Structured data markup for UK local businesses: schema types that matter

What to take away

LocalBusiness markup for a UK site needs a Royal Mail postcode, a named locality and addressCountry set to GB, not a two-letter American state code.
Phone numbers belong in full international format, because Google reconciles local results against a dialable number for the area.
Companies House numbers, VAT numbers and ICO registration numbers are not core Schema.org properties. Record them with identifier, or in visible page text.
Give each trading location its own LocalBusiness entity, then link every branch to one Organisation entity for the brand.
Validation tools catch syntax errors. They will not tell you that the postcode you invented does not exist.

Why US-centric schema examples fail on UK addresses

Most LocalBusiness examples in circulation were written for American businesses. They assume a two-letter state in addressRegion and a five-digit zip in postalCode. Copy one and your markup describes an address that no UK lookup will match.

US vs UK address markup

US example

addressRegion: Two-letter state
postalCode: Five-digit zip
addressCountry: US

UK correct

addressRegion: Optional county
postalCode: Royal Mail format
addressCountry: GB

Royal Mail treats the postcode as the routing key, so the format matters: capitals, and one space before the final three characters. Put it in postalCode exactly as Royal Mail writes it.

The country belongs in addressCountry as the ISO code GB. Not United Kingdom, not England. Counties are optional, and if you use addressRegion, use the same value on every page for that location. Mixed values split one business into two entities.

One entity per trading location

Schema.org lists LocalBusiness as a subtype of both Organisation and Place, so a single block can carry opening hours, a contact point and a location.

Linking branches to one Organisation

Publish one Organisation entity
Add one LocalBusiness per branch
Give each branch its own address
Add telephone and geo coordinates
Link with parentOrganization or department
List each branch under the Organisation

A brand with three branches should publish three LocalBusiness entities, each with its own address, telephone and geo coordinates, plus one Organisation entity that describes the company. Link them with parentOrganization or department, and list each branch under the Organisation.

Organisation or LocalBusiness: a decision table

Organisation or LocalBusiness

Type to publish

One shop, clinic or practice: LocalBusiness
Brand with several branches: Organisation plus one LocalBusiness per site
Registered office used for post only: Organisation
Online-only retailer: Organisation
Tradesperson covering a county: LocalBusiness with areaServed

Why

One shop, clinic or practice: A single address with one set of opening hours.
Brand with several branches: Each branch can match its own location page.
Registered office used for post only: Keeps an address customers cannot visit out of local results.
Online-only retailer: No premises, so local pack eligibility is limited.
Tradesperson covering a county: Describes a service area rather than a shopfront.

The fields UK owners most often miss

Fields UK owners most often miss

Put telephone in +44 format. A number written as 020 7123 4567 is readable, but the international form is what search engines and mobile browsers dial.
Set postalCode to the Royal Mail form, including the space.
Add geo coordinates taken from the customer entrance, not the centre of the postcode.
Use openingHoursSpecification with the 24-hour clock, and add separate entries for bank holidays.
Set priceRange to a real band such as ££, or omit the property entirely.
Add sameAs links to your Google Business Profile, Companies House entry and verified social accounts.

Most of these fields break quietly when a theme update rewrites a template, which is why the technical SEO audit checks that UK ecommerce sites miss are worth running whenever the site changes.

Where registration numbers belong

Companies House registration numbers are eight characters, usually two letters and six digits. Schema.org has no companyNumber property, so a plain string will be ignored by most parsers.

Use identifier with a PropertyValue object, and state the number in visible text as well. You can confirm the exact registered name and number on the Companies House register before you publish it.

Reviews, authors and personal data

Review markup names the person who left the review, and a name is personal data under the UK GDPR. If you publish review schema, keep the same display name the reviewer already published, and never add an email address, order number or IP address to the markup.

Checking what Google shows

Validate markup with the Rich Results Test before you deploy, then watch the Enhancements reports in Search Console. Errors there are grouped by type, which makes a broken address block easy to spot.

A Google Search Console bulk export gives you a month-by-month record of which pages keep their rich result types, rather than checking URLs one at a time.

Common questions

Does a UK limited company need both Organisation and LocalBusiness markup?

Yes, where customers can visit the premises. Use one Organisation entity for the company and a separate LocalBusiness for each branch, linked with parentOrganization.

Should I put my Companies House number in schema markup?

You can, but not as a bare property. Wrap it in identifier using PropertyValue, and repeat the number in visible text so people can check it.

Which postcode format does Google expect?

The Royal Mail format, with capitals and one space before the final three characters. Write it the same way in schema, on the page and in your Google Business Profile.

Can one LocalBusiness block cover several branches?

No. One block describes one location. Publish a separate entity for each branch and link each one to the Organisation entity for the brand.