You are currently viewing What is Google Tag Manager: The Complete Beginner’s Practical Guide (2022 Updated)

What is Google Tag Manager: The Complete Beginner’s Practical Guide (2022 Updated)

There are tags (or pixels, scripts, or tracking codes) for everything these days. Google Analytics, Facebook, Twitter, AdWords, LinkedIn, and others are all requesting that you add code to your website in order to track ad performance. Adding tracking one by one does not appear to be a major undertaking. 

👉 However, adding a variety of tags to your website can be difficult, especially when the bloated JavaScript code causes your site to slow down. Not only that but keeping track of all those tags can be a chore. You must test your tags, keep them up to date, and hope that they do not cause your website to break.

Fortunately, for you and me, there is a solution to all of these issues: GTM stands for Google Tag Manager. Also, refer to what is SEO for detailed practical understanding. 

🏆 Without further ado, Let’s get started……….

👉 Before we continue: The Pre-Tag-Management World

Let’s take a look at the world we used to live in (a.k.a. “without tag management”) before we go deeper into what Google Tag Manager is.

When you install Google Analytics or another web tracking tool, it asks you to place a piece of JavaScript code (also known as a tag) on your website. Isn’t that the case?

It could be Hotjar, Google Analytics, or another service, but they all require you to include their code (tag) on your website. When a visitor arrives on your website, the tracking code is loaded as well, and the visitor is tracked.

It’s not difficult to add that one tag to a website. Simply ask a developer, and he or she will assist you (sometimes on the same day, sometimes over the course of several days, but still reasonable as this has to be done only once). 

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But there’s a snag. GA4 comes with a lot of metrics and event tracking capabilities out of the box. However, in order to make truly informed decisions, you must track much more: interactions (such as form submissions), sales, and so on.

This necessitates the addition of more tracking codes to a website. And this is usually not a “one-time project.” You must constantly add new tracking codes and change or remove old ones.

The developer (along with the IT department) becomes a bottleneck in this situation. Because he is focused on his own tasks and projects, marketing and analytics tasks are frequently pushed to the back burner, forcing you and your team to wait. And then wait some more. and more. Also, get to know the deep concepts of what is off-page SEO so that you can heighten the growth of your SEO activities on a daily basis.

Pre-Tag-Management World

That’s where Google Tag Manager comes in, and this tutorial will show you how.

👉 What are Tags?

What are tags - Google Tag Manager benefitsTags are web code snippets that track traffic and visitor behavior. Tags make it simple to target your audience, use remarketing, and test and improve your site, in addition to providing insight into the impact of online advertising and social changes.

Specific site functions are also enabled by these tags. For instance, the Google Analytics tag can be used.

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👉 What is Google Tag Manager?

Google Tag Manager is a tag management solution that connects a website to marketing and analytics tools. All you have to do is enter your tracking codes into GTM and set up rules for when they should be activated (on page load, click, form submission, etc.).

Imagine Tag Manager as a toolbox containing all of your tools, such as a ruler (Google Analytics), a hammer (Google Ads), and so on.

You can also use Google Tag Manager to test your tracking tags to ensure that they are activated when you load a page or click a specific button.

Another great advantage is that you can change your tags and how they work without having to change your website’s source code. Instead, you simply edit tags in the GTM user interface and then publish changes with a single click.

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👉 Google Tag Manager vs Google Analytics

Many newcomers get confused between Google Analytics and Tag Manager and wonder which one they should use right now. In reality, the answer is both. These two tools complement each other rather than compete. 

Google Analytics is a tool that collects visitor data and displays it in various reports, whereas Google Tag Manager is in charge of enabling GA4 and other similar tools.

To summarize, Google Tag Manager allows you to manage your website’s Javascript tracking codes (also known as tags). One of those tags is the Google Analytics tracking code. Also, get to know the scope of digital marketing which will help you get the right information about this field.

If you’re still unsure about the connection between Google Analytics and GTM, check out this helpful tutorial: What is the difference between GA and GTM?

As I have mentioned before, Google Analytics is not the only tag compatible with Google Tag Manager. Other examples include:

  • Google Ads Conversion Tag
  • Google Ads Remarketing Tag
  • Facebook Pixel code
  • Pinterest tag
  • Crazyegg tracking code
  • Any other custom HTML/Javascript code

👉 Why Should You Use A Tag Management System?

A tag management system (TMS) is software for managing tracking tags in digital marketing campaigns. A tag is a small piece of code that is added to a URL in order to collect information for analytics and digital marketing tools.

Tagging can be difficult. Large websites, in particular, must keep their tags up to date, add new tags, and perform complex installations on a regular basis. 

If not properly managed, the tags can cause your site to slow down, misrepresent your measurements, and result in duplicate costs and missing data. 

Furthermore, managing tags without a system takes time, which can cause important marketing and measurement programmes to be delayed.

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👉 Why is Google Tag Manager crucial for your business? (19 Reasons)

Now that you know what Google Tag Manager is and why it’s important, consider the following 19 key advantages:

1-  Quick Tracking Code Deployment

Let’s take a step back and recall how tracking codes were traditionally managed:

  1. A marketer (or analyst, or anyone else) decides to start tracking user behaviour with a new marketing platform.
  2. He or she obtains a tracking code and communicates it to a developer.
  3. The developer claims he is too busy to do so this week.
  4. What if you need to keep track of more events? In that case, you’ll need to create a detailed task and communicate with the developer via email in order to get those codes installed. This could take weeks or even months.

What if I told you that you could (in most cases) skip the developer and put those tracking codes in place yourself? This dream becomes a reality with Google Tag Manager.

✅ A tag is a tracking code that you can add, edit, or remove using the GTM interface.

Many processes are sped up with Google Tag Manager. Changes and new tags can be made quickly, and many of them do not require website code changes. This is beneficial to marketers because it allows them to reduce launch time by testing each change and deploying it only when ready. 

Integration

Indeed, Bounteous published a case study in which their client reduced tag implementation time by 600%.

And it’s for this reason that I ranked this as the most important benefit of Google Tag Manager. It is, however, far from the last. Also, boost your off-page strategies by using top-quality high DA PA Classified Submission Sites List 2022 which can help you get rich backlinks from authority sites.

Let’s keep going!

2-  Ease of Use

GTM allows team members to make updates and add new tags to the site quickly and easily without requiring complex code changes.

This allows the team to test each change independently and deploy it when it’s ready, streamlining the process and allowing the IT department to focus on bigger projects like enhancing the site as a whole.

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3-  All Tags Are Controlled In One Place

In the old days, when tag management was just a myth, all tracking codes were coded directly in the source code of the website or app. The worst part was that those snippets of JavaScript code were strewn across multiple files. So, if you need to make a minor change, the developer must: (1) locate and update all of those codes.

I’ve seen many instances where some codes were missed due to human error, resulting in data collection inaccuracy.

This process is simplified thanks to GTM: all tags are managed in one location.

Tag Manager Dashboard

4-  Debug Features

The team can use GTM’s built-in debug features to test and debug each update on your site before it goes live, ensuring that your tags work properly. 

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5-  GTM Supports Faster Page Loading Speeds

The tags in Google Tag Manager are fired asynchronously rather than synchronously. This means that instead of waiting for each tag to load before firing, each tag is deployed as soon as it loads. 

This eliminates the possibility of a slow-loading tag preventing the rest of the tags from deploying. Also, get to know the types of blogging to improve your blogging strategies more effectively and reach out to your target audience. 

6-  Easy Updates And A Future-Proofed Website

Future upgrades and enhancements are much easier with GTM because changes can be made through the interface rather than on each page of your website.

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7-  Users And Permissions Management

GTM makes it simple to control who has the power to make choices on the website and assists with the creation of tags, macros, and rules for individual users.

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8-  Track Scrolling Behavior

GTM’s ability to track scrolling behavior on your website and pages is another reason to use it.

Understanding how users interact with content on your website provides valuable insight into site activity.

  • What page sections are commonly interacted with
  • What content is more or less compelling
  • Where visitors typically stop scrolling

Using the GTM data you’ve collected, you can create a comprehensive picture of how most visitors scroll on each of your site pages. In exchange, you can develop a strategy to improve the user experience on your website.

  • How you organize your website
  • What content your share
  • Places that need improvement

9-  Version Control

Each time you publish a change through GTM, a new, archived version is created, making it simple to revert to a previous version at any time.

This is ideal because it organises tags, simplifies troubleshooting, and makes it simple to replicate similar installations on new GTM containers. 

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10-  Track PDF Downloads

As part of their digital marketing strategies, many businesses provide downloadable PDFs on their websites, such as guides or white papers. However, not having access to download data severely limits the effectiveness of a strategy. Also, get to know what is lead generation thoroughly which will guide you to uplift your ability to get quality leads to boost your conversion rate.

Google Tag Manager is used to keep track of PDF downloads and analyze their performance. Once you’ve figured out how to track downloads, you can turn the information into useful information.

  • Determine your most and least popular downloads
  • Understand why a download is performing well or poorly
  • Work on ways to improve your download and track progress with GTM

11-  Built-in Tags

GTM includes a number of useful built-in tags for traditional and universal analytics, AdWords conversions, remarketing, and more.

This allows a marketing team with no coding experience to customize tags with just a few key pieces of information without having to use complicated code or hire a developer.

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12-  Track Link Clicks

The Google Tag Manager’s ability to monitor link clicks, specifically the links visitors click on while on your website, is one of its advantages. Knowing not only a user’s scrolling but also their clicking behavior gives you valuable insight into their journey.

  • How does a visitor to your website move from one page to the next?
  • What types of calls to action (CTAs) generate the most clicks?

But the reason you should use Google Tag Manager isn’t just to understand link clicks; it’s also to put that information to use.

  • To increase conversions, refresh pages with a few clicks or review pages with a lot of clicks.
  • Learn what makes a CTA’s click-through rate high, and update the copy for CTAs that receive fewer clicks.

13-  Functions with Google Analytics

When it comes to built-in tags, Google Tag Manager also allows you to set up a basic Google Analytics implementation.

GTM includes a tag template that includes all of the options available in your previous Google Analytics setup.

It also works with older onsite code for tracking events, page views, and cross-domain tracking. 

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14-  Track Form Submissions

Every business’s website needs forms; from signing up for a newsletter to filling out a questionnaire to registering for an event, each form has a specific function and goal. Form submissions are accurately tracked with GTM.

Why should you track forms with Google Tag Manager:

  • Report website leads via form submissions
  • Measure a campaign’s ROI by the number of forms submitted

15-  User Permissions

You can grant multiple people access to your Google Tag Manager account, each with different levels of viewing, editing, and publishing privileges. This feature is useful for agencies that want to grant access to multiple employees or share access with clients while ensuring that only a few people have master control.

The following permission levels are available to you.

  • No Access
  • Read
  • Edit
  • Publish
  • Approve
  • Publish

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16-  Track Video Activity

Videos have become a popular digital marketing strategy. With the rise of video content, it’s more important than ever to understand how people interact with it.

  • How people viewed the video
  • How long do they watch the video
  • When or if they stopped watching the video

The data gathered from your videos can have an impact on your company’s video strategies:

  • How future videos are produced
  • What content does your audience prefer
  • Ideal video length for your business visitors

17-  Event Tracking

Adding code to a website to track visitor events such as clicks, video engagement, and form submissions was once the standard method of event tracking.

The auto-event tracking feature in GTM eliminates the need to tag each link manually. Instead, you can use a standardized naming structure or attribute-based targeting to target links or buttons. 

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18-  Security

If any tracking scripts added with Custom HTML tags in GTM accounts match a known malware domain, IP address, or URL, Google will automatically pause them. You can also manage who has access to your GTM accounts and revoke that access at any time.

By adding some commands to your data layer, you can also create whitelists and blacklists on your website. Because the website server is in charge of this, even if GTM is hacked, you’ll have the final say on whether or not custom tracking scripts are allowed to run on your site. 

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19-  GTM Enables Flexibility And Experimentation

Since GTM doesn’t really require the use of a web developer, it allows marketers to experiment with different strategies and ideas. It gives you the freedom to experiment and improve a strategy that aligns with digital marketing trends without having to wait for help from others.

You’ve learned about the advantages of using GTM to improve your strategies. There are numerous other advantages available, but this article can not cover them all.

By tracking PDF downloads, scrolling behavior, link clicks, form submissions, video activity, and more, GTM provides significant opportunities for improving your website. The platform allows users to track, analyze, and create actionable steps to improve their marketing and website performance.

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👉 How Does Google Tag Manager Work?

For complete beginners, there are three concepts to grasp: tags, triggers, and variables.

✅  Tags: A tag is a piece of code that, under certain conditions, must be executed on a website. It could be a tracking code, some code that modifies the text or a specific website element, or even code that modifies the color of the browser’s address bar.

When you create a tag, you’re basically telling Tag Manager to “do this,” “do that,” “track this visitor’s page views,” “track this click and send to Google Analytics,” and so on.

✅  Trigger: A trigger is an event that causes a tag to fire. Should a tag be activated on every page view? On a thank-you page, perhaps? Or perhaps on specific clicks or buttons? How about form submissions that are successful? These are all examples of triggers. When a specific condition (or set of conditions) is met, a trigger is triggered, and all tags associated with it are sent out.

✅  Variable: The third and final member of this trio is a variable. Variables are handy tools that can be used in tags, triggers, and even other variables.

In Google Tag Manager, variables are placeholders for values that are filled in when code is executed on your website or mobile app. The Tag Manager variable “Page URL,” for example, returns the current web page URL.

Variables can be:

  • a single piece of information (like a page URL, website domain, product ID, text of a link, etc.).
  • hold a set of data/settings (the GA settings variable (for Universal Analytics) contains a number of GA-related settings, such as Tracking ID, Display Advertising settings, and so on.)
  • be a complicated function (but this one is too advanced for beginners, so we’ll skip it for the time being), and so on.

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👉 How to get started with Google Tag Manager? Practical Tutorial 

Here’s a quick tutorial guide for you to get started with Google tag manager with beginner to advanced level tips.

👉 Conclusion

I hope you learned everything there is to know about GTM. If you are willing to learn how it works, it can definitely make your life easier. Check to see if the data you’ve set up in GTM is actually being used. What’s the point otherwise?

I’d like to hear about your Google Tag Manager experience. Has it been simple or difficult? What are your marketing strategies for it?

💬✍ Comment below if you have any queries or topic suggestions. We’d be delighted to read them and help you resolve your problems.

Happy Marketing! 😃✌

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