignited Nepal
We implement LocalBusiness schema and the full local entity stack across your web presence, GBP, and third-party platforms.
→ Request an AI Visibility Audit
Written by the Ignited Nepal AI Visibility team. ignitednepal.com