Implementing schema.org in the JSON-LD format with Google Tag Manager

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Implementing schema.orgin the JSON-LD format

with Google Tag Manager

@rebelytics

Implementing schema.orgin the JSON-LD format

with Google Tag Manager

@rebelytics@rebelytics

Implementing schema.orgin the JSON-LD format

with Google Tag Manager

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Schema.org is a vocabulary for structured data

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schema.org can be used to describe:

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entities

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relationships relationships

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and actions

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schema.org was founded byGoogle, Microsoft, Yahoo & Yandex

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schema.org can be used in e-mails,

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on websites,

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and with all other types of documents.

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schema.org is a vocabulary, so

https://schema.org/ is our dictionary.

There’s no need to memorise any of it.

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Here’s an example for a page in our dictionary.

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Our dictionary provides us with detailed information about the properties we can use to describe each entity

and the values that these properties can take.

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Implementing schema.orgin the JSON-LD format

with Google Tag Manager

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Implementing schema.orgin the JSON-LD format

with Google Tag Manager

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JSON-LD is one of several formats that can be

used to encode schema.org

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Advantage of JSON-LD:

Does not have to be embedded into existing code

> easier to read & implement

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JSON-LD in a separate script Microdata included in HTML tags

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Implementing schema.orgin the JSON-LD format

with Google Tag Manager

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Implementing schema.orgin the JSON-LD format

with Google Tag Manager

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Google Tag Manager allows us to easily add

JSON-LD scripts to all pages on a website

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Values can be populated with the help of

Google Tag Manager variables

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This means: One script for thousands of

pages with the same data type

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Implementing schema.orgin the JSON-LD format

with Google Tag Manager

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Let’s do it!

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What we need to doStep by step

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5 simple steps

1. Pick a data type that we want to implement on a certain page type

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5 simple steps

1. Pick a data type that we want to implement on a certain page type

2. Create a JSON-LD script with the properties we want to describe

@rebelytics

5 simple steps

1. Pick a data type that we want to implement on a certain page type

2. Create a JSON-LD script with the properties we want to describe

3. Create the GTM variables we need for the values we want to include

@rebelytics

5 simple steps

1. Pick a data type that we want to implement on a certain page type

2. Create a JSON-LD script with the properties we want to describe

3. Create the GTM variables we need for the values we want to include

4. Create a GTM tag that injects the JSON-LD script with the values into the page

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5 simple steps

1. Pick a data type that we want to implement on a certain page type

2. Create a JSON-LD script with the properties we want to describe

3. Create the GTM variables we need for the values we want to include

4. Create a GTM tag that injects the JSON-LD script with the values into the page

5. Debugging and testing

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Step 1Pick a data type that we want to

implement on a certain page type

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Google’s Search Gallery is a good starting point

to find data types that are supported by Google

https://developers.google.com/search/docs/guides/search-gallery

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But: There’s no need to limit yourself to what Google supports

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But: There’s no need to limit yourself to what Google supports

➔ Google will certainly support more data types and properties in future

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But: There’s no need to limit yourself to what Google supports

➔ Google will certainly support more data types and properties in future

➔ Other machines process and use structured data

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But: There’s no need to limit yourself to what Google supports

➔ Google will certainly support more data types and properties in future

➔ Other machines process and use structured data

Let’s start with an example!

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Google supports social profile

links for the data types Person

and Organization.

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Let’s have a look at what markup Google

suggests for the data type Person.

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Google suggests marking up the name of the person, a

URL that represents the person, and links to social profiles.

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➔ On our example page, we

also have job title, phone

and fax numbers, email

address, postal address,

languages spoken, etc.

➔ All of the above are

supported by schema.org:

https://schema.org/Person

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Let’s mark up everything that’s on the page and supported by schema.org:

➔ address➔ e-mail➔ fax number➔ image➔ job title➔ name➔ telephone➔ url➔ works for ...➔ social profile links

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Step 2Create a JSON-LD script with the

properties we want to describe

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How I do it: Copy an example script from

Google’s Search Gallery and manually

adjust and expand it.

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The values here are represented by GTM variables, which leads us to the next step: Creating the Google Tag Manager variables we need.

Tool tip:https://technicalseo.com/seo-tools/schema-markup-generator/

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Step 3Create the GTM variables we need for the values we want to include

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GTM variables

➔ On our example website, we have thousands of lawyer profile pages

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GTM variables

➔ On our example website, we have thousands of lawyer profile pages

➔ We can’t create an individual script for each page, so we use one script for all

pages and add the values dynamically with GTM variables

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GTM variables

➔ On our example website, we have thousands of lawyer profile pages

➔ We can’t create an individual script for each page, so we use one script for all

pages and add the values dynamically with GTM variables

➔ For this implementation, there are two variable types we can choose from:

◆ DOM element variables

◆ Data layer variables

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Option 1: DOM element variables

➔ DOM element variables can be used to extract elements from pages using

CSS selectors

https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/css_selectors.asp

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➔ You can identify the CSS selector of an element using Chrome’s Developer Tools (Right click on element > Inspect > Right click on selected HTML > Copy > Copy selector)

Option 1: DOM element variables

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This variable extracts the name of the lawyer from the example page

using a CSS selector

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This variable extracts the name of the lawyer from the example page

using a CSS selector

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Option 2: Data layer variables

➔ The data layer is a JavaScript object on the page that contains information

that can be accessed by Google Tag Manager

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Option 2: Data layer variables

➔ The data layer is a JavaScript object on the page that contains information

that can be accessed by Google Tag Manager

➔ The data layer is useful for lots of different applications, for example

Enhanced Ecommerce Tracking with Google Analytics

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Option 2: Data layer variables

➔ The data layer is a JavaScript object on the page that contains information

that can be accessed by Google Tag Manager

➔ The data layer is useful for lots of different applications, for example

Enhanced Ecommerce Tracking with Google Analytics

➔ The data layer normally has to be set up on the website itself and not

through Google Tag Manager

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In our example, we pass some of the data that we cannot extract

with the help of DOM element variables via the data layer

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We can then create a data layer variable in Google

Tag Manager for each value we want to access

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On our example page, we use a

combination of DOM element

and data layer variables to

populate the JSON-LD script

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Step 4Create a GTM tag that injects the JSON-LD

script with the values into the page

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➔ A few simple additional lines of jQuery

inject the script into the head of the

page

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Step 5Debugging and testing

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We can now publish this and test it with Google’s

Structured Data Testing Tool (https://search.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool/u/0/)

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No errors, no warnings,

Google is happy :)

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A few days after publishing, we can also check

Google Search Console to see if the data has been

processed correctly

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Implementing schema.orgin the JSON-LD format

with Google Tag Manager

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Really easy, isn’t it?

➔ You can use the exact same steps for all other data types: Breadcrumbs, Sitelinks

Searchbox, Events, Jobs, Articles, Products, etc.

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Really easy, isn’t it?

➔ You can use the exact same steps for all other data types: Breadcrumbs, Sitelinks

Searchbox, Events, Jobs, Articles, Products, etc.

➔ For some of the simpler data types, you won’t even need GTM variables

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Really easy, isn’t it?

➔ You can use the exact same steps for all other data types: Breadcrumbs, Sitelinks

Searchbox, Events, Jobs, Articles, Products, etc.

➔ For some of the simpler data types, you won’t even need GTM variables

➔ For ecommerce sites, you can even use the same data layer values for Enhanced

Ecommerce Tracking and product JSON-LD

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Two more examples

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JSON-LD for event pages

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JSON-LD for job postings

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Some warnings before you do it

yourself

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➔ Not everybody supports JSON-LD yet

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➔ JSON-LD implemented with

Google Tag Manager is only

accessible for programmes

that render the page and

execute the GTM script

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➔ Even if Google Tag Manager is often the easiest way to implement things on a

page, it is not always the best way. Speak to your dev team first.

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➔ DOM element variables are not very stable, as CSS selectors may change over time.

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The end Get in contact:

twitter.com/rebelytics

eoghan@searchviu.com

linkedin.com/in/eoghanhenn/