Schema Markup Beyond FAQ: LocalBusiness, Service, and HowTo for CSRA Sites

If your schema markup strategy has been "add FAQ blocks to every page," it is time for an update. As of May 7, 2026, Google no longer shows FAQ rich results in Search at all—not even for the government and health sites that kept limited eligibility since 2023. HowTo rich results have been gone even longer, deprecated on desktop and mobile back in September 2023. For Augusta, North Augusta, and CSRA businesses, that means the schema conversation has to move past FAQ toward types that still earn visible search real estate—starting with LocalBusiness.

KN Marketing Solutions builds structured data as part of local SEO and custom web development work—not a copy-pasted plugin default. Book a strategy session if you want your markup audited against what actually still works.

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What changed with FAQ and HowTo (and why it matters)

Google's own structured data documentation now carries a deprecation notice on FAQ markup: "As of May 7, 2026, FAQ rich results are no longer appearing in Google Search." Search Console reporting and the Rich Results Test are following on the same retirement schedule. HowTo went through the identical pattern two and a half years earlier—Google announced the change in August 2023 and finished removing it from desktop that September.

Neither type is "wrong" to keep on your pages—the markup is still valid schema.org vocabulary, and AI answer engines can still parse it. But if a developer or agency sold you on FAQ schema as a rich-result strategy, that specific payoff is gone. The pages worth prioritizing now are the ones tied to schema types Google still visibly rewards.

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LocalBusiness: still doing real work in the map pack

LocalBusiness structured data remains directly tied to how Google understands and displays local businesses—including local pack and Knowledge Panel results. For a CSRA service business, that means:

• Name, address (or service area), phone, and hours should match your Google Business Profile exactly—mismatches undercut the markup's value.
• areaServed should reflect where you genuinely operate—Richmond, Columbia, and Aiken counties, not a padded regional claim.
• One clean instance per business entity, not duplicated or conflicting blocks across pages.

This is the schema type worth getting right first, because it still connects directly to a visible feature real searchers see.

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Service: clarity for both search and AI answer engines

Service schema (schema.org/Service) does not carry its own dedicated Google rich result the way LocalBusiness does, but it earns its place for a different reason: entity clarity. A well-structured Service block—naming the service, provider, and area served—gives both traditional crawlers and generative AI systems a clean, unambiguous description of what you actually offer. That matters more, not less, as AI-assisted discovery summarizes businesses on your behalf.

Practical use: one Service definition per core offering (not one per city-name variation), linked back to your LocalBusiness entity as the provider.

A common mistake we see on CSRA sites: a Service block that lists five different city-name variants of the same offer ("HVAC repair Augusta," "HVAC repair North Augusta," "HVAC repair Aiken") instead of one clean Service definition with an accurate areaServed covering all three. The duplicated version does not help rankings—it just multiplies maintenance work and risks the pages looking like doorway content to both crawlers and human reviewers.

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HowTo: keep it for AI parsing, not for a search snippet

Since HowTo no longer produces any Google rich result, treat it as semantic support, not a visibility tactic. If you already publish genuine step-by-step content—an install process, a maintenance checklist—leaving accurate HowTo markup in place costs little and may help AI systems parse the steps correctly. It is simply no longer a reason to build new pages.

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A practical audit order for CSRA sites

1. LocalBusiness — accurate, matches GBP, one instance per entity.
2. Service — one block per real offering, tied to the LocalBusiness provider.
3. BreadcrumbList — still active and low-effort for site structure clarity.
4. FAQ / HowTo — leave existing accurate markup; stop treating either as a growth lever.

Skip the temptation to bolt schema onto pages "because it might help"—markup that does not match visible content is a liability, not a bonus.

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Where custom development matters

Plugin defaults and generic themes often generate schema you didn't choose and may not be able to easily audit. When we build or rebuild a site on Next.js and Supabase, structured data lives in code we control directly—so LocalBusiness and Service definitions stay in sync with what the page actually displays, and nothing gets auto-generated by a theme update overnight. That control matters more as rich-result eligibility keeps narrowing: a schema strategy built on defaults you don't fully understand is harder to keep accurate over time.

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Who we are

KN Marketing Solutions is a strategic digital marketing partner for Augusta GA, North Augusta SC, and the CSRA, including custom web and app development built on the same stack we use for our own site. About.

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FAQ

Should I remove FAQ schema from my site now? Not necessarily—Google says you do not need to remove it, and it will not harm rankings. Just stop expecting a visible rich result from it.

Is LocalBusiness schema required to show up in the map pack? No single schema type guarantees map pack placement—Google Business Profile signals matter more—but accurate LocalBusiness markup reinforces the same entity story.

What is the difference between LocalBusiness and Service schema? LocalBusiness describes your business as an entity (name, location, hours). Service describes a specific offering that entity provides—useful when you have multiple distinct services.

Does removing rich-result eligibility mean schema is less important overall? No—it means the payoff shifted from visible SERP features toward machine and AI-answer-engine clarity. That's still worth doing correctly.

Can KN audit our existing structured data? Yes—book a strategy session and we'll check what's live against what actually still functions.

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Sources

1. Google Search Central — LocalBusiness structured data — current requirements and guidelines.
2. Google Search Central — FAQPage structured data — official deprecation notice, effective May 7, 2026.
3. Google Search Central Blog — Changes to HowTo and FAQ rich results — original August–September 2023 deprecation announcement.
4. Schema.org — Service type reference.

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Next step

Download the CSRA growth playbook, or book a strategy session to get your structured data audited against what actually earns visibility in 2026.