---
title: "Choose post and page data for the dataLayer"
date: 2026-05-04
author: "GTM Kit"
---

# Choose post and page data for the dataLayer

This guide shows you how to control which page and post fields GTM Kit adds to the data layer on every page view, and how to use them in GTM as variables.

## What gets added

GTM Kit can include the following fields in the data layer for the current page or archive view:

FieldDescriptionExample value`post_type`The WordPress post type of the current view.`post`, `page`, `product``page_type`A friendly page-type label normalized by GTM Kit.`post`, `page`, `product`, `category`, `cart`, `checkout`, `home`, `search``post_categories`Categories of the current post or archive (array of slugs).`["news","analytics"]``post_tags`Tags of the current post or archive (array of slugs).`["gtm","ga4"]``post_title`The current post title.`"How to set up GA4"``post_id`The numeric post ID.`1234``post_date`The publish date in `YYYY-MM-DD` format.`"2026-04-29"``post_author_name`The post author’s display name.`"Torben"``post_author_id`The numeric author user ID.`42`Each is independently toggleable. None contain personally identifying information about the visitor; all describe the *content being viewed*.

## When to enable each

The two most useful fields for almost every site are **page\_type** and **post\_type**. They let you build GTM triggers like “fire this tag only on product pages” without writing custom JS or maintaining URL pattern lists.

Categories, tags, and post\_id are useful for content sites that want to slice analytics by topic or article.

Author fields are useful when you want to attribute traffic and engagement to individual writers, for example on a multi-author publication.

If you do not have a clear use for a field, leave it off. Smaller data layers are easier to debug.

## Steps

### 1. Open General settings

Go to **GTM Kit, General**.

### 2. Find the Post Data section

Each field is a toggle. Default-on is **Page Type**. Other fields default to off.

### 3. Pick what you need and save

Saving takes effect on the next page load. Caches may need to be flushed.

## Use the data in GTM

In your GTM workspace:

1. Go to **Variables, New, Data Layer Variable**.
2. Set **Variable Name** to anything you like, e.g. `dlv - page_type`.
3. Set **Data Layer Variable Name** to the field key, e.g. `page_type`.
4. Save.

You can now use that variable in triggers and tag parameters. A typical use:

> Trigger: Custom Event `page_view` AND `dlv - page_type` equals `product`. → Fire your product-page remarketing tag.

## Verify it worked

Open any page on your site. In DevTools console:

```
window.dataLayer
```

Find the entry where `event` is `page_view` (or your earliest data-push event) and confirm the fields you enabled are present:

```
{
  event: 'page_view',
  page_type: 'post',
  post_type: 'post',
  post_categories: ['news', 'analytics'],
  post_id: 1234,
  // ...
}
```

If a field is missing, it is either toggled off, or your theme suppresses the data-layer enqueue (rare; only happens with heavily customized themes that strip enqueued scripts).

## Common issues

**Fields are empty on archive pages.** GTM Kit fills `post_categories` and `post_tags` based on the queried object. On a category archive, the relevant terms are derived from the archive itself. On the front page set to “your latest posts”, only `page_type` and `post_type` are meaningful; per-post fields are blank by design.

**Custom post types do not show in `post_type`.** They should. Confirm the post type is registered with `public => true` and that the page you are looking at is a single-CPT page, not its archive.

**`post_author_name` is empty.** Either the author has no display name set, or the page is not a singular post (archive views do not have a single author).

## Related articles

- [Track WooCommerce events](https://gtmkit.com/documentation/woocommerce-integration/)
- [Verify GTM is firing on your site](https://gtmkit.com/documentation/verify-gtm-is-firing-on-your-site/)