GTM OverView

1. GTM Overview

Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a free tool offered by Google that allows users to add and manage marketing and analytics tags on their website or mobile app without requiring code changes. It allows users to add tags, including those from Google Analytics, AdWords, and other third-party tags, through a web-based user interface. This eliminates the need for a developer to manually add or update code on the site. GTM also allows users to create and test custom tags, and to track and troubleshoot issues with tags. It also gives an option to set up triggers and variables, which can be used to fire tags under certain conditions or to pass information to the tags. GTM is widely used to improve the measurement of website and mobile app performance, and to better understand user behavior.

2. Benefits of Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager allows businesses to track and analyze customer behavior more efficiently. It provides a single platform to manage all tags, making it easier to manage and optimize campaigns across multiple channels.

Google Tag Manager also helps to reduce the time and effort required to deploy tags. It allows businesses to quickly and easily deploy tags, without the need for manual coding or complex setup.

3. How to set Up Google Tag Manager

Setting up Google Tag Manager (GTM) involves the following steps:

• Sign up for a GTM account: 

Go to the GTM website (https://tagmanager.google.com/) and sign up for an account using your Google account.

• Create a container: 

After logging in, you will be prompted to create a container. A container is a place to hold all of your tags, triggers, and variables. You can create a container for a website or a mobile app.

• Add the GTM code to your website: 

Once the container is created, you will be given a container snippet of code. This code needs to be added to every page of your website, typically in the header section. This will allow GTM to track and manage all the tags on your website.

• Configure your tags: 

After adding the GTM code to your website, you can start configuring your tags, triggers, and variables. You can add tags for analytics and marketing tools, such as Google Analytics, AdWords, and Facebook Pixel. You can also create custom tags and triggers, and set up variables to pass information to your tags.

• Publish your container: 

Once you have set up your tags, triggers, and variables, you can publish the container. This will make the tags active on your website and start collecting data.

• Monitor and troubleshoot: 

You can use the GTM interface to monitor and troubleshoot your tags and triggers. You can also use the built-in debugging tools to test your tags and ensure that they are working properly.

It’s important to note that you need to be familiar with web development to set up and use GTM, and it’s highly recommended to test your tags and triggers before publishing them to your live website.

4. How to Set up Google Analytics using Google Tag Manager

Setting up a Google Analytics property using Google Tag Manager (GTM) involves the following steps:

1. Create a Google Analytics property: 

Before setting up the property in GTM, you will need to create a property in Google Analytics. Go to the Google Analytics website (https://analytics.google.com/) and sign in with your Google account. Click on the “Admin” button in the bottom left corner, then click on “Create a Property” to set up a new property for your website or mobile app. If you already have a Google Analytics Account then you can proceed with the second step directly.

2. Add the Google Analytics tag in GTM: 

Once you have created a property in Google Analytics, go to GTM and navigate to the “Tags” section. Click on the “New” button to create a new tag. Select “Google Analytics” as the tag type, then choose “Universal Analytics” as the tracking type.

3. Configure the Google Analytics tag: 

In the “Track Type” section, select “Page View” as the track type. In the “Google Analytics Settings” section, enter your Google Analytics property ID, which can be found in your Google Analytics property settings. You can also configure additional fields such as anonymize IP and sample rate.

4. Create a trigger: 

In order to fire the Google Analytics tag on your website, you will need to create a trigger. Go to the “Triggers” section in GTM, and click on the “New” button to create a new trigger. Select “All Pages” as the trigger type, this will make the tag fire on every page load.

5. Publish your container: 

After creating the trigger, you can now publish your container. This will make the Google Analytics tag active on your website, and start collecting data in your Google Analytics property.

6. Verify the tracking: 

You can use the GTM preview and debug mode to check if the tag is firing correctly. You can also verify the tracking by going to your Google Analytics property and looking at the real-time data to see if the tracking is working.

It’s important to note that it might take some time for the data to appear in your Google Analytics property, and also it’s highly recommended to test your tags and triggers before publishing them to your live website.

5. How to Set Up Cross Domain Tracking using Google Tag Manager

Cross-domain tracking allows you to track user behavior across multiple domains in a single Google Analytics property. This is useful if your website has links to other domains, such as an e-commerce site with a separate checkout domain. To set up cross-domain tracking using Google Tag Manager (GTM), you will need to follow these steps:

1. Set up a Google Analytics property: 

Before setting up cross-domain tracking, you will need to have a Google Analytics property set up for each domain you wish to track.

2. Add the Google Analytics tag in GTM: 

Once you have created the properties in Google Analytics, go to GTM and navigate to the “Tags” section. Click on the “New” button to create a new tag. Select “Google Analytics” as the tag type, then choose “Universal Analytics” as the tracking type.

3. Configure the Google Analytics tag: 

In the “Track Type” section, select “Page View” as the track type. In the “Google Analytics Settings” section, enter your Google Analytics property ID for the primary domain, and make sure that the “Enable Display Advertising Features” is checked. You can also configure additional fields such as anonymize IP and sample rate.

4. Create a trigger: 

In order to fire the Google Analytics tag on your website, you will need to create a trigger. Go to the “Triggers” section in GTM, and click on the “New” button to create a new trigger. Select “All Pages” as the trigger type, this will make the tag fire on every page load.

5. Add the Google Analytics cross-domain tracking code on the Secondary Domain: 

To enable cross-domain tracking, you will need to add the Google Analytics cross-domain tracking code on the secondary domains. This code will link the cookie data from the primary domain to the secondary domains. To do this, you need to add an auto-link domains field in your GA settings variable. You will need to follow these steps:

1. Create a new variable in GTM: 

In GTM, navigate to the “Variables” section and click on the “New” button to create a new variable. Select “Google Analytics Settings” as the variable type.

2. Enter your GA property ID: 

In the “Google Analytics Settings” section, enter your Google Analytics property ID for the primary domain.

3. Enable cross-domain tracking: 

Scroll down to the “Fields to Set” section, and enable the “Auto Link Domains” field, enter the domain name of the secondary domain you want to track, and separate multiple domains with commas.

4. Create a new tag: 

Go to the “Tags” section and click on the “New” button to create a new tag. Select “Google Analytics” as the tag type, then choose “Universal Analytics” as the tracking type.

5. Configure the Google Analytics tag: 

In the “Track Type” section, select “Page View” as the track type. In the “Google Analytics Settings” section, select the variable you created earlier.

6. Create a trigger: 

In order to fire the Google Analytics tag on your website, you will need to create a trigger. Go to the “Triggers” section in GTM, and click on the “New” button to create a new trigger. Select “All Pages” as the trigger type, this will make the tag to fire on every page load.

7. Publish your container: 

After creating the trigger and adding the cross-domain tracking code, you can now publish your container. This will make the Google Analytics tag active on your website, and start collecting data in your Google Analytics property.

8. Verify the tracking: 

You can use the GTM preview and debug mode to check if the tag is firing correctly. You can also verify the tracking by going to your Google Analytics property and looking at the real-time data to see if the tracking is working.

6. Publish your container: 

After creating the trigger and adding the cross-domain tracking code, you can now publish your container. This will make the Google Analytics tag active on your website, and start collecting data in your Google Analytics property.

7. Verify the tracking: 

You can use the GTM preview and debug mode to check if the tag is firing correctly. You can also verify the tracking by going to your Google Analytics property and looking at the real-time data to see if the tracking is working.

6. Data Layer in Google Tag Manager

The data layer is a JavaScript object in Google Tag Manager (GTM) that allows you to pass data from your website to GTM. 

The data layer is a collection of key-value pairs that can be used to pass information about the website, such as user interactions, page information, and other variables. The data layer can be used to send data to GTM tags, triggers, and variables, which can be used to measure user behavior, track conversions, and perform other tasks.

The data layer is typically implemented by adding a few lines of JavaScript code to your website’s HTML. This code creates an empty data layer object, and allows you to push data to the object using the “dataLayer.push()” method. You can then use this data in GTM to configure tags, triggers, and variables.

The data layer is powerful and flexible, and can be used to pass a wide variety of information about the website. For example, you can pass information about user interactions, such as button clicks, form submissions, and page scrolling. You can also pass information about the page, such as the page title, URL, and other meta data. Additionally, you can pass data from your website’s backend, such as user information, shopping cart contents, and other data.

Data layer allows the user to have more control over the data passed to GTM, making it easier to track and monitor the website’s performance, and it also makes it possible to use GTM’s built-in variables and triggers to do more advanced tracking.

7. How Does the Data Layer Works

The Google Tag Manager (GTM) data layer works by allowing you to pass data from your website to GTM through a JavaScript object. The data layer is a collection of key-value pairs that can be used to pass information about the website, such as user interactions, page information, and other variables.

Here is a brief overview of how the GTM data layer works:

1. Data layer is implemented on your website: The data layer is typically implemented by adding a few lines of JavaScript code to your website’s HTML. This code creates an empty data layer object, and allows you to push data to the object using the “dataLayer.push()” method.

2. Data is pushed to the data layer: As users interact with your website, data is pushed to the data layer object. This data can include information about user interactions, page information, and other variables.

3. Data is passed to GTM: The data in the data layer is passed to GTM and can be used to configure tags, triggers, and variables.

4. GTM tags are fired: GTM tags are configured to fire based on the data in the data layer. For example, you can configure a tag to fire when a user clicks a specific button on your website.

5. Data is sent to analytics and marketing tools: The data collected by GTM tags is sent to analytics and marketing tools, such as Google Analytics and AdWords, to track user behavior, conversions, and other metrics.

In summary, the GTM data layer allows you to pass data from your website to GTM, where it can be used to configure tags, triggers, and variables. This allows you to track and monitor user behavior, and to better understand the performance of your website.

7. How to Implement Data Layer on Your Website

Implementing the data layer on your website using Google Tag Manager (GTM) involves the following steps:

1. Create a data layer variable in GTM: 

In GTM, navigate to the “Variables” section and click on the “New” button to create a new variable. Select “Data Layer Variable” as the variable type.

2. Define the data layer variable: 

In the “Data Layer Variable Name” section, enter the name of the data layer variable you wish to create, such as “pageType” or “userId”. This variable will be used to reference the data in the data layer.

3. Add the data layer code to your website: 

Add the following code snippet to your website’s HTML, typically in the header section, this will create an empty dataLayer object and allows you to push data to the object using the “dataLayer.push()” method.

Code

<script>

  dataLayer = [];

</script>

4. Push data to the data layer: 

As users interact with your website, you can push data to the data layer object using the “dataLayer.push()” method. For example, you can push data to the data layer when a button is clicked, when a form is submitted, or when a user scrolls to a certain point on the page.

Code

<script>

  dataLayer.push({

    ‘pageType’: ‘home’,

    ‘userId’: ‘123456’

  });

</script>

5. Use the data layer variable in GTM: 

In GTM, you can use the data layer variable you created earlier to reference the data in the data layer. For example, you can use the variable to configure tags, triggers, and variables.

6. Publish the container: 

After pushing the data to the data layer and using the data layer variable in GTM, you can now publish the container. This will make the data layer active on your website, and allow GTM to access the data.

8. How to collect Data Using the Data Layer, variables, and events

Collecting data using the data layer, variables, and events in Google Tag Manager (GTM) involves the following steps:

1. Implement the data layer on your website: 

The first step is to implement the data layer on your website. This involves adding a few lines of JavaScript code to your website’s HTML. This code creates an empty data layer object, and allows you to push data to the object using the “dataLayer.push()” method.

2. Push data to the data layer: 

As users interact with your website, data is pushed to the data layer object. This data can include information about user interactions, page information, and other variables. For example, you can push data to the data layer when a button is clicked, when a form is submitted, or when a user scrolls to a certain point on the page.

3. Create variables in GTM: 

In GTM, you can create variables to access the data in the data layer. Variables allow you to reference specific data points in the data layer, such as the page title, user ID, or other information.

4. Create events in GTM: 

In GTM, you can create events to track specific user interactions, such as button clicks, form submissions, and page scrolls. Events are typically associated with specific triggers, which are used to fire tags when certain conditions are met.

5. Configure tags to fire based on events and variables:

In GTM, you can configure tags to fire based on events and variables. For example, you can configure a tag to fire when a user clicks a specific button on your website, or when a user scrolls to a certain point on the page.

6. Monitor data in analytics and marketing tools: 

The data collected by GTM tags is sent to analytics and marketing tools, such as Google Analytics and AdWords, to track user behavior, conversions, and other metrics.

9. Passing Static and Dynamic Values in Custom Metrics via GTM

Passing static and dynamic values in custom metrics in Google Tag Manager (GTM) involves the following steps:

1. Create a custom metric in Google Analytics: 

Before passing values to a custom metric in GTM, you will need to create the custom metric in Google Analytics. Go to your Google Analytics account, navigate to the “Admin” section, and select the property you want to work with. Under “Property,” select “Custom Definitions,” and then “Custom Metrics.” Click on “New Custom Metric” to create a new custom metric.

2. Create a variable in GTM: 

In GTM, navigate to the “Variables” section and create a new variable of the type “Google Analytics Settings” variable.

3. Define the variable: 

In the variable’s configuration, you can define the custom metric index and also the name of the metric. You can also set a default value, which is a static value that will be sent to the custom metric if no other value is specified.

4. Pass dynamic values to the custom metric: 

To pass dynamic values to the custom metric, you can use the data layer to push values to the custom metric. For example, you can push the value of a button click, form submission, or page scroll to the custom metric.

5. Create a tag: 

Create a Google Analytics tag and configure it to use the custom metric variable you created. In the “Tag Configuration” section, select “Custom Metrics” and input the custom metric index and the value.

6. Create a trigger: 

Create a trigger that will fire when the dynamic value is pushed to the data layer. For example, you can create a trigger that fires when someone watches the page

Overview of Google Tag Manager – Content

Overview of Google Tag Manager – PPT

Overview of Google Tag Manager – Pre Read

Overview of Google Tag Manager – Assignment

Overview of Google Tag Manager – MCQ