What Business Owners Need to Know About Google Tag Manager

Managing your online presence is crucial for the success of your business.

One tool that should definitely be on your radar is Google Tag Manager (GTM). GTM is a free tool from Google that can help your team manage and deploy various tags and code snippets on your website without having to rely on a developer.

Before diving into the details of GTM, it’s important to understand some key concepts:

Tags are snippets of code or tracking pixels from third-party tools. For example, if you use Google Analytics to track your website traffic, you would add the Google Analytics tracking code as a tag in GTM.

Triggers define when the tags will be fired on your website. For example, you might set up a trigger to fire a tag when someone clicks on a specific link on your website or views a certain page.

Variables are used to send additional information for configuring advanced tags and triggers. For example, you might use a variable in an ecommerce store to track how many times red shirts were viewed.

A container is a collection of tags, triggers, and variables for a specific website or mobile app. You can think of it as a container on your website where GTM can seamlessly publish code onto a live website.

In just a few minutes, you can add, edit, or remove tags without a complicated code terminal or having to wait until development work goes live. Changes can be made quickly and easily, which is especially important for businesses that need to act fast on a strategy.

GTM supports various tags, including custom HTML, so it can be used with many different tools and platforms. There are also template libraries with hundreds of pre-set configurations specifically for services like Google Ads, Crazy Egg, and Facebook Pixel.

GTM has a built-in debugging and error-checking tool, so when you publish a tag live to your website, you can verify it’s working in a closed environment where you can visually see all the tags firing on your website. You can also roll back to previous versions of each update, which can be a lifesaver if something goes wrong.

Beyond installing code snippets and tags, GTM can be used for a wide variety of purposes.

You can use GTM to track when someone submits a form on your website. This can be useful for tracking conversions so you can optimize your overall web strategy.

You can use GTM to track clicks on specific links or buttons on your website so you can report outbound links for affiliate marketing and make data-driven decisions about your website.

You can use GTM to track how far someone scrolls down a page on your website so you can understand how engaged your visitors are with your website or app.

Because GTM is a Google product, it naturally works well with other Google services, including Google Analytics, Search Console, Ads, BigQuerry, and others.

The key to success with GTM is to plan ahead, stay organized, and test thoroughly.

Use consistent naming
Test after publishing containers
Use variables wisely
Use built-in tags when possible
Manage account access to various team members

When every touchpoint with your target audience matters, being agile and responsive is key to staying competitive. 

GTM can help you achieve this by allowing you to quickly and easily manage and deploy tags and code snippets on your website or mobile app. So, if you haven’t already, start using GTM today and take your website to new levels of success.