I currently use LocalBusiness as Schema.org type and I feel it's decreasing my search engine rankings due to it being only "local".
My freelance services span an entire state and is not restricted to a single municipality. What would I put in as type?
Schema does not directly improve or punish local rankings, in fact it plays little to absolutely no role in ranking a site locally, nationally or internationally.
Google My Business AKA Google Local, ranks sites by Proximity of Address to the Point of Search, not by STATE. So if your want to rank better in your home down or reach more towns within a district then you need to improve your local rankings by providing Google good reasons why they should increase your (reach) rankings, this DOES NOT consist of adding schema to your website.
To improve your rankings locally then you need to understanding Google's complex algorithm, only then can you start to do things that will actually help your business moving forward. Google's algorithm includes but not limited to:
- Proximity of Address to the Point of Search (Searcher-Business Distance)
- Physical Address in City of Search
- Proper GMB Category Associations
- Quality/Authority of Inbound Links to Domain
- Consistency of Citations on the Primary Data Sources
- Domain Authority of Website
- Product/Service Keyword in GMB Business Title
- Quality/Authority of Structured Citations
- Consistency of Citations on Tier 1 Citation Sources
- Click-Through Rate from Search Results
- Quality/Authority of Inbound Links to GMB Landing Page URL
- Location Keyword in GMB Business Title
- Verified GMB Listing
- HTML NAP Matching GMB Listing NAP
- GMB Primary Category Matches a Broader Category of the Search Category (e.g. primary category=restaurant & search=pizza)
- Diversity of Inbound Links to Domain
- Quantity of Inbound Links to Domain
- Quantity of Native Google Reviews (with text)
- City, State in GMB Landing Page Title
- Quantity of Inbound Links to Domain from Locally Relevant Domains
- Quality/Authority of Unstructured Citations (Newspaper Articles, Blog Posts, Gov Sites, Industry Associations)
- Page Authority of GMB Landing Page URL
- Topical (Product/Service) Keyword Relevance of Domain Content
- High Numerical Ratings of Business by Google Users (e.g. 4–5)
- Age of GMB Listing
- Product/Service Keywords in Reviews
- Mobile-Friendly/Responsive Website
- Quantity of Inbound Links to Domain from Industry-Relevant Domains
- Quantity of Citations from Locally Relevant Domains
- Proximity of Address to Centroid of Other Businesses in Industry
- NAP in Schema/JSON-LD on GMB Landing Page URL
- Local Area Code on GMB Listing
- Product/Service Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Domain
- Quantity of Inbound Links to GMB Landing Page URL
- Clicks to Call Business
- Association of Photos with GMB Listing
- Prominence on Key Industry-Relevant Domains
- Location Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Domain
- Diversity of Inbound Links to GMB Landing Page URL
- Quantity of Citations from Industry-Relevant Domains
- Geographic (City/Neighborhood) Keyword Relevance of Domain Content
- Product/Service Keyword in GMB Landing Page Title
- Driving Directions to Business Clicks
- Enhancement/Completeness of Citations
- Proper Category Associations on Aggregators and Tier 1 Citation Sources
- Positive Sentiment in Reviews
- Quantity of Structured Citations (IYPs, Data Aggregators)
- Quantity of Inbound Links to GMB Landing Page URL from Locally Relevant Domains
- Overall Velocity of Reviews (Native + Third-Party)
- Proximity of Address to Centroid
LocalBusinessmeans that the business has to exist in a specific physical location; it doesn’t necessarily mean that the business provides its services only in or near that location.