Google Tag Manager: a fundamental part of your digital strategy

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Google Tag Manager: a fundamental part of your digital strategy

If you regularly work on websites or with advertising platforms, you’ve undoubtedly heard of Google Tag Manager. But what exactly is it, and why should you take the time to start using it? In this blog post, you’ll learn all about it.

What is Google Tag Manager?

Google Tag Manager is an essential tool for every online marketer. This piece of code is added to your website once by the developer. Once installed, you can set up tracking codes without needing further assistance from the website administrator. Examples include:

  • Google Analytics code (if not already installed)
  • The Facebook pixel code
  • The LinkedIn Insight Tag
  • Hotjar tracking

What can I do with it?

Google Tag Manager offers a wide range of possibilities. Below, we’ll discuss the ones we use most often.

Pixels and trackers

As mentioned earlier, Tag Manager is excellent for quickly installing a pixel. Paste the HTML code of your pixel into Tag Manager, set the trigger to “pageview: all pages,” and you’re good to go. Some platforms, such as Facebook, Hotjar, and LinkedIn, have direct integrations with Google Tag Manager, making the process even simpler. Just enter your account or pixel number, and you’re ready. Want to make your conversions available in advertising platforms as well? That can also be set up in just a few steps.

Google Analytics events

Google Analytics is the hub of your online presence—it shows how visitors use your website. An important aspect of this is tracking predefined goals: do people fill out a contact form? Do they download your latest catalog, or make a purchase on your webshop? These events can be implemented by the website developer (hardcoded), but you can also easily add them yourself via Google Tag Manager.

Select “Google Analytics Events” as your tag and enter your Event category, Event action, and label. (Don’t forget the value if you want full insights into how much your website earns and the Return On Ad Spend for your ads!) Next, choose a trigger that best suits your goal. Do people land on a thank-you page? Use (part of) that URL as a pageview trigger. Do users fill out a form without a thank-you page? A “Form Submit” trigger can provide the solution. In addition to these types, you can also use triggers for clicks on links and more.

Why is GTM indispensable, and what are the advantages?

  • It’s free
  • Once installed, you’re less dependent on the website developer
  • It offers more flexibility for testing
  • It creates a unified tracking framework

Centralized tracking

As mentioned earlier, one of the (main) advantages of Google Tag Manager is having a unified tracking framework. Once you’ve set everything up in Tag Manager, all your tracking settings are neatly organized in one place. This not only provides “peace of mind” but also makes it much easier to make adjustments if something changes. You no longer have to comb through your entire website looking for outdated code, allowing you to quickly get back to your other tasks.

In the visual below, you’ll see an example of how we centralize our tracking. The name clearly indicates the platform (Google Analytics, Facebook, Hotjar, etc.), what it tracks (pixel, event, etc.), and which pages are being tracked. Tip: create a clear plan beforehand for what you want to measure. Which event parameters will you use? What will the trigger look like? (Which URL or form/button ID will you use?), etc. Document everything and use it as a reference when setting up your tracking. This way, you maintain an overview during setup and can systematically check if something isn’t working as planned.

Is it difficult to work with Google Tag Manager?

Admittedly, there is a learning curve to using this tool. Some aspects can be quite complex and overwhelming when you first open Tag Manager. To get started, it’s highly recommended to review the Google Tag Manager Certification, which provides a solid foundation of the most important features. Want to set up your own Google Tag Manager? Follow our simple step-by-step guide. If you’re still struggling, you can always reach out to us for help. 😉

Setting up Google Tag Manager

Step 1: Determine what you want to measure and create a plan

Gather all existing tags in Tag Manager and remove unused codes from your website. Identify the elements you want to track (e.g., Facebook conversions, LinkedIn conversions, etc.). Consider all potential actions on your website, from newsletter sign-ups to adding products to the shopping cart. GTM makes it easy to track all of these.

Step 2: Create your GTM account

Log in with your Google account and navigate to Google Tag Manager. You can easily create a new account here.

Step 3: Create a container

A container holds everything you want to measure. In most cases, this is a website or an app, but you can include multiple domains in the same container.

Step 4: Add the container code to your website

Place the GTM code on every page of your website directly after the <body> tag. You’ll likely need your website administrator for this step one last time. For WordPress websites, you can use the Google Tag Manager WordPress Plugin, a handy tool for adding the code to your pages.

Step 5: Create a tag in the container

The dashboard provides ready-to-use templates for various services, such as Google Analytics, which you can easily set up. Don’t worry if your service isn’t listed—you can add a custom HTML tag. You can choose to add your tag to all pages or specific pages, or link it to on-page events such as button clicks.

Step 6: Test your created tag in preview mode

Always test your tag before publishing. This helps catch any potential errors early. You can find the preview mode next to the publish button in the top-right corner. After enabling it, visit your site, and GTM will show you which tags are active on each page. Test this across your site.

Step 7: Publish your tag

If everything works correctly in preview mode, publish your tag and start tracking visitor behavior.

Need help setting up your Google Tag Manager account?

Contact us, and we’ll get started together!