74% of local business websites have no local business schema, the code that tells Google in a fixed format what a business is, where it is and when it is open. Only 9% give search engines their opening hours this way.
Analysis of 17,807 local business websites in 54 business categories · websites linked from Google Business Profiles, September 2026
Key Findings
- 1.74% of local business websites have no local business schema, the code that tells search engines a site belongs to a local business.
- 2.32.5% of local business websites have no schema markup of any kind.
- 3.Only 9% of local business websites give search engines their opening hours in schema markup, and 12.1% give their map coordinates.
- 4.12% of local business websites describe themselves only as a general organization, leaving out the address and hours fields that local search uses.
- 5.93.6% of SaaS company websites have no local business schema, the highest rate of 54 categories, while auto dealers do best at 49.4%.
Summary
Google reads a plumber's homepage and has to work out, from headings, footers and contact pages, what the business is called, where it is and when it answers the phone. A few lines of code in a fixed format would tell it directly. Most local business websites never add them.
That code is schema markup: labels hidden in a page's code that tell search engines exactly what each piece of information is, such as "this is the business name" or "these are the opening hours". The local business version is the one that matches a Google Business Profile. It is one of the few local search tasks entirely in an owner's control, costs little and takes an afternoon.
74% of local business websites have none of it. About a third have no schema markup of any kind, and most of the markup that does exist describes the website, not the business behind it. Only 9% give search engines their opening hours in this format.
What we measured
We took the website linked from each Google Business Profile across 54 US business categories, 17,807 websites in all, and on September 23 and 24, 2026 checked up to three pages on each: usually the homepage and two other pages. On every page we recorded which types of schema markup it declared.
Schema markup is a shared vocabulary of labels, published at schema.org, that websites add to their code so search engines can read facts without guessing. A website counts as having local business schema if any page labels the business as a local business or a specific kind of one, such as a dentist, plumber or auto dealer. A general organization label describes a company but has no place for opening hours or a map location. Shares are of all websites checked.
Three in four local business websites skip the code that describes them
Only about one in four local business websites tells search engines, in their own format, that it belongs to a local business. That is despite the fact that almost every one of these businesses depends on people nearby finding it on Google.
Among the sites that do use it, most choose the plain, general local business label: 15.1% of all websites. The specific kinds barely register. The most common is dentist, on 1.4% of websites, followed by auto dealer (0.7%), HVAC business (0.6%) and legal service (0.6%). A specific label tells a search engine more than the general one, and almost nobody uses it.
Most schema describes the website, not the business
32.5% of local business websites have no schema markup at all. The other two thirds mostly carry labels that describe the site's structure. Half of all websites (49.8%) label themselves as a website, and about a quarter label individual web pages or the breadcrumb trail of links at the top of a page. Many website builders and plugins add these automatically.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 17,807 local business websites in 54 business categories · websites linked from Google Business Profiles, September 2026
The labels that match a Google Business Profile are much rarer. 25.4% of websites label a postal address, 12.1% give map coordinates and 9% give opening hours. 18.4% use the organization label, and 12% use it with no local business label at all, which leaves no place for hours or location. For a business that wants Google to trust that its website and its Google listing describe the same place, these are the fields that matter.
Every category leaves most websites unmarked
No category gets close to full use. Auto dealers do best, and half of their websites still lack local business schema (49.4%). Dentists (65.1%), HVAC companies (67.9%) and plumbers (70.1%) do better than average, but the majority still go without.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 17,807 local business websites in 54 business categories · websites linked from Google Business Profiles, September 2026
| Category | No local business schema | No schema at all |
|---|---|---|
| SaaS | 93.6% | 44.3% |
| Manufacturing | 90.2% | 37.1% |
| Fashion store | 90.2% | 33.9% |
| Funeral home | 88.4% | 11.6% |
| Church | 88.3% | 55.1% |
| Barber shop | 83.8% | 64% |
| Plumber | 70.1% | 26.5% |
| HVAC | 67.9% | 24.9% |
| Dentist | 65.1% | 24.3% |
| Hair salon | 63.5% | 43.1% |
| Yoga studio | 59.8% | 27% |
| Auto dealer | 49.4% | 27.3% |
Funeral homes show how markup can miss the point. 88.4% have no local business schema, yet only 11.6% have no schema at all: their websites carry plenty of markup, just not the kind that describes a local business. Barber shops sit at the other extreme, with 64% carrying no schema of any kind.
What this means for local business owners
Check your homepage with Google's Rich Results Test or the Schema Markup Validator. If no local business entry appears, add one, and choose the most specific kind that fits: dentist, plumber, auto repair and so on. Include your business name, address, phone number, opening hours and map coordinates exactly as they appear on your Google Business Profile.
If your site already has organization markup, check what it contains. An organization label on its own has no place for hours or location, so add the local business details alongside it. Businesses with several locations should add a separate local business entry on each location page, each with its own address and hours.
Because 74% of local competitors have not done this, it is one of the cheapest ways to make your website and your Google listing agree. Our local seo packages include adding and checking local business schema on every location page.
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<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/local-business-schema-adoption">74% of Local Business Websites Are Missing Local Business Schema - Suff Digital</a></p>
Cite this study
Suff Digital. (2026). 74% of Local Business Websites Are Missing Local Business Schema. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/local-business-schema-adoption
74% of Local Business Websites Are Missing Local Business Schema - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/local-business-schema-adoption