LocalBusiness schema: the two required fields and the rest
Two properties are required and the rest are recommendations. Google's LocalBusiness structured data requires the name and the address; opening hours, telephone, geo coordinates and price range are recommended. And Google states that adding it never guarantees that a feature consuming it will appear.
What the specification actually demands
The required set is smaller than most agencies imply. name and address are the required properties for a local business. openingHours, telephone, geo and priceRange sit in the recommended tier, which means they improve understanding without being a condition of validity.
That split is worth holding onto when someone quotes for a schema package. Adding twenty properties to a page that gets the two required ones wrong is decoration. Getting the two right and adding hours is most of the available benefit.
What it does and does not buy
Two sentences from Google's own documentation bound the whole topic. First, structured data does not guarantee that features consuming it will show up in search results. Second, for AI Overviews and AI Mode there are no additional requirements, and no special schema.org structured data you need to add.
The arithmetic is small. 2 required properties, about 4 recommended ones worth writing, and opening hours expressed as 7 days with an opening and a closing time each, so 14 values. That is the whole job for a local business, and it fits in one JSON-LD block of roughly 25 lines.
So the honest case for writing it is narrower and still real: it makes your address and opening hours unambiguous to any machine that reads the page. With 45 percent of consumers using AI tools for local recommendations in 2026 against 6 percent in 2025, and consumers consulting an average of six review sites, being unambiguous is worth an hour of work. Being promised a rich result is worth nothing.
| Property | Status | Why bother |
|---|---|---|
| name | Required | The handle everything else attaches to |
| address | Required | Separates you from similar names elsewhere |
| openingHours | Recommended | Answers a common question directly |
| telephone | Recommended | A second matching key across sources |
| geo | Recommended | Resolves repeated street names |
| priceRange | Recommended | Sets expectation before contact |
The order that produces the benefit
Write name and address first, exactly as they appear everywhere else. If your markup says Hauptstrasse and your Google profile says Hauptstraße, the markup has made your identity worse rather than better, because it added a fourth authoritative looking variant.
Then add opening hours, because they answer a question people actually ask and they change often enough to be wrong. Then telephone and geo. Then stop. A local business does not need a property for everything it does, it needs the handful that someone might ask about.
Questions and answers
Will schema get me a rich result?
Do I need special markup for AI Overviews?
JSON-LD or microdata?
What if my markup contradicts my other listings?
Sources
- Google Search Central, Local business structured data Required and recommended properties, and the guarantee disclaimer
- Google Search Central, AI features in Google Search That no special schema.org structured data is needed for AI features
