What structured data should a business with no storefront use?

A roofer, plumber or HVAC company that works at customers’ homes, and does not serve customers at its own address, is told by Google’s Business Profile rules to take that address off its profile.

Do AI assistants need structured data?

Not for Google’s AI features. Google says “Structured data isn’t required for generative AI search, and there’s no special schema.org markup you need to add.” It adds that markup is still worth using “as part of your overall SEO strategy, as it helps with being eligible for rich results on Google Search.” Microsoft’s Bing guidelines say structured data “may support clearer grounding but does not guarantee visibility or grounding traffic.”

Google lists “making sure your structured data matches the visible text on the page” among the fundamentals for its AI features, and Bing says “Markup must accurately reflect visible content.” Markup will not put a business into an AI answer by itself.

Which schema.org type should you use?

The most specific one for your trade. Google’s guidance is to “use the most specific LocalBusiness sub-type possible,” and schema.org has types for many trades, including RoofingContractor, HVACBusiness, Plumber and Electrician. If you do several kinds of work, Google says to list the types as an array, and its own example is [“Electrician”, “Plumber”, “Locksmith”].

Skip ProfessionalService, even though the name sounds right. Schema.org’s page says “The general ProfessionalService type for local businesses was deprecated due to confusion with Service,” and names the trade types it used to include. Use one directly.

Your trade type is also a kind of Organization. Google’s organization guidance has “no required properties,” and for a local business it says to follow the local business fields “in addition to the fields recommended in this guide”: your name, url, logo, phone number, email and sameAs links to your profiles on other sites.

What do you do about the address?

Google’s local business documentation lists address as a required property, described as “The physical location of the business,” and says you must include the required properties “for your content to be eligible for display as a rich result.” Its general guidelines also say “Don’t mark up content that is not visible to readers of the page,” and its introduction adds: “don’t add structured data about information that is not visible to the user, even if the information is accurate.”

Put together:

• Your site shows no address: leave address out. The markup still describes your business, but it will not be eligible for Google’s local business rich result.
• Your site shows a mailing address, in the footer for example: Google’s organization guidance allows it, describing address as “The address (physical or mailing) of your organization, if applicable.” The local business rules ask for the physical location, so a mailing address may not meet that requirement.
• Never mark up an address your pages do not show.

On Google, the Business Profile holds your local details. Google says: “If you don’t serve customers at your business address, remove your address from your Business Profile.” Verifying the profile and adding your details “enables your local business information to show up in Google Maps and Google knowledge panel.”

How do you describe a service area?

Schema.org’s areaServed property is “The geographic area where a service or offered item is provided,” and it supersedes the older serviceArea. Its value can be text, a place, an administrative area such as a city, or a shape. Google’s property lists for local business and organization markup do not include it. Use it to name your towns, and list the same towns in text on the page.

On Google, set your service areas in the Business Profile, which allows up to 20, “based on the cities, postal codes, or other areas you serve.”

What does the markup look like?

An example for a roofer whose site shows its name, phone number, email and towns, but no address:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "RoofingContractor",
  "name": "Example Roofing",
  "url": "https://www.example.com/",
  "logo": "https://www.example.com/logo.png",
  "telephone": "+15555550100",
  "email": "office@example.com",
  "areaServed": [
    { "@type": "City", "name": "Springfield" },
    { "@type": "City", "name": "Riverton" }
  ],
  "sameAs": ["https://example.net/profile/example-roofing"]
}

It goes in a script tag of type application/ld+json; Google calls JSON-LD its recommended format. Google suggests placing organization markup “on your home page, or a single page that describes your organization,” such as an about page.

How do you check it?

Google says the Rich Results Test and the URL Inspection tool “catch most technical errors.” Run the page through the Rich Results Test after every change, then check that each value in the markup appears on the page. Without an address, the test may flag it as missing; leave it out if your page shows none.

What is the short list?

The Google Business Profile checklist covers the profile, the AI visibility checklist includes a markup check, and AEO vs SEO explains where markup fits. The roofing and HVAC pages cover those trades. To see where your business stands, Ultruxy offers a free visibility report. Our approach is on the SEO service page.