Expert Answer
For plumbing companies and plumbers implementing schema markup, JSON-LD is the clear recommendation over Microdata or RDFa. Here's why:
JSON-LD advantages:
- Placed in a
<script> tag, completely separate from your HTML — doesn't affect page layout or styling
- Easier to maintain and update — no need to weave attributes through your HTML elements
- Google explicitly recommends JSON-LD as the preferred format
- Can be injected dynamically (how ClickRadius deploys without modifying source code)
- Easier for AI crawlers to parse — all structured data is in one clean block
Microdata disadvantages for plumbing companies and plumbers:
- Requires adding attributes (itemscope, itemtype, itemprop) throughout your HTML
- Tightly coupled to your page template — theme or design changes can break it
- Harder to maintain and debug
- Can't be injected non-destructively
Best practice for plumbing companies and plumbers:
Use JSON-LD with multiple schema blocks per page:
- Plumber — your business entity with full local properties
- FAQPage — your frequently asked questions about plumbing services
- BreadcrumbList — your site navigation structure
- SpeakableSpecification — sections AI should read aloud
Each schema type goes in its own
<script type="application/ld+json"> block in the
<head>. ClickRadius generates and deploys all of these in JSON-LD format automatically.