Introduction
‘What is Google Tag Manager?’ This is one of those questions that has been trending. To make things easier for you fellow business marketers on Google, let’s address this question.
What brought you here? Let me guess, you want to make the task of tracking your performance on Google a little bit easier, or maybe you’re tired of coordinating with an IT expert team to set up the right codes and tags for you.
If you had to do things manually, for every website you want to run your tags on, I’m not going to lie, it’ll take you a few days.
On acknowledging this issue, Google decided to roll out – Google Tag Manager.
On a personal note, Google is the most popular search engine with over 5 Million businesses using the platform.
Don’t be left out in this race, buckle up because there’s a lot of learning to do!
In this blog, we will be going through the following topics, after which you can proudly call yourself an expert:-
- What is Google Tag Manager?
- Benefits of using Google Tag Manager
- How to Set up Google Tag Manager?
- Best Tips to Use Google Task Manager
Getting Familiar with Google Tag Manager
There one thing you must wrap your head around, how complex GTM can be.
Well, the answer to that is, neither yes nor no. It’s honestly like learning to ride a bicycle. It’s hard at first and takes a lot of getting used to, but once you’ve got enough practice, nothing is easier than it.
Now, what is GTM? Before I answer this question, you need to have a clear understanding of what a ‘tag’ means. Only then will you understand the whole concept of running GTM for your business on Google,
What is a Tag?
Bear with me as I get technical.
Your website or any website for that matter is set up using a set of java and HTML codes. These codes determine how your website works and what happens when a certain action is performed.
Adding a tag on your website will help in extracting specific information. As a business, you would like to know how your business is performing right? It can be conversions or forms filled or anything of that sort.
Tags make this process easier for you. As I mentioned earlier, manually setting up tags can be complex and hard to understand. You would have to enter codes into your pages every time you wish to add a tag.
However, Google Tag Manager has made this process easy for you. Every time you wish to add a new tag, GTM will get it done for you.
Now is the time to answer the real question.
What is Google Tag Manager?
Simple, GTM is a system that manages your tags. Instead of manually coming up with codes, you can attach the GTM code to every page on your website. This saves a lot of time for you and your team of technicians who can now focus on other things.
in other words, GTM does the coding work for you, how cool is that now!
That’s not all, there’s something else to knock your socks off!
You can integrate Google Analytics with GTM While Google Analytics is the ultimate way to get customer and website performance insights, Adding a GTM tag on Google Analytics can help you a lot. The tracking information after combining them both can be super informative.
Read our blog on Google Analytics for a better understanding.
What I mentioned here are just a few characteristics. Google Tag Manager offers you a lot more features that will vividly tell you the advantages of using GTM.
Benefits of Using Google Task Manager
Google Tag Manager has benefits ranging from basic ones to technically complicated ones. Let’s start from the basics, as always.
Compatibility
Did you know that Google Tag Manager can not only be integrated with Google Analytics but so many other platforms as well:-
- Google AdWords Remarketing Tag
- Google AdWords Conversion Tag
- Facebook Pixel Code
- Any other HTML or JavaScript Code
One example that pops into my mind right now is WordPress. It literally only takes two steps to set up GTM for WordPress. You will be given a set of codes which you will have to copy and paste on each page in the body tag. And Voila!
Fast-Paced
If you’ve been running tracking codes on a website for a long time, you’d know the pain in programming those codes and installing them on each web page of your website.
This can prove to be time-consuming and you might face a lot of errors while coding as well.
But with GTM, these codes are automatically programmed, So, all you have to do is copy them and paste them in the right places. Everything else will be taken care of.
This gives you a great time advantage in my opinion. You can test multiple tracking options and choose what works best for you within a short period of time.
After all, time is precious isn’t it?
Easily Accessible
Imagine what it must’ve been like before GTM for your website came into the picture. Every code that was manually entered had to be saved somewhere. And if the code proved to be incompetent, you’d have to do it all over again.
This is where Google Tag Manager stands out.
Since all your tags are controlled by GTM, you will be able to retrieve information with no complications.
Free of Cost
There’s not much to explain here, but since Google Tag Manager is free you have all the more reasons to go ahead and use it.
However, just like how Google Analytics has a paid version, GTM too has a paid version called – Tag Manager 360.
Tracking Made Easier
The only reason you’re setting up GTM is to perform certain actions for you. However, tracking will be one of the important ones.
You can set up triggers in Google Tag Manager that will turn on tags for a particular event. Triggers in GTM will be on the constant lookout for events that are specified by you as the marketer.
Anything from form submission to purchase can be counted as an event in Google Tag Manager.
Multiple User Options
Your business may have a handful of websites that require more than just one person to look after. Or there are different clients with polarized needs. This would require multiple employees to use the platform.
Understanding this need, GTM has a distinct feature – Multiple users on Google Tag Manager.
You can also pick from a bunch of variations that Google Tag Manager offers you with. They are:-
- No Access
- Read
- Edit
- Publish
- Approve
With these available options, you can pick people and assign them with a specific access type.
Efficient? I know right!
Built-in Tags
There is a good chance that Google Tag Manager can be entirely new to you, to reduce your stress in this situation, Google has provided its Tag Manager with a few built-in tags.
These built-in tags can be used for Analytics, AdWords Conversions, and AdWords Retargeting.
Well, these are just a few benefits that I’ve mentioned here. There’s way too much to put on paper, to be honest. You’ll realize that when you start using Google Tag Manager.
The key purpose of Google Tag Manager is to bring out the best from your business.
Time to go to the next stage now.
How to Set Up Google Tag Manager?
This part right here is one of the easiest processes you will come across.
Google Tag Manager Sign-up process is absolutely necessary to access GTM. I mean, it’s a no-brainer.
But what’s different here is that you are to set up a separate account, even if you have a Google Analytics account or a general Google account.
The Process
- Start off by visiting marketingplatform.google.com/about/tag-manager/, you will see an option that says ‘Start for Free.
- Once you’re taken to the landing page that comes next (like the one below) click on ‘Create Account.
- Soon after this step, you will be taken to a page where you will have to enter your company name, country, and a few other details like web domain name and the device you will be using to access Google Tag Manager.
- Click on ‘Create’ and you will have the process completed for you.
It doesn’t end here, setting up a tag on GTM is equally essential too. But don’t worry, it’s only a simple process. Nothing complicated, I assure you that.
Always remember that there is no limit to creating tags on Google Tag Manager for apps and websites. Make sure you explout This limitlessness should be made complete use of. Try as many combinations as you want and pick the best one. And by best, I mean the one that works for you.
Anyways, here are the steps to Set Up A Tag on GTM:-
- Add a New Tag on the Google Tag Manager Dashboard
- Modify your tag
- You can select the type of tag you wish to set up from the options available.
- Link the tag you created to Google Analytics. This will enable precision tracking.
- Choose when you want your tag to be activated by selecting a trigger on Google Tag Manager,
- Save and Activate your tag by clicking on the ‘submit’ option.
- Name your tags. This way you can access or retrieve it at ease.
We’re nearing the end of this blog, but how can I let you go without offering a few tips for you to absolutely nail GTM?
Best Tips to Use Google Tag Manager
- You need not worry about going wrong while attaching tags to your website. Google Tag Manager scans all tracking scripts that are attached to a custom HTML and ceases to function if there is a malware domain. You can also whitelist and blacklist a few commands.
- Every time you make a change to the tags or web pages that have your codes, GTM creates the changed version as a new edition. This means that you can have your previous version saved too. If you feel the current one isn’t working, you can always switch back.
- There might be moments where you were working on a tag and your device ran out of battery, or you exit the platform by mistake. All of your work goes away and you’re worried. But no, all your data will safely be stored on the ‘Versions’ page.
Conclusion
I’ve told you all about Google Tag Manager for websites and I hope you found all this information useful.
Google does not limit itself to just GTM and Analytics. Tools like Google Search Console, Google My Business, and Google Keyword Planner can all be very useful to your business as well.
As I said earlier, GTM can be like riding a bike. So don’t worry if you fall a few times, that’s the only way you will have a meteoric rise.
Have a Good Day!