Tag guide
Schema.org Structured Data (JSON-LD) Explained
- Check your site
- Run Tag Explorer
Structured data is machine-readable markup that describes your page’s content to search engines, products, businesses, reviews, articles, FAQs and more. On modern sites it’s almost always written as JSON-LD: a <script type="application/ld+json"> block following the shared vocabulary at schema.org.
What the @type means
Each block declares an @type, the kind of thing it describes. Common ones are Product, LocalBusiness, Organization, Article, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList and Review. Tag Explorer reads the markup and shows the type in the tag name, e.g. Schema.org Structured Data (Product).
It’s SEO, not tracking
Structured data sends nothing to an analytics or advertising platform. It’s read by Google, Bing and others to power rich results, star ratings, prices, FAQs, breadcrumbs and knowledge-panel details in the search listing. Good markup can improve how your result looks and its click-through rate.
Why it shows up in GTM
Plugins or developers sometimes inject JSON-LD through a Custom HTML tag in Google Tag Manager instead of the page template. That works, but markup injected late by JavaScript is read less reliably than markup present in the initial HTML, so server-rendered or template-level structured data is generally preferable.
How to validate it
Test any page with Google’s Rich Results Test or the Schema Markup Validator. Watch for duplicate or conflicting blocks (for example two different Product definitions on one page), which can confuse search engines.
How to check yours is working
Run your site through our free Tag Explorer tool, it shows every tag on the page, nested under its GTM container, with the tracking IDs. To confirm a tag actually fires, use GTM’s Preview mode or your browser’s DevTools Network tab.
Part of the Shipwreck Studio Tag Guide. Scan any page with Tag Explorer to see its full tag tree and spot duplicates.