STRUCTURED DATA · SEO GLOSSARY
LegalService Schema
The schema.org type for legal service providers — LegalService, a subtype of LocalBusiness — that serves as the parent type for more specific subtypes including Attorney, Notary, and BarAssociation. Used for law firms, legal aid organisations, and other legal service entities to provide structured location, practice area, and contact data to search engines.
Definition
`LegalService` is a schema.org type in the `Thing → Organization → LocalBusiness → LegalService` hierarchy for organisations providing legal services. Its key subtypes: **`Attorney`** — for law firms and individual attorneys in private practice. **`Notary`** — for notarial services. **`BarAssociation`** — for bar association organisations. When to use `LegalService` vs `Attorney`: use `Attorney` for law firms and attorneys in private practice; use `LegalService` for legal aid organisations, legal clinics, court self-help centres, and other legal service providers that aren\'t traditional private practice law firms. `LegalService` inherits all `LocalBusiness` properties: `address`, `geo`, `telephone`, `openingHoursSpecification`, `areaServed`, `aggregateRating`. It also supports `knowsAbout` for specifying legal domains of expertise. For multi-office law firms: each office should have its own `Attorney`/`LegalService` schema instance with office-specific address, geo coordinates, and phone number. A single firm-wide schema block using the headquarters address is insufficient for establishing local relevance for branch offices in different cities. This is the same multi-location pattern as other LocalBusiness types: one schema instance per physical location, each with precise coordinates.
Why it matters for SEO
Using the correct schema type hierarchy matters for legal services because Google\'s knowledge panel and rich result features for legal queries are calibrated against the specific type (`Attorney`, `LegalService`). Using the generic `Organization` type for a law firm loses the LocalBusiness features (hours in knowledge panel, "Open now" status, map integration) and the LegalService-specific associations. Correctly typed schema also makes the firm\'s pages eligible for more specific structured data features as Google continues to expand rich result types for professional service categories.
How DeepSEOAnalysis checks this
DeepSEOAnalysis validates LegalService/Attorney JSON-LD for: correct type declaration (`@type: "Attorney"` or `@type: "LegalService"`), presence of LocalBusiness-required fields (`name`, `address`, `telephone`), and LegalService-recommended fields (`areaServed`, `knowsAbout`, `aggregateRating`). Multi-location firm sites are checked for separate schema instances per location page — a single schema block covering all locations is flagged as a gap.
Useful tools and resources
GLOSSARY
Related terms
structured data
Attorney Schema
The schema.org type for law firms and individual attorneys — Attorney, a subtype of LegalService → LocalBusiness — with properties including address, geo, openingHoursSpecification, areaServed (jurisdiction coverage), knowsAbout (practice areas), and aggregateRating. Enables knowledge panel features for legal service queries and jurisdiction-specific local search relevance.
Read definition →technical
Legal SEO
SEO practice applied to law firms, attorneys, and legal service providers — characterised by YMYL content standards, jurisdiction-specific keyword targeting, Attorney/LegalService schema, intense aggregator competition (Avvo, FindLaw, Martindale), and Local Services Ads (Google Screened) for local legal query visibility.
Read definition →structured data
Professional Service Schema
Schema.org structured data for licensed professional service providers — including Attorney (legal), Physician (medical), Dentist (dental), AccountingService (financial), FinancialService, and other LocalBusiness subtypes for regulated professionals. These types add profession-specific properties to the LocalBusiness foundation that enable knowledge panel features and local search relevance for professional service queries.
Read definition →structured data
LocalBusiness Schema
LocalBusiness schema is a Schema.org structured data type that describes a local business — name, address, phone, hours, geo coordinates, and more — enabling rich Knowledge Panel and Local Pack displays in Google Search. It is the foundation of structured data for local SEO.
Read definition →structured data
areaServed (Schema Property)
The schema.org property on LocalBusiness (and subtypes including RealEstateAgent, ServiceBusiness) that specifies the geographic areas a business serves — as a list of Place objects, AdministrativeArea objects, or a GeoShape. Critical for service-area businesses and multi-location businesses where coverage extends beyond immediate physical proximity.
Read definition →See how your site scores on LegalService Schema.
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