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AEO Toolkit AEO Toolkit

LocalBusiness schema and NAP consistency

Agent skill

aeo-local-business-schema · source on GitHub · install with /plugin install aeo-toolkit --marketplace Advance-Labs/aeo-toolkit (all install options)

An agent loads it when: Add or fix LocalBusiness structured data and keep name, address and phone (NAP) consistent across a site, Google Business Profile and directories, so local searchers and AI answer engines get the right facts. Use when someone asks about “local SEO schema”, “LocalBusiness JSON-LD”, “opening hours markup”, “NAP consistency”, “service area”, “show up for plumber near me in ChatGPT”, or wrong hours or address appearing in answers. Works for WordPress and static HTML. Uses the aeo-visibility MCP server (analyze_website_aeo, check_ai_visibility) if connected.

For a business with a physical location or service area, the facts that matter are name, address, phone, hours, and where it serves. This skill puts those facts in markup and makes them agree everywhere they appear.

Note: the scoring engine has no local-business rule yet. analyze_website_aeo will not fail a site for missing LocalBusiness markup. Detection uses its structured-data findings plus manual inspection.

When this matters / when it doesn’t

Matters for businesses customers visit or that travel to customers (trades, clinics, restaurants, shops).

Does not apply, or needs care, when:

  • The business is online-only with no location or service area. Use Organization markup (aeo-organization-entity), not LocalBusiness.
  • The owner does not want the address public (home-based service business). Google Business Profile guidance is that service-area businesses “should hide your business address”. Do not put a home address in markup either. Ask.
  • Reviews are the goal. Self-reviews do not earn stars (see Pitfalls).

Markup is not what makes a business appear in local results. Google says local results rely mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and that “there’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking”. Do the work because accurate facts help users and engines, not as a ranking lever.

Detect

  1. analyze_website_aeo on the homepage and contact page; read structured-data findings.
  2. View source for ld+json. Look for a LocalBusiness (or subtype) node, address, telephone, openingHoursSpecification.
  3. Collect the business’s name, address and phone from: the site footer, the contact page, the schema, Google Business Profile, and two or three directories. Put them in a table and compare character by character (suite numbers, “St” vs “Street”, phone format, business name variants).
  4. Ask the owner which version is true. Never decide this yourself.

Decide

  • Subtype: Google says use “the most specific LocalBusiness sub-type possible”. schema.org has many (Store, Dentist, LegalService, FoodEstablishment, HomeAndConstructionBusiness, MedicalBusiness and others). For several types, use an array in @type; Google notes additionalType isn’t supported.
  • Storefront or service area? Storefront: show the address. Service-area business: hide the address in Business Profile, and describe the area in text and with areaServed. Note that Google’s LocalBusiness property tables do not list areaServed; it is valid schema.org, so it is harmless and helps other consumers, but do not expect a Google feature from it.
  • Multiple locations: one node per location, each with its own page, phone and hours.
  • Departments: nest as department, named {store name} {department name} unless the department has its own brand.

Google’s properties:

Properties
Requiredname, address (PostalAddress, as complete as possible)
Recommendedtelephone (with country and area code, e.g. +12122459600), url, geo (latitude and longitude with at least 5 decimal places), openingHoursSpecification, priceRange (under 100 characters), department; aggregateRating/review only for sites that capture reviews of other local businesses

Implement

  1. One LocalBusiness JSON-LD block on the homepage or contact page (and each location page). Use the same string for name as on the storefront and the Business Profile.
  2. Hours, per Google’s format: 
    "openingHoursSpecification": [
      { "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
        "dayOfWeek": ["Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday","Friday"],
        "opens": "09:00", "closes": "17:00" }
    ]
    Omit validFrom and validThrough for year-round hours. Closing past midnight: one spec, for example opens: "18:00", closes: "03:00". Closed all day: 00:00 and 00:00. Seasonal closure: 00:00/00:00 with validFrom and validThrough in YYYY-MM-DD.
  3. Put the same NAP in visible HTML (footer or contact page). Markup must describe visible content.
  4. Google Business Profile. Claim and verify it; this is separate from your site and drives the map listing. Rules from Google’s guidelines: the name “should reflect your business’s real-world name, as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery”; no keywords, taglines, or phone numbers in the name; a precise address, no P.O. boxes or virtual offices; service-area businesses may have one profile with a service area (not much beyond about two hours’ drive) and should hide a home address; use a local phone number and the location-specific website URL; choose few, specific categories. Keep hours, including holiday hours, current. Respond to reviews.
  5. Directories. Update the main ones to the confirmed NAP. Google lists prominence factors as including links and reviews; it does not publish a “citations” rule, so do not claim that directory listings are a ranking factor. Consistent real-world facts are the goal.

Stack specifics: references/wordpress.md, references/static-html.md.

Verify

  • Rich Results Test and validator.schema.org: no errors; warnings reviewed.
  • Rendered hours and phone in the markup equal the visible page and the Business Profile.
  • Run check_ai_visibility with location-specific prompts written like a customer, for example “emergency plumber in Guelph Ontario” or “best dentist near Westboro Ottawa”. The tool has no location parameter; the place name must be inside the prompt. It queries Perplexity Sonar only and needs a Perplexity key. Each run is one sample, so repeat prompts, record which sources are cited, and compare before and after rather than claiming a cause. Use compare_competitor_visibility with the business and two or three local rivals to see who is cited.
  • Search a few prompts yourself and read whether the engine states the right hours and address. Wrong facts there usually trace to an outdated directory, not the site.

Pitfalls

  • Name variants (“Smith Plumbing”, “Smith Plumbing Ltd.”, “Smith Plumbing Guelph”) across sources.
  • Stuffing keywords or the city into the business name; it can get the Business Profile suspended.
  • Markup for a location the business does not staff.
  • Hours in markup that ignore holidays or differ from the profile.
  • Self-serving reviews: if the business controls the reviews about itself, its LocalBusiness/Organization pages are ineligible for star results, including via an embedded third-party widget. Do not add aggregateRating to your own business node.
  • A home address published against the owner’s wishes.
  • Several LocalBusiness nodes on one page that conflict.

Sources

AEO Toolkit is an open-source instrument by Advance Labs.