01LocalBusiness first, Organization if you have no public address
Google's local business page asks for two properties on LocalBusiness: name and address. It recommends telephone, url, opening hours, geo coordinates, price range and a few more, and it says to use the most specific subtype possible, with Restaurant, DaySpa and HealthClub as its examples. A restaurant should say Restaurant, not just LocalBusiness. If you work at the customer's door and publish no street address, the required address is a problem. Google's Organization page has no required properties at all, so that is the fitting choice for you. It asks for the same name you use as your site name and a logo of at least 112 by 112 pixels, and it recommends putting the details on the home page. On our own city pages PROOF48 uses no LocalBusiness markup, because we have no public street address and an invented one would be worse than none.
- LocalBusiness: name and address are required, phone, URL and opening hours are recommended
- Pick the most specific subtype, like Restaurant, DaySpa or HealthClub
- No public street address: use Organization, which has no required properties
- Put the Organization details on the home page, with a logo of at least 112 by 112 pixels
03FAQ markup and self-written stars: leave them out
Google's changelog tells the FAQ story in order. In September 2023 the FAQ documentation said the feature was shown only for well-known, authoritative government and health sites. On 8 May 2026 a notice said it would stop appearing from 7 May 2026, and on 15 June 2026 Google removed the documentation, writing that the feature is no longer shown in Search results. So FAQPage no longer earns anything visible for any site. Google's pages do not say whether to strip markup you already have, and we found nothing there that calls it harmful, but we would not pay for it. Stars are the second trap. Google's review snippet page says that when a business controls the reviews about itself, its LocalBusiness or Organization pages are ineligible for star results, and that ratings must come directly from users.
- FAQ rich results: no longer shown in Google Search since 7 May 2026, for any site
- A quote that lists FAQ schema as a line item: ask what it buys
- Your own stars on your own LocalBusiness page are ineligible for star results
- Real reviews belong in Google Business Profile, not in markup you write yourself
04How to add it and check it
Google says it generally recommends JSON-LD if your setup allows it, and it describes structured data as explicit clues about the meaning of a page. Its general guidelines add three limits: do not mark up content that visitors cannot see, do not mark up irrelevant or misleading content, and expect no guarantee, because Google does not promise that valid markup will show up in results. Spammy markup can bring a manual action. So the markup must repeat what the page already says: the same name, the same phone number, the same hours. Check it with the Rich Results Test, which Google calls an easy and useful tool, and look at the rich result reports in Search Console after it goes live. For the AI search side of this topic, our earlier post covers it separately.
- Format: JSON-LD, which Google recommends when your setup allows it
- Mark up only what visitors can see on the same page
- Test with the Rich Results Test, then watch the Search Console reports
- Google's pages we read: developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data (local-business, organization, breadcrumb, product-snippet, review-snippet, sd-policies) and developers.google.com/search/updates
05Where PROOF48 is the wrong choice
If your site exists and only needs one LocalBusiness block, you or any developer can write it and test it for free. Paying 297 EUR a month for that alone is the wrong purchase. FOUND lists schema next to Google Business Profile management, local SEO for five target keywords, two AI blog posts a month and a monthly ranking report, so it makes sense when you want that whole set and nobody in the business has the time. It promises no Google position, because nobody controls one. If the site is missing or broken, fix that first: a business website of up to about five pages costs 500 to 2,500 EUR, is built in 48 hours and is paid for only after you have seen the preview.
- Existing site, one block needed: do it yourself or ask your developer, and test for free
- FOUND, 297 EUR a month: schema plus profile management, 5 local keywords, 2 AI posts a month, monthly ranking report
- No plan promises a Google position
- No site yet: up to about five pages, 500 to 2,500 EUR, 48 hours, paid after the preview
A hotel that search engines read as a hotel
For Santorini Hotel, a seafront hotel in Eforie Nord, PROOF48 added structured data so search engines read the property as a hotel rather than a generic page. The reception, restaurant and complaints phone lines went on the site and into that structured data. That is the pattern of this article in small: the type the business really is, plus the contact details a visitor needs, repeated in the markup exactly as they appear on the page. We do not publish the hotel's occupancy or booking figures.
See the build: Santorini HotelQuestions, answered
Does my small business website need schema markup at all?
It is not required to appear in Google, and Google guarantees no rich result from it. For a business with a street address, LocalBusiness markup with the right subtype is still worth having, because it states your name, address, phone and hours in a form Google can read.
Should I still add FAQPage markup?
Not for Google's results page. Google's changelog says FAQ rich results stopped appearing on 7 May 2026. The questions and answers are still worth keeping on the page as plain text for visitors.
Can I mark up my own five-star rating?
You can write the markup, but Google's review snippet page says LocalBusiness and Organization pages are ineligible for star results when the business controls the reviews about itself. Ratings must come directly from users.
Where PROOF48 fits
Use LocalBusiness with the most specific subtype if you have a public address, Organization if you do not, BreadcrumbList on inner pages, and Product only on pages that sell one product. Leave out FAQPage and your own stars, and test everything with the Rich Results Test. PROOF48's FOUND plan, at 297 EUR a month, includes schema, and a single block on an existing site is something you can do yourself.
Cosmin Tiu · Founder, PROOF48
Cosmin has worked in online marketing and software development since 2018, and has built with AI every day since January 2023. He still writes code from scratch daily, in Python, React, Rust and C#. PROOF48 ships business websites in 48 hours and invoices afterwards, so every opinion on this blog was paid for in real builds, not in theory.