The Structured Data That Makes Agents Book You

Structured data is code on your website that states your key facts (who you are, what you offer, where, when, and for how much) in a format machines read without guessing. Search engines have used it for years to build rich results. Now AI assistants and agents use it to decide whether they can confidently recommend you, and whether they can book you.

If your website is the conversation you have with customers, structured data is the form you fill out for the machines. Here are the five types that matter most for a local business.

How it works, briefly

Structured data uses a shared vocabulary from schema.org, usually written in a format called JSON-LD and placed in your page’s code. Visitors never see it. Search engines and AI systems read it alongside your visible content, and the two should always agree. Marking up information that isn’t on the page, or that’s out of date, does more harm than good.

1. LocalBusiness (or a more specific type)

This is the foundation: your business as a single, well-defined entity. Use the most specific type that fits, such as Dentist, Attorney, Plumber, Restaurant, or HomeAndConstructionBusiness, rather than the generic LocalBusiness when you can.

Include:

• Name, URL, logo, and phone number
• Full address, plus geographic coordinates
• areaServed if you travel to customers
• sameAs links to your official profiles (Google Business Profile, Yelp, LinkedIn, and so on), which helps systems connect the dots between them

2. Opening hours

Hours are the fact AI assistants get asked about most (“open now,” “open Saturday”), and the one they most often get wrong. Add openingHoursSpecification to your business markup, including special hours for holidays when you have them, and keep it in sync with your Google Business Profile.

3. Service and Offer

Spell out what you sell and, wherever you can, what it costs. A Service describes something you do; an Offer attaches a price or price range, currency, and availability. Agents comparing options strongly favor businesses that state prices over those that say “call for a quote.” Even a range (“from $149”) helps.

4. FAQPage

Mark up the real questions and answers on your pages with FAQPage. Google limited FAQ rich results in search a few years ago, so don’t expect the expanded listings you may remember. But the markup still gives AI systems clean question-and-answer pairs to quote, and it encourages you to write answer-first.

5. A booking action

This is the one most businesses miss. A potentialAction such as ReserveAction (or OrderAction for purchases) tells machines where and how to book. It points to your booking URL so an agent doesn’t have to hunt for the right button.

An example you can adapt

Here’s a simplified example for a dental practice. Every value should match what’s visible on your site.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Dentist",
  "name": "Example Family Dental",
  "url": "https://www.example.com",
  "telephone": "+1-805-555-0100",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "123 Example Rd, Suite 4",
    "addressLocality": "Westlake Village",
    "addressRegion": "CA",
    "postalCode": "91361",
    "addressCountry": "US"
  },
  "openingHoursSpecification": [
    { "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification", "dayOfWeek": ["Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday"], "opens": "08:00", "closes": "17:00" },
    { "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification", "dayOfWeek": "Saturday", "opens": "09:00", "closes": "13:00" }
  ],
  "makesOffer": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "New patient exam and cleaning" },
    "price": "149",
    "priceCurrency": "USD"
  },
  "potentialAction": {
    "@type": "ReserveAction",
    "target": "https://www.example.com/book"
  },
  "sameAs": ["https://www.yelp.com/biz/example-family-dental"]
}

Common mistakes

• Markup that contradicts the page: different hours, prices, or addresses than what visitors see
• Generic types when a specific one exists
• Fake or self-written reviews in markup (this can violate Google’s guidelines)
• Set it and forget it: markup that goes stale when your hours or prices change
• Plugin overload: several tools adding conflicting markup to the same page

Check your work

Google’s Rich Results Test and the Schema Markup Validator will show you what’s on any page and flag errors. Run your homepage, a service page, and your contact page.

How we handle it

Every site we build ships with structured data from day one, kept in sync with your visible content, and every SEO plan expands it as your services change. It’s a core part of being agent-ready. Get started and we’ll show you what machines see on your site today.