# What Schema.org markup a local business site actually needs in 2026 | Illia BizTech > Based on Google Source: https://illia-biztech.de/en/blog/schema-markup-lokales-unternehmen 1. [Home](/en) 2. [Resources](/en/blog) 3. Schema.org structured data for a local business site. What you actually need ![Developer inspecting a website's structured data in browser developer tools](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_schema_markup_lokales_unternehmen_7a4925ced8.png) ![Portrait of Illia Belichenko, technical specialist at Illia BizTech](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/small_Illia_Belichenko_author_81f88864f0.png) By: Illia Belichenko November 11, 2026 # Schema.org structured data for a local business site. What you actually need Google requires only two mandatory fields for basic LocalBusiness markup, name and address, everything else is only recommended, according to [Google's official LocalBusiness documentation](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/local-business). ## Does a small site need [Schema.org](http://Schema.org) markup Markup is not a requirement for a page to be indexed and appear in Google at all, but it helps the system understand what is on the page more precisely and opens access to extra elements in results such as enhanced snippets. For a local business that mostly means LocalBusiness with an address, opening hours and a phone number, because those are the fields Google uses to connect the site to the company's Google Maps and Google Business Profile listing. Skipping markup is not penalized, but it means Google has to guess a page's structure instead of reading it directly from the code. ## What LocalBusiness schema actually is LocalBusiness is a [Schema.org](http://Schema.org) type for businesses with a physical address or service area. According to [Google's documentation](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/local-business), it has only two required properties, name, the business name, and address, a full PostalAddress object with separate fields for street, city, postal code and country, not a single line of address text. Google recommends adding telephone, openingHoursSpecification, geo with coordinates and priceRange as well, and using the most specific subtype available instead of generic LocalBusiness, for example Restaurant, HairSalon or AutoRepair. None of these fields are required, the more of them are present, the more precisely Google understands the business. ## Is structured markup mandatory for Google No, neither markup in general nor LocalBusiness specifically are part of the technical requirements for appearing in regular Google results, a page can rank without a single line of JSON-LD. Markup opens access to extra visual elements in results, but it is not a condition for indexing. Google's own [guide to optimizing for generative AI search](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide) confirms the same thing separately, stating directly that structured data is not required for generative search either. ## Does schema markup help with AI search There is no direct requirement, Google says in that same guide that AI Overviews and AI Mode need no special [schema.org](http://schema.org) markup beyond what regular search already needs. Markup still helps as an ordinary SEO signal and for the clarity of a business's public data. It makes facts on a page explicit and unambiguous for systems that read it, though there is no confirmed link between that and being included in AI answers specifically, and it does not replace the quality and structure of the content itself. For a local site that means LocalBusiness with a correct address and opening hours is worth doing not specifically for AI search, but because it generally helps systems, AI included, correctly identify where a business is and when it is open. ## Is FAQ markup worth doing in 2026 FAQPage markup remains a valid [Schema.org](http://Schema.org) type, but the visual rich result it used to trigger in search is gone. Back in August 2023 Google restricted FAQ rich results to well known government and health sites only, and in May 2026 it [removed the feature entirely for all sites](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/faqpage), a timeline also confirmed by [Search Engine Journal](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-drops-faq-rich-results-from-search/574429/). Existing FAQPage markup does not need to be removed, it does no harm and remains valid [Schema.org](http://Schema.org), but adding it specifically for a visual result in search no longer makes sense in 2026, because that result no longer exists. HowTo markup went through a similar fate earlier. Google removed its rich results for mobile in August 2023 and fully for desktop in September 2023. ## How to check whether a site has schema markup Google offers two tools for this, the official Rich Results Test, which shows what rich results Google can build from a page's markup, and the Schema Markup Validator, which checks markup against the [Schema.org](http://Schema.org) standard regardless of what Google specifically supports, both described in [Google's documentation on structured data](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data). ## What to check first * Run the page through the Rich Results Test and see which markup types Google actually finds * Confirm LocalBusiness includes at least name and address, plus telephone and openingHoursSpecification * Check that the data in the markup matches what is visible on the page itself rather than being outdated * Do not spend time on FAQPage or HowTo for a visual effect in results, that effect no longer exists. The same principle applies to the llms.txt file: [a separate blog post](https://illia-biztech.de/en/blog/llms-txt-kleines-unternehmen) shows it is not worth a dedicated budget line right now either **Share** [ ![Person reading Google search results with an AI overview on a smartphone screen](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_google_ai_overviews_sichtbarkeit_edbe04f07f.png) Previous Post What a website needs to appear in Google AI Overviews](/en/blog/google-ai-overviews-sichtbarkeit) [ ![Technician checking server access logs across multiple monitors](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_ki_crawler_robots_txt_erlauben_d862958530.png) Next Post GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot in robots.txt. Allow or block](/en/blog/ki-crawler-robots-txt-erlauben) ![Portrait of Illia Belichenko, technical specialist at Illia BizTech](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/small_Illia_Belichenko_author_81f88864f0.png) ##### Illia Belichenko Illia is responsible for the technical side of Illia BizTech: website development, website updates, forms, integrations, automation and technical support. He works on connecting websites, content, advertising and internal workflows so they work together without creating unnecessary manual work. ##### Recent Posts [![Checking a company's registration in the German Handelsregister on a laptop screen](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_handelsregister_impressum_agentur_pruefen_84f39c129a.png)](/en/blog/handelsregister-impressum-agentur-pruefen) #### [Checking a web agency before you pay: Handelsregister and Impressum](/en/blog/handelsregister-impressum-agentur-pruefen) November 13, 2026 [](/en/blog/handelsregister-impressum-agentur-pruefen) [![Person reading Google search results with an AI overview on a smartphone screen](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_google_ai_overviews_sichtbarkeit_edbe04f07f.png)](/en/blog/google-ai-overviews-sichtbarkeit) #### [What a website needs to appear in Google AI Overviews](/en/blog/google-ai-overviews-sichtbarkeit) November 12, 2026 [](/en/blog/google-ai-overviews-sichtbarkeit) [![Technician checking server access logs across multiple monitors](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/medium_ki_crawler_robots_txt_erlauben_d862958530.png)](/en/blog/ki-crawler-robots-txt-erlauben) #### [GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot in robots.txt. Allow or block](/en/blog/ki-crawler-robots-txt-erlauben) November 10, 2026 [](/en/blog/ki-crawler-robots-txt-erlauben) Google requires only two mandatory fields for LocalBusiness, everything else is just a recommendation, so extra markup on a site is almost always decorative. Illia Belichenko sets up exactly the LocalBusiness fields Google actually uses for clients, including openingHours and the link to a Google Business Profile. Illia BizTech builds and maintains websites for companies in Germany in German, English, Russian and Ukrainian, from the first version through ongoing maintenance and search visibility work. One monthly plan covers the website, advertising and content, the scope is agreed in advance and can be moved between them when priorities change. The domain, hosting and ad accounts stay registered to the company, so the work can continue on the existing setup without a full rebuild. That fits businesses moving to Germany or expanding into the German-speaking market who want to explain their task once.