Schema Markup for Local Businesses

We spend a lot of time here at Momentum optimizing local business websites and it’s for a good reason – business owners in the local services vertical don’t have time to make sure their load speed time is fast or consistent or they are converting at the highest possible rate.

The same can be said for an equally confusing and technical aspect of local search, and that is schema markup which you will also see referred to as structured data markup. Something that we’re going to clear up today and hopefully de-mystify for business owners, or anyone that has to work on or in the local services vertical and wants a great competitive edge on their competitors for valuable local search space.

Schema Solves The Problem of Context

Google ranks pages individually based on content, but the issue is that there is often missing context associated with this content. Schema Markup for Local Businesses is essential in getting a location-based business to rank higher on Google by telling them geographic coordinates about your location to help them better index your actual location.

For example, Google recognizes and ranks brands, however helping differentiate between the official outlet and other third-party data sources is crucial to letting Google know what other entities you are associated with and what information is key to your brand and type of services.

As an example, our CEO Mac Frederick owns Phone Repair Philly. Google would need to differentiate between people looking for a business by that name, and those looking to repair a phone in Philly. By using the structured data markup below, we can help Google understand that we are indeed a business local to the Philadelphia, PA area and not to be confused with New Philadelphia, OH or any other Philadelphia.

Structured Data Made Easy For Local Businesses

Without getting too nerdy and overwhelming you here is the easiest way to implement structured data for a small business within a specific geographic area is to copy the format I’ve supplied below and simply fill in the details for your own business.

You can then use Google’s own Structured Data Testing Tool to verify the fields most necessary to you are working correctly and throw it in your site. The best part is it can go near the bottom,

<div itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/ProfessionalService”>

<time itemprop=”openingHours” datetime=”Mo-Su”>Monday through Sunday, all day</time>

<span itemprop=”name”>Phone Repair Philly</span>

<span itemprop=”priceRange”>$60-$300</span>

<a itemprop=”url” href=”http://www.phonerepairphilly.com/”>Home</a>

<link itemprop=”sameAs” href=”https://www.yelp.com/biz/phone-repair-philly-philadelphia-2″>

<link itemprop=”sameAs” href=”https://www.facebook.com/phonerepairphilly”>

<link itemprop=”sameAs” href=”https://twitter.com/phonerepairphl”>

<link itemprop=”hasMap” href=”https://goo.gl/maps/JFjJYKZRXzQ2″>

<a itemprop=”telephone” href=”tel:+12676032403″>267-603-2403</a>

<div itemprop=”aggregateRating” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/AggregateRating”>

<span itemprop=”ratingValue”>4.9</span> stars –

based on <span itemprop=”reviewCount”>7</span> reviews

</div>

<div itemprop=”address” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/PostalAddress”>

<span itemprop=”streetAddress”>935 Spring Garden St</span>

<span itemprop=”addressLocality”>Philadelphia</span>,

<span itemprop=”addressRegion”>PA</span> <span itemprop=”postalCode”>19123</span>

<a itemprop=”telephone” href=”tel:+12676032403″>267-603-2403</a>

</div>

<span itemprop=”geo” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/GeoCoordinates”> <meta itemprop=”latitude” content=”39.9560284″ />

<meta itemprop=”longitude” content=”-75.1845172″ />

</div>

Helping Google understand where you are situated locally and all the related third party sources that reflect and correlate with your name, address, and phone number is a major key to making your site more trustworthy in Google’s eyes.

Combine structured data markup with proper on-page content, as well as a syndicated local listings service such as that offered by Momentum is a perfect way to get your organic presence solidified in any market.

Want to know why your competition is ranking above you and what you can do to get that valuable traffic back? Get in touch with Momentum and we can let you know exactly how you can get the edge back over your competition.