Schema.org is ProfessionalService deprecated?

Question

After reading several recent popular articles on the internet I decided to use ProfessionalService over LocalBusiness for my web design company. It is my understanding that LocalBusiness is very broad and it is best to be as specific as much as possible and the reason why I opted to use both ProfessionalService and additionalType with The Product Types Ontology.

Using Google Tag Manager my json-ld looks like this:

<script type="application/ld+json">
  {
    "@context": "http://schema.org",
    "@type": "ProfessionalService",
    "additionalType": "http://www.productontology.org/id/Web_design",
    "name": "BYBE",
    "url": "https://www.bybe.net",
    "logo": "https://www.bybe.net/wp-content/themes/showboat/logo-bybe.png",
    "description": "Creative website design company based in Bournemouth and Poole, Dorset.",
    "telephone": "01202 949749",
    "areaServed": ["Bournemouth", "Poole", "Dorset"],
  "openingHoursSpecification": [
    {
      "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
      "dayOfWeek": [
        "Monday",
        "Tuesday",
        "Wednesday",
        "Thursday",
        "Friday"
      ],
      "opens": "09:00",
      "closes": "17:00"
    }
  ],
    "address": {
      "@type": "PostalAddress",
      "streetAddress": "Flat 11, East Cliff Grange, 35 Knyveton Road",
      "addressLocality": "Bournemouth",
      "addressRegion": "Dorset",
      "postalCode":"BH1 3QJ"
    },
    "geo": {
    "@type": "GeoCoordinates",
    "latitude": "50.73744",
    "longitude": "-1.8495269"
    },
    "sameAs" : [ "https://plus.google.com/+ByBeBournemouth",
    "https://twitter.com/bybe_net",
    "https://www.facebook.com/ByBeUK",
    "https://uk.pinterest.com/bybenet/",
    "https://www.youtube.com/c/ByBeBournemouth",
    "https://www.linkedin.com/company/bybe"]
  }
</script>

I'm a little confused over the choice of words Schema has used on the ProfessionalService page:

SOURCE

Original definition: "provider of professional services."

The general ProfessionalService type for local businesses was deprecated due to confusion with Service. For reference, the types that it included were: Dentist, AccountingService, Attorney, Notary, as well as types for several kinds of HomeAndConstructionBusiness: Electrician, GeneralContractor, HousePainter, Locksmith, Plumber, RoofingContractor. LegalService was introduced as a more inclusive supertype of Attorney.

It's not clear if ProfessionalService is completely deprecated since it is still listed on the list of Schema's, I suspect they mean its deprecated for using it in a certain way, I'd be grateful if a Schema Jedi could shed some light on this issue.

Question(s):

Is ProfessionalService completely deprecated? If it's not then please include an example demonstrating the type of usage that is deprecated, that way it'll help and others.

Answer 1

ProfessionalService is deprecated for all cases, not only for some specific ones.

However, it will likely never be removed from Schema.org, because it would do more harm than good: many sites might still use this type, and many of them will probably never update their structured data (or even notice that it got deprecated in the meantime).
See also what the Schema.org webmaster, Dan Brickley, says about superseded types:

We shouldn't make the warnings too heavy or it creates awkwardness e.g. when search marketing people have recommended something to their clients then it gets superseded. We want consumers to respect older structures wherever possible and not worry publishers into constantly updating in the absence of concrete product-related incentives imho.

So if you have to use this type, nothing will break (just don’t expect updates for this type, or integration with future developments of the vocabulary). But if possible, it would better to use an alternative.

If not using ProfessionalService, the closest type for your web design company would be LocalBusiness. The services (design, development, consulting, CMS updates etc.) your company provides can be modelled with Service (where the provider is the LocalBusiness) and/or with makesOffer (where the Offer can reference the Service with itemOffered) (or with hasOfferCatalog in the same way, if you want to model it as list).