diff --git a/sherlock/resources/data.json b/sherlock/resources/data.json
index 1d933652d..25aab4902 100644
--- a/sherlock/resources/data.json
+++ b/sherlock/resources/data.json
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 {
+  "$schema": "data.schema.json",
   "1337x": {
     "errorMsg": [
       "<title>Error something went wrong.</title>",
@@ -498,8 +499,7 @@
     "url": "https://codeforces.com/profile/{}",
     "urlMain": "https://codeforces.com/",
     "urlProbe": "https://codeforces.com/api/user.info?handles={}",
-    "username_claimed": "tourist",
-    "username_unclaimed": "noonewouldeverusethis7"
+    "username_claimed": "tourist"
   },
   "Codepen": {
     "errorType": "status_code",
@@ -996,7 +996,7 @@
     "username_claimed": "naveennamani877"
   },
   "HackerNews": {
-    "::::README::::": "First errMsg invalid, second errMsg rate limited. Not ideal. Adjust for better rate limit filtering.",
+    "__comment__": "First errMsg invalid, second errMsg rate limited. Not ideal. Adjust for better rate limit filtering.",
     "errorMsg": [
       "No such user.",
       "Sorry."
@@ -1098,8 +1098,7 @@
     "errorUrl": "https://irc-galleria.net/users/search?username={}",
     "url": "https://irc-galleria.net/user/{}",
     "urlMain": "https://irc-galleria.net/",
-    "username_claimed": "appas",
-    "username_unclaimed": "noonewouldeverusethis77"
+    "username_claimed": "appas"
   },
   "Icons8 Community": {
     "errorType": "status_code",
@@ -1186,7 +1185,6 @@
   },
   "Jimdo": {
     "errorType": "status_code",
-    "noPeriod": "True",
     "regexCheck": "^[a-zA-Z0-9@_-]$",
     "url": "https://{}.jimdosite.com",
     "urlMain": "https://jimdosite.com/",
@@ -1386,8 +1384,7 @@
     "url": "https://monkeytype.com/profile/{}",
     "urlMain": "https://monkeytype.com/",
     "urlProbe": "https://api.monkeytype.com/users/{}/profile",
-    "username_claimed": "Lost_Arrow",
-    "username_unclaimed": "noonewouldeverusethis7"
+    "username_claimed": "Lost_Arrow"
   },
   "Motherless": {
     "errorMsg": "no longer a member",
@@ -2327,7 +2324,7 @@
     "username_claimed": "blue"
   },
   "YandexMusic": {
-    "::::README::::": "The first and third errorMsg relate to geo-restrictions and bot detection/captchas.",
+    "__comment__": "The first and third errorMsg relate to geo-restrictions and bot detection/captchas.",
     "errorMsg": [
       "\u041e\u0448\u0438\u0431\u043a\u0430 404",
       "<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u041e\u0442\u043a\u0440\u044b\u0432\u0430\u0439\u0442\u0435 \u043d\u043e\u0432\u0443\u044e \u043c\u0443\u0437\u044b\u043a\u0443 \u043a\u0430\u0436\u0434\u044b\u0439 \u0434\u0435\u043d\u044c.",
diff --git a/sherlock/resources/data.schema.json b/sherlock/resources/data.schema.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4453500c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sherlock/resources/data.schema.json
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+{
+    "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
+    "title": "Sherlock Targets",
+    "description": "Social media target to probe for existence of usernames",
+    "type": "object",
+    "properties": {
+        "$schema": { "type": "string" }
+    },
+    "patternProperties": {
+        "^(?!\\$).*?$": {
+            "type": "object",
+            "description": "User-friendly target name",
+            "required": [ "url", "urlMain", "errorType", "username_claimed" ],
+            "properties": {
+                "url": { "type": "string" },
+                "urlMain": { "type": "string" },
+                "urlProbe": { "type": "string" },
+                "username_claimed": { "type": "string" },
+                "regexCheck": { "type": "string" },
+                "isNSFW": { "type": "boolean" },
+                "headers": { "type": "object" },
+                "request_payload": { "type": "object" },
+                "__comment__": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "description": "Used to clarify important target information if (and only if) a commit message would not suffice.\nThis key should not be parsed anywhere within Sherlock."
+                },
+                "tags": {
+                    "oneOf": [
+                        { "$ref": "#/$defs/tag" },
+                        { "type": "array", "items": { "$ref": "#/$defs/tag" } }
+                    ]
+                },
+                "request_method": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "enum": [ "GET", "POST", "HEAD", "PUT" ]
+                },
+                "errorType": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "enum": [ "message", "response_url", "status_code" ]
+                },
+                "errorMsg": {
+                    "oneOf": [
+                        { "type": "string" },
+                        { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } }
+                    ]
+                },
+                "errorCode": {
+                    "oneOf": [
+                        { "type": "integer" },
+                        { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "integer" } }
+                    ]
+                },
+                "errorUrl": { "type": "string" },
+                "response_url": { "type": "string" }
+            },
+            "dependencies": {
+                "errorMsg": {
+                    "properties" : { "errorType": { "const": "message" } }
+                },
+                "errorUrl": {
+                    "properties": { "errorType": { "const": "response_url" } }
+                },
+                "errorCode": {
+                    "properties": { "errorType": { "const": "status_code" } }
+                }
+            },
+            "if": { "properties": { "errorType": { "const": "message" } } },
+            "then": { "required": [ "errorMsg" ] },
+            "else": {
+                "if": { "properties": { "errorType": { "const": "response_url" } } },
+                "then": { "required": [ "errorUrl" ] }
+            },
+            "additionalProperties": false
+        }
+    },
+    "additionalProperties": false,
+    "$defs": {
+        "tag": { "type": "string", "enum": [ "adult", "gaming" ] }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/sherlock/sites.py b/sherlock/sites.py
index 9bef100ce..009a05c12 100644
--- a/sherlock/sites.py
+++ b/sherlock/sites.py
@@ -152,6 +152,11 @@ def __init__(self, data_file_path=None):
                 raise FileNotFoundError(f"Problem while attempting to access "
                                         f"data file '{data_file_path}'."
                                         )
+        
+        try:
+            site_data.pop('$schema')
+        except:
+            pass
 
         self.sites = {}
 
diff --git a/site_list.py b/site_list.py
index 58a9d681c..b66010dca 100644
--- a/site_list.py
+++ b/site_list.py
@@ -5,10 +5,14 @@
 
 # Read the data.json file
 with open("sherlock/resources/data.json", "r", encoding="utf-8") as data_file:
-    data = json.load(data_file)
+    data: dict = json.load(data_file)
+
+# Removes schema-specific keywords for proper processing
+social_networks: dict = dict(data)
+social_networks.pop('$schema')
 
 # Sort the social networks in alphanumeric order
-social_networks = sorted(data.items())
+social_networks: list = sorted(social_networks.items())
 
 # Write the list of supported sites to sites.md
 with open("sites.md", "w") as site_file: