Google Tag Manager (also known as GTM) is a free tag management solution provided by Google.
A Tag Management Solution (TMS) is a tool that allows users to manage and deploy marketing, analytics, and other types of tags on a website or mobile app.
In other words, through Google Tag Manager, you can deploy and manage various marketing and analytics tags on a website or mobile app.
What is a tag?
A tag is a bunch of JavaScript code that is used to collect measurement and marketing data from your website/mobile app and then send that data to third-party services.
<!-- Google tag (gtag.js) -->
<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-DFPR3SY5D5"></script>
<script>
window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
gtag('js', new Date());
gtag('config', 'G-DFPR3SY5D5');
</script>
Following are some other examples of tags: Google Ads Conversion Tracking code, Facebook Pixel Code, Phone Call tracking code, etc.
So you see, that tag is just a snippet of code.
You can add this snippet of code (or tag) directly to your website by copying-pasting it in your website template files (like header.php), or you can add the tag indirectly on your website via Google Tag Manager (GTM).
Google Analytics (GA) is an online web analytics tool provided by Google that tracks and reports website traffic, providing insights into how users interact with your website or mobile app.
Google Analytics is a data source in itself, collecting and processing data to produce detailed statistics and reports on user behaviour, traffic sources, conversions, and more.
On the other hand, Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a tag management solution that allows users to manage and deploy various types of tags on a website or mobile app without hardcoding the tags directly on a website.
Through GTM, you can easily add, edit, enable, disable, or remove a tag from a website or mobile app.
GTM is not a data source but acts as a conduit to route data from the website or app to different analytics and marketing platforms, including Google Analytics.
GA is a website/mobile app tracking tool.
It is used to store, process, and report on the data. In GA, you can query the data either via the reporting interface or via the API. You can not query the data via GTM.
GTM does not report on the data it collects.
As a result, GTM does not contain any reports.
GA reports on the data collected by GTM via its reporting interface or via the API.
As a result, GA provides reports for data analysis.
Google Tag Manager is a versatile tool that can be used to track a wide range of user interactions.
Following are some of the user interactions that can be tracked with GTM:
#1 Page Views – Track when a user views a page on your website.
#2 Screen Views – Track when a user views a screen on a mobile app (mobile app tracking).
#3 Clicks – Track clicks on links, buttons, images, or any other elements on your website (event tracking).
#4 Form Submissions – Track when a user submits a form on your website (form tracking).
#5 Scroll Depth – Track how far down a page a user scrolls (scroll tracking).
#6 File Downloads – Track when a user downloads a file (such as a PDF or a Word document) from your website.
#7 Video Engagement – Track user interactions with videos, such as play, pause, and watch duration (video tracking).
#8 E-commerce Transactions – Track e-commerce activities (such as product views, add-to-cart actions, and purchases) on your website/app (ecommerce tracking).
#9 Social Media Interactions: Track interactions with social media buttons, such as shares, likes, and follows.
#10 Custom Events – Track any custom events you define based on specific interactions or behaviours on your website.
#11 JavaScript Errors – Track JavaScript errors that occur on your website, which can be useful for debugging.
#12 Cross-Domain Tracking – Set up cross-domain tracking to track user behaviour across multiple domains.
#13 Track Single Page Apps – Single Page Applications (SPAs) is a crucial application of Google Tag Manager.
#14 Tracking virtual pageviews – A virtual pageview is a pageview hit that you send to Google Analytics without loading a web page in your web browser.
#15 Cross-device tracking – You can implement cross-device tracking with the User ID in Google Tag Manager.
#16 Content grouping – You can set up content grouping via GTM. Content grouping is a grouping of content groups.
No, GA4 does not replace GTM. They are distinct tools that serve different purposes.
What data does Google Tag Manager collect?
Google Tag Manager itself does not collect or store data. Instead, it facilitates the process of embedding tags within a website or mobile app, which in turn send data to third-party platforms such as Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook, etc.
Do hackers use Google Tag Manager?
Google Tag Manager is a legitimate tool from Google for managing tags on websites and mobile apps. However, like any other technology, it can be misused if a hacker gains access to your GTM account.
Once a hacker gains access, they could inject malicious JavaScript code through custom HTML tags. This code could be used to steal sensitive user data, deface your website, or perform other malicious actions.
Hackers could use GTM to redirect your website’s traffic to phishing sites or other harmful destinations.
Secure your GTM account by using strong, unique passwords and enabling two-factor authentication. So that hackers can’t gain access to it.
Limit your GTM account access to trusted users and assign appropriate permissions based on roles and responsibilities.
What are the risks of Google Tag Manager?
Using Google Tag Manager allows a user, esp. a non-technical user, to easily add, modify, and manage code snippets (tags) on a website without directly editing the website’s source code.
While this can increase agility and efficiency, bypassing the IT team or developers can pose risks to code durability and overall website integrity.
Without proper oversight, there is a risk of implementing poorly written or insecure code, potentially leading to vulnerabilities and performance issues.
Tags added through GTM might conflict with existing website code, leading to functionality issues.
Maintain open communication and collaboration with your IT team/developers to ensure that all tags meet organizational standards for security, performance, and compliance.
Implement a code review process where any custom code added through GTM is reviewed and approved by the IT team or developers for quality and security.
Can Google Tag Manager crash a website?
It is very unlikely that GTM can crash a website. However, it could certainly deface it if not used correctly.
For example,
Incorrectly configured tags can cause JavaScript errors, which might interfere with the website’s functionality.
Loading too many or poorly optimized tags can degrade website performance, leading to slow load times or unresponsiveness.
Some tags might block the rendering of page elements if not loaded asynchronously, affecting user experience.
While GTM can be configured to assist with GDPR compliance, it is ultimately the responsibility of the website/app owner to ensure that their use of GTM complies with applicable data protection laws.
Does Google Tag Manager collect IP addresses?
Google Tag Manager itself does not collect or store any data, including IP addresses. It is a tag management solution that allows you to deploy and manage various tags on your website or mobile app.
However, while GTM itself does not collect IP addresses, some of the tags you deploy through GTM might.
For example, if you use GTM to implement Google Analytics, the Google Analytics service might use IP addresses to provide geolocation data.
Similarly, other third-party tags deployed through GTM might collect IP addresses as part of their data collection.
Companies ranging from small businesses to large enterprises use GTM to streamline the deployment of tags on their websites and mobile apps.
GTM is commonly used by the following types of companies:
E-Commerce Companies
SaaS Companies.
Media and Publishing Companies.
Educational institutions.
Healthcare providers.
Banks, insurance companies, and financial institutions.
Airlines, hotels, and travel agencies.
Non-Profit Organizations etc.
Who should own Google Tag Manager?
Ownership of Google Tag Manager within an organization depends on the company’s size, structure, and how they intend to use the tool. However, it is generally beneficial for multiple departments to collaborate on GTM usage with defined roles and responsibilities.
The ownership of Google Tag Manager within an organization should ideally reside with the team or individual responsible for managing tags on the website or mobile app.
If you are hiring an external consultant or agency, make sure that you own your GTM account. An external consultant or agency often creates their own GTM account and retains the ownership of the account to lock in their clients with them.
How to Install Google Tag Manager on a website?
Follow the steps below:
Create a new Google Tag Manager account using your Google login.
Login to your GTM account.
Click on the ‘create account’ button.
Name your new GTM account.
Select your country.
Name your new container.
Select ‘web’ as the target platform.
Click on the ‘Create’ button.
Read and accept the Google Tag Manager Terms of Service Agreement as well as data processing terms.
Copy the first part of the GTM installation code and then paste it as high as possible in the <head> section of every page of your website.
Copy the second part of the GTM installation code and then paste it as high as possible in the <body> section of every page of your website
Understanding the Anatomy of Google Tag Manager Tool
If you treat the Google Tag Manager tool like a car, then its engine is the container tag, and its skin (look and feel) and controls are the user interface.
The container tag provides all the functionality needed for the GTM tool to run and deploy tags on your website.
The user interface makes it easy for you, as an end-user, to control the container tag.
Just like, when you drive a car, the car steering makes it easy for you to control the car engine, make it, turn the car left or right.
When coders refer to GTM, they usually refer to the container tag. When non-coders refer to GTM, they usually refer to the user interface.
Thus, depending upon the context, GTM can either mean the ‘container tag’ or the ‘user interface’.
Google Tag Manager Container Tag
A container tag is used to hold one or more marketing and analytics tags and their corresponding triggers and variables.
You can create multiple GTM accounts from a single Google Account login.
The rule of thumb is to create one GTM account per company/organization.
You can either create a new GTM account from scratch, or you can add an existing GTM account to your GTM account. Marketing agencies generally ask their clients to add their existing GTM accounts to their GTM account.
Since you can create/add multiple GTM accounts from a single Google account, you don’t need to create several Google accounts for managing multiple GTM accounts.
Visual Representation of the GTM Account Structure
Since the majority of businesses out there have got only one company and one website, their GTM account structure will look like the one below:
If you are a marketing agency that owns/manages multiple GTM accounts, then your GTM account structure will look like the one below:
How to migrate all of your hardcoded tags to Google Tag Manager
Follow the steps below to migrate all of your hardcoded tags (the tags hardcoded on your website) to Google Tag Manager:
Determine your tracking requirements
Do a tag audit of your live website
Create functional and technical designs of your tags
Do tag deployment planning
Do a risk assessment
Create a project scope document
Get buy-in from IT
Setup Google Tag Manager account
Install GTM container tag on the staging website
Create, test and publish tags on your staging website
How to Export / Import Container in Google Tag Manager?
Through the Export Container feature, you can share your GTM configurations (aka tags, triggers, and variables) with any third party.
What that means, if you want to share your GTM configurations for video tracking with a third party or another website, you can do that via the GTM Export Container feature.
Through the Import Container feature, you can set up dozens of tags, triggers, and variables in a container tag in one go. This can come in handy when you need to set up the same/similar tags, triggers and variables over and over again for multiple websites.
Without using the Import Container feature, you would have to manually set up each tag and its corresponding triggers and variables, and that too over and over again for each website.
In Google Tag Manager (GTM), a template makes it easy:
To deploy and share a tag with others within your company.
To use and share a variable with others within your company.
The template which is used to deploy a tag on a website is called the tag template, and the template which is used to deploy a variable is called the variable template.
Through folders, you can organize tags, triggers, and variables in GTM by project name, team name, etc.
For example, you can group all of the tags, triggers and variables related to ‘video tracking‘ by creating a folder called ‘video tracking’ and then adding all of the related tags, triggers, and variables to it.
If your GTM container has more than 50 tags, then the tag list is paginated. By default, only 50 tags are displayed at a time on a page, which speeds up the user interface.
You can see the paginated list by clicking on the ‘Tags’ link on the left-hand side navigation and then scroll down to the bottom of the page:
Click on the > button to go to the next page.
Click on the < button to go to the previous page.
You can also click on the ‘Show Rows’ drop-down menu and click on ‘ALL’ to see all the tags listed on a single page:
Pagination for GTM Triggers
If your GTM container has got more than 50 triggers, then the trigger list is paginated. By default, only 50 triggers are displayed at a time on a page.
You can see the paginated list by clicking on the ‘Triggers’ link on the left-hand side navigation and then scroll down to the bottom of the page:
Pagination for GTM Variables
If your GTM container has got more than 50 variables, then the variable list is paginated. By default, only 50 variables are displayed at one time on a page.
You can see the paginated list by clicking on the ‘Variables’ link on the left-hand side navigation and then scroll down to the bottom of the page:
Search Feature in Google Tag Manager
In Google Tag Manager, you can search for a particular tag, trigger or variable by using the inbuilt search box.
You can see this search box embedded on the left-hand side in your GTM workspace:
Through this search box, you can search for any tag, trigger or variable:
When you click on a search result, you are redirected to a particular tag/trigger/variable.
How to search only among tags in Google Tag Manager
If you want to search only among tags then follow the steps below:
Step-1: Click on the ‘Tags’ link on the left-hand side menu:
Step-2: Click on the ‘Magnifying glass located on the right and then enter your search term:
Similarly, you can perform a search among triggers and variables.
Introduction to Data Layers in Google Tag Manager
In the context of GTM, a data layer is a JavaScript array that is used to collect and store data from a website and then send that data to the GTM container tag. Google recommends using data layers for retrieving run time information.
Your web developer can set up a data layer for you. This data layer contains all the information you want to send to the container tag.
GTM is a really powerful tool and understanding the data layer is the key to getting the most out of Google Tag Manager. A data layer provides a safer and more reliable way to pull data from the presentation layer and send it to the container tag (aka GTM).
To get the most out of GTM, you need to know and use data layers. This article will teach you to create simple and complex data layers within a few minutes. Always remember, GTM works best when used with data layers.
In order to use GTM, you need to get familiar with the usage of triggers and variables. A trigger is a condition that must evaluate to either true or false at run time.
In GTM, triggers are an integral part of a tag creation process. So you can not create a tag without first creating the corresponding trigger.
In the context of GTM, a variable is a function that can be called from within a tag, trigger, or another variable. A variable tells GTM where to fire a tag.
Go through this article before you migrate all of your hardcoded tags to GTM. If you don’t, then there is a high probability that you may lose a considerable amount of tracking data during migration esp. if your website is big and complex.
You need a proven process in place before you migrate all of your hard-coded tags to GTM.
If you do not follow a formalised process then there is a high probability that you may lose a considerable amount of tracking data during migration esp. if your website is big and complex.
Google Tag Manager set up includes the following thirteen steps:
Determine tracking requirements
Do Tag Audit of your live website
Create functional and technical designs of your tags
Do tag Deployment Planning
Do the Risk Assessment
Create a Project Scope document
Get buy-in from IT
Setup Google Tag Manager Account
Install GTM container tag on the staging website
Create, test and publish tags on your staging website
Google Analytics itself is a JavaScript library, and there is heavy use of JavaScript in GTM. So it is important that you understand what JavaScript is and how it can be used to collect data via GTM.
Analytics.js is the engine that power Google Analytics. Whenever we refer to GA in the context of coding, we are actually referring to the analytics.js JavaScript library.
The first step towards understanding the Google Analytics Developers environment is to understand the analytics.js JavaScript library.
In order to set up / troubleshoot any GA/GTM implementation, whether it is ecommerce tracking, cross-domain tracking, event tracking or enhanced ecommerce tracking, you need to understand how the ga() command queue function works.
Through page tracking, you can measure the number of times a page was shown to your website users in GA. This can be done by sending a pageview hit each time a page is shown. Implementing Page tracking is another step in understanding the Google Analytics Developers environment.
DOM is a set of programming interfaces and objects designed for managing HTML and XML documents. It defines the logical structure of a document and the way document elements can be accessed and changed.
In order to get the most out of GTM, you need to know what DOM is and how it can be traversed. Without adequate knowledge of DOM, you would have a hard time implementing any tracking via GTM.
FAQ: How to use Google Tag Manager to its full potential?
If your event tracking is not working, then it is not because you do not understand GTM really well.
But it is most likely because you do not understand how to correctly traverse the HTML DOM.
Because of that, you are not able to capture the page element, and your trigger does not work correctly.
Just because you understand what event category/label is and you can fire an event tag does not automatically mean you can also correctly traverse the DOM.
[Traversing the DOM] is an entirely different skill set than event tracking, which no GTM course instructor ever teaches you. But that’s the real skill.
If you really want to use GTM effectively, then learn to traverse the DOM. Learn HTML and JavaScript.
Google diagnostic is a feature of Google Analytics that makes regular evaluations of your Google Analytics tracking code, account configuration, and data in order to find implementation issues and configuration anomalies.
Once it finds issues, it alerts the GA user through a special message known as a diagnostic notification (also known as ‘Analytics Notifications’).
These notifications appear as a number over the notification bell in your Google Analytics (GA) view:
Google Analytics diagnostic is a feature of Google Analytics through which you can identify and understand implementation issues.
When you are setting up GTM to deploy various tags on your website, this diagnostic feature will help you a lot in debugging setups (like ecommerce tracking).
Google Tag Assistant Recording is used to identify, validate, and troubleshoot the installation of various Google tags across many pages:
Google Tag Assistant recording is one of the most useful features of Tag Assistant through which you can see the tags and events that were fired, for example, during the checkout process. You can record tags, events and interactions for any set of pages.
Google Tag Assistant by default can’t validate tags across multiple pages. But by using the recording feature, you can make the tag assistant validate tags across many pages.
Through the recording feature, not only you can record the tags across many pages but you can also record events and interactions for any set of pages you visit, either on your own website or some other website(s).
Whenever you give GTM account access to a person, you give that access either at the account level or at the container level. The access given at the account level is called the ‘Account permissions’. The access given at the container level is called the ‘Container permissions’.
The part of the GTM container tag code which reads ‘GTM-TXAAA’, it is called the container ID:
Learn to get Google Tag Manager (GTM) Container ID through this easy-to-understand step-by-step guide. The container ID is used to uniquely identify each GTM container tag.
Learn to add Google Optimize via Google Tag Manager through this step by step guide. Google Optimize is a free to use website optimization tool from Google. Through this tool, you can test different versions of your landing pages.
Learn to implement cross-device tracking with the User ID in Google Tag Manager through this easy step by step guide:
The user id is a unique set of alphanumeric characters assigned to a user so that he/she can be identified across devices/ browsers and over the course of multiple sessions.
Learn to set up dynamic remarketing in Google Analytics and Google Ads via Google Tag Manager.
Remarketing is a technique that is used to re-target people who left your website and/or mobile app without completing a goal conversion (like making a purchase).
The people who are re-targeted are known as the remarketing audience. This audience is shown one or more targeted ads that are based on their past browsing behaviour.
In the case of dynamic remarketing, Google automatically creates re-targeted ads for your website visitors which are based on the actual product (or related products) or services they viewed on your website.
Learn to Implement Scroll Tracking through Google Tag Manager via easy to understand step by step guide.
Scroll tracking is one of the methods of measuring how people are consuming your website content.
People who actually read your article are most likely to scroll your article page, and by measuring the percentage of the scroll, you can get a good idea of content consumption.
If the majority of people do not scroll to the bottom of your articles then something may be wrong with your content.
Learn to adjust the bounce rate in Google and Universal Analytics via Google Tag Manager.
Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits (or web sessions). It is the percentage of visits in which a person leaves your website from the landing page without browsing any further.
Google analytics calculates and reports the bounce rate of a web page and bounce rate of a website.
We need to adjust the bounce rate so that we can see the true bounce rate metric in our Google Analytics report.
Understand the limitations of Google Tag Manager through this article.
As your need to integrate website data with various data sources increases and becomes more complex, you quickly realize how hard it can be to create and maintain each integration in GTM.
In GTM we create integration with each data source via ETL (extract, transform, load).
Learn to install and use Google Tag Manager in Segment.com.
The ‘Segment’ is a tool used to route/send data between multiple data sources.
The role of ‘segment.com’ is to ‘Extract’, ‘Transform’ and ‘Load’ data between different data sources. It acts as a hub between originating and destination data sources.
Both ‘segment’ and ‘GTM’ are primarily designed to be used by developers. However, unlike GTM, ‘segment’ is much more non-developer friendly as it has the ability to automate many ETL functions.
In the context of Google Analytics, a ‘Content grouping’ is a rule-based grouping of related content groups. It is made up of one or more content groups.
For example, if you sell clothes for both men and women on your website then all the web pages which sell men’s clothes can belong to the ‘Men’ content grouping.
Similarly, all the web pages which sell women’s clothes can belong to the ‘Women’ content grouping.
Through this article you will learn to create and use the ‘Google Analytics Settings’ variable in Google Tag Manager:
Manually updating each and every ‘Universal Analytics’ tag to make sure all such tags have the same basic configuration options is time-consuming and not practical esp. if you have got dozens or even hundreds of Universal Analytics tags.
Here the ‘Google Analytics Settings’ variable comes in handy.
Through this variable, you can set, change and apply any or all of the configuration options under ‘More Settings’ (like ‘Fields to Set’, ‘Custom Dimensions’, ‘Custom Metrics’, ‘Content Groups’, ‘Ecommerce’ etc.) from one central location to all tags of type ‘Universal Analytics’.
Learn to install GTM on your Shopify store through this easy-to-understand step-by-step guide.
If you are into ecommerce, chances are, you have heard of ‘Shopify’. It is one of the most popular, ready-made shopping cart solutions in the world. Hundreds of thousands of websites use ‘Shopify’.
Shopify directly integrates with Google Analytics. The set-up is pretty simple. But when it comes to Google Tag Manager, there is no direct integration.
Are you using Google Tag Manager, or do you want to use GTM for your Shopify Store? If that is the case, then do not deploy the Google Analytics tag via Google Tag Manager.
If you used GTM to install Google Analytics on your Shopify store (which you technically can), then your cross-domain tracking won’t work.
So do not use GTM to deploy Google Analytics on your Shopify Store.
Learn to use the new Scroll depth trigger in Google Tag Manager to track how far website visitors scroll contents on your website.
The term which denotes how far website visitors scroll contents on your website is called the ‘Scroll Depth’. This scroll depth can be vertical or horizontal depending upon the type of scrolling available on your website.
The tracking method which is used to measure ‘Scroll Depth’ is called ‘Scroll Depth Tracking’ or ‘Scroll Tracking’.
Learn to use the YouTube Video trigger in Google Tag Manager…to track YouTube videos embedded on a webpage.
The tracking method which is used to track/capture the various player states of an embedded video is called ‘video tracking’. A player state is specific user interaction with a video.
Following are the example of various player states which can be captured for YouTube videos via GTM:
Through the Google Tag Manager preview and debug console window, you can make sure that your tags, triggers, variables and data layers work as expected.
By default, what you actually preview and debug is the deployment of the current container draft on your website. You preview and debug the container draft on your website as if it is currently deployed.
Learn to send Client ID to Google Analytics via Google Tag Manager through step by step guide.
Google Analytics identifies a user as unique through a combination of unique random numbers and the first timestamp (i.e. the time of the first visit), called the ‘Client ID’.
Did you know that your Facebook Pixel tracking in Google Tag Manager is probably not set up correctly and is costing you money? This article will show you how to set up Facebook Pixel Tracking Correctly when using Google Tag Manager.
This is a complete guide to importing and exporting containers in Google Tag Manager.
Through the export container feature, you can share your GTM configurations (aka tags, triggers and variables) with any third party.
What that means, if you want to share your GTM configurations for video tracking with a third party or another website, you can do that via GTM export container feature.
If you want to share the GTM configurations of your entire container with a third party or another website, you can do that via GTM export container feature.
If you want to share a particular container version or workspace, you can do that via GTM export container feature.
The GTM export container feature is basically equivalent to downloading a particular container version or workspace.
Learn to turn on IP Anonymization in Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager through this step by step guide.
If your privacy policy or local privacy laws prevent the storage of full IP addresses, then you can use the IP anonymization feature to anonymize/mask website visitors IPs.
Use this Google Tag Manager Audit Checklist to check if your GTM implementations are working as expected. This checklist covers all the basic steps and ensures that your GTM setup meets your client’s needs.
Learn to create a server-side container for Google Tag Manager through this step by step guide. The GTM server-side container allows you to set up server-side tracking.
Learn to configure DNS for GTM Server Side Container through this step by step guide. It is strongly recommended that you map your custom domain to the Google Tag Manager server-side container.
Learn to pull Ecommerce Data From Data Layer in GTM through this step by step guide. Step-1: Navigate to your GTM container and click on ‘Variables’ Step-2: Click on ‘New’ under ‘User-Defined Variables’…
Learn to add Facebook pixel code to GTM. Make sure that you are already logged in to your GTM account and that you have the ‘Publish’ permission at the container level.
In this article, I am going to talk about how to check if Google Tag Manager (GTM) is working. We will go through different ways to test GTM is working. The first method to check if Google Tag Manager is working or not is by identifying the GTM container code in the source code of the website.
Google Tag Manager Tools
Code Editor for GTM – chrome extension for getting full code editor within the GTM interface.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Google Tag Manager
What is Google Tag Manager?
Google Tag Manager (also known as GTM) is a free tag management solution provided by Google. Through this ‘online tool’, you can deploy and manage various marketing and analytics tags on a website or mobile app.
What is a tag in Google Tag Manager?
A tag is a bunch of JavaScript code which is used to collect measurement and marketing data from your website/mobile app and then send that data to 3rd party services. The third-party service could be: Google Analytics, Google Adwords, Twitter, Facebook, Comscore etc
What is the advantage of using Google Tag Manager?
When you use Google Tag Manager (GTM) to add tags on a website, you get more control over: 1) When the tag should fire. 2) When the tag should not fire. 3) Where the tag should fire. 4) Where the tag should not fire and What the tag should do, when it get fired (executed). GTM removes the need for editing the website code over and over again just for adding, removing or editing tags.
What is a container tag?
GTM removes the need for editing the website code over and over again just for adding, removing or editing tags. Instead, one code is placed on every page on the website, which is the GTM container code/tag. This container code literally acts as a container, as it can store and deploy several marketing and analytics tags. If you treat Google Tag Manager tool like a car, then its engine is the container tag and its skin (look and feel) and controls are the user interface. The container tag provides all the functionality needed for GTM tool, to run and deploy tags on your website.
What is GTM Container ID?
The part of the GTM container tag code which reads ‘GTM-TXAAA’, it is called the container ID. This ID is used to uniquely identify each GTM container tag.
What is a Google Tag Manager Account?
https://tagmanager.google.com/ is your GTM account.
What is the difference between Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics?
GTM is a tag management tool. Whereas Google Analytics is a website/mobile app tracking tool. Through GTM you can: add, edit, enable, disable or remove any tag, with just few button clicks. That is something, which is not possible with Google Analytics. ‘GTM’ is primarily used to route data from one data source to another (like from your website to Google Analytics or from your website to a data warehouse). It is not a data source in itself. Whereas Google Analytics is a data source in itself.
Can I use Google Tag Manager even when I don’t use Google Analytics?
Yes. GTM is a tag management solution and can be used to deploy non-google tags.
How I can deploy non-google tags via GTM?
Through custom HTML tags or 3rd party tag templates.
Does GTM work on mobile websites and mobile apps?
Yes.
Will the use of GTM, slow down my website?
No. Since GTM fire tags asynchronously, it can actually improve the website speed. However, there is one caveat here. If your container tag is very large (contains lot of tags, triggers and variables) then it can negatively affect the website speed. So if you are not using a particular tag, trigger or variable and you have no plan to use it in the future then remove it from the container.
Can I use Google tag manager in parallel with hard-coded tags?
Yes. If complete migration of all of your tags is not possible. However, you need to make sure that you don’t do double tagging i.e. deploy same tag twice, once via GTM and once without GTM.
Get weekly practical tips on GA4 and/or BigQuery to accurately track and read your analytics data.
My best selling books on Digital Analytics and Conversion Optimization
Maths and Stats for Web Analytics and Conversion Optimization
This expert guide will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of maths and statistics in order to accurately interpret data and take actions, which can quickly improve the bottom-line of your online business.
Master the Essentials of Email Marketing Analytics
This book focuses solely on the ‘analytics’ that power your email marketing optimization program and will help you dramatically reduce your cost per acquisition and increase marketing ROI by tracking the performance of the various KPIs and metrics used for email marketing.
Attribution Modelling in Google Analytics and BeyondSECOND EDITION OUT NOW!
Attribution modelling is the process of determining the most effective marketing channels for investment. This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling. It will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to allocate marketing budget and understand buying behaviour.
Attribution Modelling in Google Ads and Facebook
This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling in Google Ads (Google AdWords) and Facebook. It will teach you, how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to understand the customer purchasing journey and determine the most effective marketing channels for investment.
About the Author
Himanshu Sharma
Founder, OptimizeSmart.com
Over 15 years of experience in digital analytics and marketing
Author of four best-selling books on digital analytics and conversion optimization
Nominated for Digital Analytics Association Awards for Excellence
Runs one of the most popular blogs in the world on digital analytics
Consultant to countless small and big businesses over the decade
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of all the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
