Schema for Humans: The 5 Rich Results Most Local Sites Can Win

Schema markup is just structured hints for search engines. Add the right hints and your listings look richer—FAQs, stars, sitelinks—which usually means better click-through. Here’s the human-first guide.

TL;DR

  • Use schema that matches real content.
  • Prioritize LocalBusiness, Service/Product, FAQ, Article, Review.
  • Keep it accurate—no spammy claims.

Why schema helps

Rich results don’t guarantee #1 rankings, but they increase trust and clicks. They also help engines understand your business categories, service areas, and content types.

The 5 types that matter

  1. LocalBusiness (on Home/Contact)
  2. Your name, address, phone, hours, service area.
  3. Links to your profiles (GBP, FB, Yelp).
  4. Service or Product (on service detail pages)
  5. Clear name, description, price/range, what’s included.
  6. FAQPage (on actual FAQ blocks)
  7. Real Q&As that appear on the page; don’t invent them for SEO only.
  8. Article / BlogPosting (on blog posts)
  9. Headline, author, image, publish/modified dates.
  10. Review / AggregateRating (on Reviews page or service pages with embedded reviews)
  11. Only if you display those reviews on the page. Do not fake ratings.

Where site owners go wrong

  • Marking up content that isn’t visible. (Violations risk rich result loss.)
  • Using every schema type under the sun. (Irrelevant signals get ignored.)
  • Keyword stuffing fields. (Looks spammy, helps no one.)

A simple rollout plan

  • Start with LocalBusiness on Home/Contact.
  • Add Service markup to your top 3 service pages.
  • Wrap your FAQ sections with FAQPage.
  • Use Article on all blog posts going forward.
  • If you show star ratings on-page, add Review/AggregateRating responsibly.

How to sanity check

  • The text in your schema should match what a human can read on the page.
  • If a field asks for a price, show a price or range on the page.
  • If you mark something as FAQ, list the Q&A on the page in plain sight.

FAQ

Will schema alone rank me #1? No. It helps engines understand and users click—ranking requires quality pages and links.
Can I mark up reviews from third-party widgets? Only if the text is also shown on your page and you have the right to display it.
What if I have multiple locations? Use LocalBusiness per location page with the correct NAP.