What is Google Tag Manager?
Simply put, Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a free tool that allows you to manage and deploy marketing tags, pixels, and scripts on your website without having to have a developer edit the code for you.
To install Google Tag Manager on your website, you will still need to have a developer’s help to place the Google Tag Manager script in the <head> and the opening <body> tags of your website. This is a task our team can complete for you, as well.
Once the tracking codes are installed on your website, your marketing team can then add and remove any marketing scripts using Google Tag Manager and no longer have to utilize a developer.
How Does Google Tag Manager Work?
When you add Google Tag Manager to your website, you can control what tag configurations fire and trigger based on certain actions that happen on the website. This can help speed up your website and reduce the load time of your website.
FoundSM is a Google Certified Marketing Partner and we are certified in Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Google Data Studio.
The Elements of Google Tag Manager
There are three main elements in Google Tag Manager: Tags, Triggers, and Variables.
Tags are the short snippets of code or tracking pixels that come from your third-party tools. These can be anything from Google Universal Analytics tags, Google Ads remarketing code, Facebook pixels and more.
When you are setting up a new tag in Google Tag Manager, there are a number of different pre-built integrations Google Tag Manager has with other third-party tools as well like Crazyegg, Hotjar, and LinkedIn or you can use your own custom HTML script tag type or a custom-built Tag Template.
In order for the tags to work, you will then need to set up a trigger.
Triggers are used to let Google Tag Manager know when to turn on the script, or “fire”.
When setting up triggers, you can have your tags fire in a number of different ways. For example, you can set up your tag to fire on every page of your website or fire only on button clicks. Different tags will require different triggers based on the information they are trying to gather.
Within Google Tag Manager there are several different types of triggers that are pre-built into the tool, like page view and link clicks, or you can create your own custom event trigger.
Variables are sometimes used within tags and triggers and they are used to provide additional information to make sure they work.
The easiest example of this is when you are using the Google Analytics tag, you will need to create a variable with the tracking ID of your Google Analytics or Google Analytics 360 account.
What can be Tracked with Google Tag Manager?
The tracking capabilities are endless within Google Tag Manager. Our team can help you decide what you should and shouldn’t be tracking based on your marketing goals and KPIs. Here are a few of the data points you can track within Google Tag Manager.
Scroll Tracking
See how far visitors scroll on your website, where they stop scrolling, and how often your users scroll.
Form Submission
Track your form submissions, even if you don’t have a dedicated “Thank You” or confirmation page.
Video Tracking
If your web property features embedded YouTube videos, you can track how many people watch, how long they watch, and when they stop watching.
Button Clicks
Track clicks on various types of button on your website such as: add to cart, subscribe, PDF downloads, click-to-call, and links to social media profiles.
What you can Expect with our Google Tag Manager Services
Found Search Marketing offers comprehensive services for all of your Google Tag Manager needs. Our Google Tag Manager service includes:
Discussion of Tagging Needs
We will set up an initial meeting with your team to ensure we understand your current and future tracking needs for your website.
GTM Account Audit
If you currently have a Google Tag Manager account, we will review to see what is already set up.
Recommended GTM Optimizations
After meeting with your team and reviewing your current Google Tag Manager account, we will come up with recommendations for your account to optimize best for your site.
Connecting Your Google Accounts
We will integrate your Google Tag Manager account to your Google Analytics account.
New GTM Account
If you are completely new to Google Tag Manager, allow us to set up a new account to fully get your business up and running.
GTM Consulting
We can set up your Google Tag Manager account and hand you back the reins.
Ongoing GTM Maintenance
We can completely run your Google Tag Manager account for you to ensure the best possible set-up.
GTM Tag Migration
We can assist with migrating the existing tags to Google Tag Manager.
Benefits of Google Tag Manager
There are a number of great benefits to using Google Tag Manager to store all of your website scripts and tags. We have outlined a few of them here below.
All Tags Controlled in a Single Place
No need to worry about a tag being missed, all tags can be seen and accessed from one single place to quickly update and change.
Additional Google Analytics Tracking Features
Integrating your Google Analytics tracking into GTM is not only easy to do but also gives you some additional event tracking features you can use.
Security
All tracking scripts are automatically scanned by Google and paused if they are a known malware domain. Access to your GTM account can also be easily controlled within the account.
Event Tracking
Track basic events on your website to learn more about customer habits.
Preview Mode
Google Tag Manager has a debug mode to test that all of your tag deployments and triggers are working correctly.
Let us help you grow your digital marketing strategy. Contact our expert analytics team today, so we can assess if Google Tag Manager is the right tool for your business.
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