Structured data for local businesses in Ireland: what actually gets used

For local businesses in Ireland, LocalBusiness structured data — a block of machine-readable code added to your website — is one of the clearest signals you can give to both search engines and AI assistants about who you are, where you are, and what you offer. When it is implemented correctly and consistently, AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity can quote your details with confidence rather than piecing together guesses from scattered sources. Getting it wrong, however, means your data is quietly ignored.

Which schema types matter for local recommendations

Schema.org (the shared vocabulary used by Google, Bing, and AI systems to read structured data) offers a hierarchy of business types under the LocalBusiness parent type. Choosing the right subtype matters because AI systems and search engines use it to match your business to specific queries.

Common subtypes relevant in Ireland include:

• FoodEstablishment → Restaurant, CafeOrCoffeeShop, Bakery, FastFoodRestaurant
• HealthAndBeautyBusiness → BeautySalon, HairSalon, SpaOrHealthClub, Dentist
• ProfessionalService → Accountant, LegalService, FinancialService
• HomeAndConstructionBusiness → Electrician, Plumber, HVACBusiness, Painter
• Store → ClothingStore, HardwareStore, BookStore

If your exact type does not exist, use the closest parent. A physiotherapy clinic, for example, can use MedicalBusiness or HealthAndBeautyBusiness. Using a generic LocalBusiness type when a more specific one exists is a missed opportunity — AI systems use the type to decide whether your business is relevant to a particular recommendation query.

Moderation-friendly properties to include

Not every Schema.org property is read with equal weight. In our measurements, the properties that AI assistants and search quality systems consistently use when deciding whether to quote or recommend a business are:

A Google Business Profile (GBP) is the free listing that appears in Google Maps and the local pack in search results — it is separate from your website, but the data on it must match your structured data exactly.

For service businesses, hasOfferCatalog is particularly valuable. It lets you list individual services — "Boiler Service", "Tax Return Preparation", "Balayage" — in a way that AI tools can match to specific user questions. This connects naturally to how you structure your service pages that AI can quote.

Common markup mistakes that stop usage

These are the errors that silently disqualify your structured data from being trusted or quoted:

1. Name inconsistency If your website says "O'Brien's Electrical" but your GBP says "O'Briens Electrical Services" and Golden Pages (Ireland's main business directory) says "OBriens Electrical," AI systems see three different entities. Consistency is the single biggest trust signal.

2. Missing addressCountry Without "addressCountry": "IE", your address is ambiguous. This is especially relevant for towns that share names with UK locations — Newry, Derry, and Donegal all sit near the border.

3. Using openingHours strings instead of openingHoursSpecification The string format ("Mo-Fr 09:00-17:30") is still accepted but the structured specification — with dayOfWeek, opens, and closes as separate fields — is more reliably parsed and less prone to errors around bank holidays.

4. Placing markup only on the homepage Your contact page, about page, and location page should each carry the full LocalBusiness block. AI crawlers do not always enter through the homepage.

5. Stale hours Seasonal businesses, restaurants, and clinics often update their opening hours in GBP but forget to update the website markup. Mismatched hours are a common reason AI assistants hedge or omit a recommendation.

6. JSON-LD in the wrong place JSON-LD (the script-based format Google recommends) should be in the <head> or at the end of <body>. Placing it inside a CMS widget that renders after page load can mean crawlers never see it.

Consistency across your website, Google, and sources

Structured data on your website is only one layer. AI systems cross-reference multiple sources before quoting a business, and inconsistency across those sources reduces confidence. In Ireland, the platforms worth keeping in sync include:

• Google Business Profile — the most authoritative single source for local data
• Golden Pages — Ireland's legacy directory, still indexed heavily
• Yelp Ireland and Tripadvisor — used for hospitality and tourism queries
• Treatwell and Booksy — for beauty and wellness, AI tools often quote these for appointment-based businesses
• Michelin Guide and TheFork — relevant for restaurants seeking recommendation in higher-intent queries
• Healthwise.ie and individual practice websites — for health professionals

The rule is simple: your trading name, address (including Eircode), phone number, and website URL should be letter-perfect and identical across all of them. This is sometimes called NAP consistency (Name, Address, Phone) — a term from traditional local SEO that remains just as relevant for AI-driven recommendations.

Your about page and FAQ pages also contribute to this consistency layer — they give AI systems additional signals to verify your identity and service area.

Getting your location signals right for Irish addresses

Irish addresses have some quirks worth noting. Eircodes (Ireland's postal code system, introduced in 2015) are seven characters in the format A65 F4E2. Always include the full Eircode in your postalCode field — not just the routing key (the first three characters).

For businesses in rural areas or on roads without conventional street addresses, use the geo property with accurate coordinates from Google Maps. This is particularly important for farm shops, rural B&Bs, event venues, and tradespeople whose listed address is a home address rather than a commercial premises.

If you serve multiple towns or counties — a common situation for tradespeople and mobile services — use areaServed to list the counties or localities you cover. This helps AI assistants answer "who does X in County Clare?" type queries without requiring you to have a separate page for every location. For guidance on how to mention those place names naturally in your content, see using town names naturally in titles and headings.

A pre-launch validation checklist before testing assistant quotes

Before you check whether an AI assistant mentions your business, run through this list:

• Schema.org validator (validator.schema.org) — paste your page URL or markup and confirm zero errors
• Google Rich Results Test (search.google.com/test/rich-results) — confirms Google can parse your markup and shows which features are eligible
• Name matches GBP exactly — character by character, including punctuation and spacing
• Address matches GBP and Golden Pages — including Eircode in full
• Phone number in +353 format — on both the schema and the visible page
• Opening hours updated for current season — check for bank holiday exceptions if relevant
• Markup present on at least three pages — homepage, contact page, and one service or location page
• JSON-LD is in the document head — not deferred by JavaScript
• @type is the most specific subtype available — not just LocalBusiness
• hasOfferCatalog lists your main services — with plain-language names, not internal codes

Once your markup is clean and consistent, you can use the free check from suggestedby.ai to see whether AI assistants are actually quoting your business in relevant local queries — and where the gaps still are. For a broader look at how all of these signals work together, structured data that AI and moderating systems actually accept covers the full picture beyond just the LocalBusiness type.

Structured data is not a guarantee of visibility — but without it, you are asking AI systems to guess. Getting the basics right is a straightforward task that most business owners can complete in an afternoon, and it removes one of the most common reasons your business gets overlooked in AI-generated recommendations.