What telephone format does Google recommend for LocalBusiness?

Definition: Put the primary customer contact number in the telephone property of the LocalBusiness structured data and include the country code and area code. Google's example writes the value as +12125557234.

Key facts

• Google's LocalBusiness structured data documentation lists telephone as a recommended property with the expected type Text.
• The same documentation defines telephone as a business phone number intended to be the primary contact method for customers.
• Google says to include both the country code and the area code in that number.
• Google's restaurant JSON-LD example uses the compact value +12125557234 for telephone.
• Schema.org describes the telephone property as “The telephone number.” and lists Text as its expected value type.

What should the telephone value contain?

Google's rule has two parts. The value identifies the business's primary contact number, and the number includes its country code and area code. A local-only number leaves out information that Google explicitly asks site owners to provide.

The property is a text value in the markup. In the documentation's Restaurant example, Google places a plus sign before the country code and writes the digits without spaces or punctuation:

"telephone": "+12125557234"

The example is a concrete value shown by Google. The requirement stated in the property table is the inclusion of the country and area codes.

Does Google prescribe punctuation or a tel: URI?

The LocalBusiness page gives the country-code and area-code requirement and shows one compact, plus-prefixed example. It does not state a separate rule for spaces, hyphens, parentheses, or a tel: URI. The source-backed answer is therefore to include the complete number components that Google names, while treating the example's punctuation as an example rather than a claim that every telephone value must use the same typography.

How does Schema.org describe the property?

Schema.org's LocalBusiness definition describes a LocalBusiness as “A particular physical business or branch of an organization.” Its property table lists telephone with expected type Text and the description “The telephone number.” The standalone telephone property page also lists LocalBusiness among the types on which the property is used.

This vocabulary description supports the shape of the value: a LocalBusiness item carries a text string for its telephone number. Google's documentation supplies the more specific search documentation for this question: the string should be the primary customer contact number and should include the country and area codes.

How can you check the markup?

Inspect the JSON-LD or other structured data on the page and locate the telephone property inside the business object. Check that it contains the primary customer number and that the string includes the country and area codes. Google's structured data workflow says to add the properties, follow the guidelines, validate the code with the Rich Results Test, and use the URL Inspection tool after deploying pages.

The Google page was last updated 2026-09-08 UTC. Its simple local business listing and restaurant examples both show telephone as a JSON-LD property, while the property table classifies it as recommended.

Related terms

• LocalBusiness structured data
• How should departments with different details be nested in LocalBusiness?
• How should email and telephone contact points be marked for an organization?

FAQ

Should the number include the country code?

Yes. Google's LocalBusiness documentation says to include the country code and area code in the primary customer contact number.

Is +12125557234 Google's required universal format?

No universal punctuation rule is stated. +12125557234 is the format used in Google's example, while the written requirement names the country and area codes.

What type of value is telephone?

Schema.org lists Text as the expected value type for telephone. In LocalBusiness markup, use a text string for the primary customer contact number.

Sources

1. Google Search Central, "Local business (LocalBusiness) structured data", 8 September 2026
2. Schema.org, "telephone", August 2026
3. Schema.org, "LocalBusiness", August 2026

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