Schema.org for small businesses: three types that earn rich results

Service or Product: pick the right node

Consulting, legal advice, plumbing, web design — those are Service. Physical goods or digital products with a fixed SKU — Product with Offer. The distinction is not cosmetic: Google renders Product rich results with price, Service does not.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Service",
  "@id": "https://smile-dental.example/services/cleaning#service",
  "serviceType": "Routine dental cleaning",
  "provider": { "@id": "https://smile-dental.example/#localbusiness" },
  "areaServed": [
    { "@type": "City", "name": "San Francisco" },
    { "@type": "City", "name": "Oakland" }
  ],
  "audience": { "@type": "PeopleAudience" }
}
</script>

Note the @id reference back to the LocalBusiness. That tells Google these service nodes belong to the same business entity without duplicating the address every time.

FAQPage: the underrated win

FAQPage is the cheapest path to a rich result. A real FAQ section with five to ten Q&A pairs, properly marked up, regularly earns expanded snippets in the SERP.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [{
    "@type": "Question",
    "name": "How long is a routine cleaning appointment?",
    "acceptedAnswer": {
      "@type": "Answer",
      "text": "Routine cleanings take 30 to 45 minutes."
    }
  }]
}
</script>

Critical: the answer text in the JSON-LD must match the visible text on the page exactly. Google verifies this. Sites that put text in JSON-LD that does not appear on screen earn a manual action and lose the markup permission outright.

What we delete in every audit

• Article on every subpage. Article is for news and blog posts, not service pages. Putting it on a service page actively confuses Google about what the page is.
• Review/AggregateRating without real reviews. Even one unsupported five-star claim costs trust and risks a manual action.
• BreadcrumbList for two-level sites. Most small business sites are home → service. Adding a breadcrumb block adds maintenance and earns no rich result.
• Organization alongside LocalBusiness. LocalBusiness is a subtype of Organization. Shipping both is redundant; Google prefers the more specific node.

Validate before shipping

Three tools we use in every audit:

1. Google Rich Results Test — tells you directly whether Google considers the node eligible for a rich result.
2. Schema.org validator — catches syntax errors and missing required fields.
3. Search Console → "Enhancements" — shows what Google sees during the actual crawl. Discrepancies between the test tool and the crawl are nearly always CDN cache issues.

The Seitenbefund short check lists every JSON-LD node on your domain, validates syntax, and flags missing required-by-Google fields.