Can I use schema for page with a list of restaurants on it?

Question

I am building a WordPress website just now and have downloaded a few schema plug ins but just can't find one that is just right. I am a complete beginner when it comes to schema, but what I want to find the answer to is this:

Can you build schema for web pages that are not articles, news etc etc?

Say my page is called 'places to eat in Glasgow.' It has a map where users can search for a coffee shop, restaurant or hotel, which then will go to the business pages.

If I use the article schema it asks for author, date etc, so I can't use that. What can I use?

Answer 1

You can use schema.org/FoodEstablishment, of which there are a few specific types including Restaurant, which the example below uses.

<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Restaurant">
  <span itemprop="name">GreatFood</span>
  <div itemprop="aggregateRating" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/AggregateRating">
    <span itemprop="ratingValue">4</span> stars -
    based on <span itemprop="reviewCount">250</span> reviews
  </div>
  <div itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress">
    <span itemprop="streetAddress">1901 Lemur Ave</span>
    <span itemprop="addressLocality">Sunnyvale</span>,
    <span itemprop="addressRegion">CA</span> <span itemprop="postalCode">94086</span>
  </div>
  <span itemprop="telephone">(408) 714-1489</span>
  <a itemprop="url" href="http://www.dishdash.com">www.greatfood.com</a>
  Hours:
  <meta itemprop="openingHours" content="Mo-Sa 11:00-14:30">Mon-Sat 11am - 2:30pm
  <meta itemprop="openingHours" content="Mo-Th 17:00-21:30">Mon-Thu 5pm - 9:30pm
  <meta itemprop="openingHours" content="Fr-Sa 17:00-22:00">Fri-Sat 5pm - 10:00pm
  Categories:
  <span itemprop="servesCuisine">
    Middle Eastern
  </span>,
  <span itemprop="servesCuisine">
    Mediterranean
  </span>
  Price Range: <span itemprop="priceRange">$$</span>
  Takes Reservations: Yes
</div>

Answer 2

You seem to confuse Schema.org markup with things search engines might do with this markup (e.g., Rich Snippets in Google Search).

Schema.org never requires any properties, so you could have an Article without providing the publication date or the author. However, Google Search defines requirements for showing their Rich Snippets.

So:

• Does Schema.org offer a type suitable for representing a restaurant? Yes, Restaurant.

• May you use Restaurant on a page about this restaurant instead of the restaurant’s official site? Yes.

• Will Google Search show a Rich Snippet for the Restaurant? No, they don’t offer a Rich Snippet for this purpose.

  But they have Rich Snippets for ratings and reviews, so if you provide Review and/or AggregateRating items for each Restaurant, Google Search might show a Rich Snippet for these. However, this would require that you have a page about each restaurant (with its rating/review) on your site. If you don’t have this (e.g., you only have a list/map of links to the restaurants), you won’t get a Rich Snippet in Google Search for the restaurant’s rating/review.