Structured data (schema) is hidden markup that tells search engines what a page is: a business, an article, a product. The right types help Google understand your website. The wrong ones are ignored, or flagged.
What fits a service or local business
| Page | Add | Leave out |
|---|---|---|
| Home page | Organization, or the most specific LocalBusiness type (for example Plumber or Dentist), with your name, logo, contact details, address and opening hours if customers visit, and links to your social profiles | Product. Ratings about your own business |
| Service pages | BreadcrumbList, when breadcrumbs show on the page. Service, as supporting detail, if you like: it doesn't create a search result of its own | Product. FAQ markup unless the questions show on the page |
| Location pages | LocalBusiness for that location, with the area it serves | A copy of your whole business markup on every page |
| Blog posts | Article or BlogPosting, with the author and dates | Product |
| Contact, About, Privacy | Nothing extra | Markup added only because a plugin can |
Why not Product markup
Google shows product results only for things people can buy on the page, with a price and availability. A theme, schema plugin or reviews plugin sometimes adds Product markup to service pages so that star ratings show in search. It doesn't qualify. Google also treats ratings a business marks up about itself as self-serving, so they never earn stars, whether they sit in Product, Organization or LocalBusiness markup.
When the audit finds this, you see Product markup on a business that doesn’t sell products here. To fix it:
- Find what adds the markup: test one of the pages in Google’s Rich Results Test, then check your schema, SEO, reviews and theme settings.
- Remove the Product markup from the pages that don't sell a product.
- Keep your Organization or LocalBusiness markup, without a rating.
- Show real customer reviews on the page as plain text. They still help visitors decide.
When Arva SEO treats a website as a store
The store checks (product markup, prices, stock and filter pages) run only on a store: a website whose type is E-commerce in its settings, or one with cart or checkout links. A website whose type is Business / services or Local business is not a store because of Product markup alone, even on many pages, which some themes and plugins add everywhere; the markup is flagged instead, as above. For other types, three or more product pages also make a store. This applies to new audits (SEO Health 2026.10-v11); earlier audits keep what they showed. A business with one or two products for sale, each with its price and availability, isn't flagged. If your website is a store and the store checks don't run, set its type to E-commerce in the website's Settings.