Website creation is just the beginning of the journey. To work effectively, promote the resource, attract the target audience, and receive benefits, a business owner needs various Internet marketing tools. The meaning and importance of using them are no less essential. You need to know how these tools work and, of course, get installed on your site.
It is recommended to use GTM to facilitate the installation process and configuration of third-party services on your site. This post will provide you with a short Google Tag Manager tutorial and an overview of its features.
Table of Contents
What is GTM and Why You Need It
Google Tag Manager is a tag management service that makes working with HTML and JavaScript codes to track users’ behavior and events on your website easier and more intuitively. Within the functionality of GTM, you can add, change,
and delete codes or tags without the involvement of specialized staff. So, you will not incur additional expenses.
What GTM Does for Your Website
Many practical analyzers and services can help you track the “life” of your site. To install and adjust them, you need to get into the internal system of the resource and make changes every time by adding codes. Google has created a convenient tag manager, a necessary tool that provides easy and understandable access to external services. It helps you avoid mistakes when making changes to the site settings.
The service allows site owners to independently (without involving a programmer) perform the following actions:
- synchronization with Google Analytics and other analyzing services;
- placement of HTML scripts (for example, A/B testing);
- adding remarketing and retargeting tags (Google AdWords, Facebook, Double Click, etc.);
- adding the codes of any other external services on the site.
To install the GTM code on your site, you need to copy and paste two fragments of the service container code on each page of the site. The code will be generated by the system after you create an account in Google Tag Manager. The first part of the code needs to be placed in the HEAD section, the second after the opening BODY tag. Please note: the container code must be copied to each page of the site.
GTM Basic Elements
It is crucial to know the definition and elements of the tool to understand how anything works. For instance, before you record your podcasts, you need to first understand what is a podcast and how it can influence the promotion of your blog. So, let’s take a look at what elements GTM consists of when setting up.
GTM Account
Multiple Google Tag Manager accounts can be created for one Gmail account — one for each project. Several sites can be added for one GTM account (project). Therefore, if you are the owner of 3-4 websites, there is no need to create 3-4 accounts, they can all be combined within one project.
Container
It contains all tags of a single site. The container code is added to each page of the site. In the future, to manage tags, you no longer need to change or add anything to the resource structure, you work only in GTM. The container code is specified when registering. You can also find it at any time by going to the Service Administration tab. On the right in the “Container” section, click on the “Install Google Tag Manager” link, the code is in front of you.
Tag
It is a code fragment that performs a specific function (transferring data to a service analyzer, launching remarketing, etc.). The most popular functions are already set in Google Tag Manager, for the use of which it is enough to select the type of tag of interest in the configuration. With sufficient experience and knowledge of HTML, it is possible to create your own custom tags.
Trigger
Triggers are the conditions under which a tag is activated. They can be configured to trigger the function code or block. When setting up a trigger, we can set filtering rules, for example, a transition to a specific page of the site or an event: following a link, clicking on a banner, etc.
Varieties of GTM triggers include:
- page view — specifying the moment at which the tag should be triggered;
- DOM is ready (the object document has been loaded);
- the window is loaded (the window is fully loaded);
- page view (the state of readiness of the container for work);
- click — a click was made on a particular element of the site;
- all elements (the user clicked on any zone on the site or elements that meet the conditions specified in the settings);
- links only (user clicked on the active element);
- user interaction — clarification of the terms of user interaction with the elements of the site;
- YouTube video (the visitor has activated the video object);
- scrolling depth (page scrolling was used);
- element availability (the object is fully visible on the page);
- submitting the form (the user has submitted the completed form);
- Others Change history (change a fragment of the URL);
- JavaScript error;
- custom event (customization of individual events).
Variables
They are configurable parameters for triggers.
Advantages of Google Tag Manager
The main benefits that site owners make use of through the use of GTM include:
- no need to contact programmers every time you plan to connect a new service or make changes to the settings and codes of previously connected analyzers;
- simple, intuitive, and user-friendly interface;
- the possibility to use the service by several specialists;
- integration with many popular services;
- speeding up the site by using shortcodes;
- simplified process of verifying resource rights in Search Console;
- the function of preliminary testing of changes excludes the possibility of making random errors in the settings;
- autosave settings and the ability to return to a previously saved version.
Disadvantages of GTM
There are also several minor flaws of the service, the main ones are:
- damage to the code component of the container inevitably leads to the stoppage of all the tags configured with its help, and searching for an error can create a serious problem;
- full-fledged work with the service still requires some understanding of the features of HTML, DOM, and JavaScript;
- lack of online support;
- lack of in-service reports.
To Conclude
GTM is a handy and useful tool for website owners, SEO specialists, and marketers, which allows them to quickly and easily install and configure external services without having to work with the site code. As a result, it is possible to refuse the services of a programmer, avoid serious errors when working with codes, and speed up the work of the resource.
