Schema Different for Local and National SEO Campaigns?

Schema markup confuses tons of business owners and, honestly, even some SEO people who should definitely know better by now. The question about needing a different schema for local versus national campaigns pops up constantly in forums and client meetings.

Short answer? Yeah, schema implementation differs pretty significantly between local and national strategies. But it's not about using completely different schema types, really. More about emphasis, specificity, and which schema properties you prioritize based on your actual business model and goals.

1. Local Businesses Need Way More Geographic Detail

Local businesses absolutely must have the LocalBusiness schema as their foundation. Name, address, phone, opening hours, geo coordinates, areas served. Local schema tells Google exactly where you physically exist and operate. Got multiple locations? You need separate schema markup for each one with its specific address and unique details. 

Google uses this information to decide when to show your business in local pack results and map listings. National businesses operating everywhere don't need this same geographic specificity because they're not competing for local pack visibility at all.

2. Service Area Schema Matters Locally But Not Nationally

Local service businesses going to customers instead of customers coming to them need the ServiceArea schema badly. Plumbers, electricians, cleaning services, mobile mechanics, all that. This schema tells Google which specific cities, zip codes, and regions you actually serve. Be really specific here instead of claiming you magically serve everywhere within 100 miles.

List actual cities and neighborhoods you'll drive to. National businesses typically skip the ServiceArea schema entirely because they operate everywhere through online services or have physical locations nationwide. Their schema focuses more on Organization and Service types at higher levels.

3. Review Schema Hits Different for Local Businesses

Review and rating schema shows up in both local and national strategies, but carries wildly different weight. For local businesses, reviews directly affect local pack rankings and click-through rates hard. Implementing the  AggregateRating and Review schema helps display those star ratings in search results, massively improving visibility and credibility instantly. National brands benefit from review schema, sure, but local businesses see way more dramatic impact because local searchers rely super heavily on reviews when choosing service providers. A local restaurant showing 4.8 stars in results destroys competitors without visible ratings.

4. Product Schema Dominates National E-commerce Sites

National e-commerce operations lean hard into Product schema with properties for price, availability, brand, reviews, and product variants. This schema helps products pop up in Google Shopping results, rich snippets, and product carousels. Local businesses might sell products too, but their schema strategy has to prioritize local visibility over product-specific markup. 

A local boutique needs LocalBusiness schema first, Product schema second, if at all. A national online retailer completely reverses those priorities because they're not competing for local pack rankings, just product visibility in national search results.

Conclusion

Schema for local versus national campaigns uses lots of the same markup types, but with totally different priorities and implementation details that matter. Local businesses desperately need LocalBusiness schema, ServiceArea definitions, geo-specific properties, and review markup to compete in local pack results effectively.

National businesses prioritise organisation schema, Product markup for e-commerce, and broader service descriptions without geographic limitations, holding them back. Both benefit from the FAQ and HowTo schema, but are tailored specifically to their audience's different search intents and needs. 

Understanding these differences helps you implement schema that actually moves the needle for your specific business instead of just slapping markup on pages because some blog post said you should.