Google Tag Manager: What Is It & Why Do You Need It?

Google Tag Manager is an increasingly popular tool for implementing code on your website. As a free platform, it’s an easy-use valuable feature that can help website owners in performance. But what exactly is it, and why should you use it? Find out below:

What Is Tag Manager?

Google Tag Manager, also known as GTM, is a completely free platform that allows website owner’s to implement code snippets easily on their website or app. This creates valuable opportunities for tracking data. Essentially tag manager provides a ‘container’ through which you can easily upload your code snippets with little or no technical expertise.

What Is The Difference Between Tag Manager & Analytics

For many users, the difference between Tag Manager and Analytics can be confusing at first. Tag Manager works alongside Analytics – with Tag Manager acting as a container, you can implement your Analytics code easily on your website or chosen landing pages and then the data from that code is used by Google Analytics to track various metrics including conversions and engagement from users.

What Are The Benefits Of Using Tag Manager?

For many website owners who already have code implemented on their site, Tag Manager may not seem like a necessary tool. There are however, some key advantages of using the platform including:

• Accessibility. Once Tag Manager has been installed, it’s simply a case of copy-and-pasting your code snippets as needed. This means that a whole host of your team members can take on the task, without needing any web development expertise.
• Granular Overview. All of your tags and codes sit in the GTM platform, making it a great hub for your marketing team to have a complete overview of the data being tracked and ensure that nothing gets missed.
• Productivity. As your marketing team and other website administrators won’t need to wait for your IT team to implement code, tasks can get done much quicker.
• Speed Up Tasks. GTM tracking is simple to install and loading code is even quicker. Tracking will no longer be a time exhaustive task.
• Improve Website Performance. Perhaps one of the most important benefits! Because the tags within Tag Manager fire asynchronously, slow tags won’t impact other tags being fired. This means that website speed can be increased by implementing GTM on your site.

Can I Check My Tags Are Working Correctly?

Yes – with another free Google tool! Google Tag Assistant is a chrome extension that reads the tags on a website and analyses if the implementation of these is correct. Find out more about Tag Assistant, here.

Get Started With Google Tag Manager Today

GTM installation is as simple as setting up your account, adding your GTM container code to each page on your site and verifying! Get started today with ease.

Do you need help installing Google Tag Manager on your website? Or want our experts to look at your website tracking and analysis? Our team can help you with a variety of support and consultation services aimed at increasing site performance. Get in touch today to find out more.