Creating a site is just the beginning of the path. For efficient work, promoting the resource, attracting the target audience and gaining benefits, we need various tools for online marketing. Not only does it be necessary to understand the meaning and importance of their use. You need to know how these tools work and, of course, are installed on your site. 

To facilitate the installation process and customize third-party services on your site, we recommend that you take advantage of the features of Google Tag Manager, with the review of which we will now introduce you.

Content:

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What is it and why you need Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager - this is a tag management service, which makes working with HTML and JavaScript codes to track users and events on the site easier and more understandable. As part of the functionality of the tag manager, you can add, change and delete codes or tags without involving a narrow specialist and, accordingly, additional costs.

To understand why this service is needed, let's look at what Google Tag Manager does for your site. There are many practical analyzers and services that help track your life on your site. To install and adjust them, you need to climb into the internal resource system and make changes each time by adding codes. Google has created a convenient tag manager, realizing that it is a necessary tool that provides easy and understandable access to external services, which avoids many hours of routine work and, more importantly, errors when making changes to the site settings.

все о диспетчере тегов google

What does Google Tag Manager give us

Service allows independently (without involving a programmer) perform:

  • synchronization with Yandex Metric, Google Analytics and others analyzer services;
  • placement of HTML scripts (for example, A / B testing);
  • adding remarketing and retargetics tags (Google AdWords, Facebook, VKontakte, Double Click, etc.);
  • streamlining codes for any other external services on the site.

To work with tags and codes on your own, you only need to attract a specialist once to install the GTM code on your site. Although many can cope with this task without the help of a programmer. To do this, you need to copy and paste two fragments of the service container code on each page of the site, which will be generated by the system after you create an account in Google Tag Manager. The first part of the code must be placed in the HEAD section, the second after the BODY opening tag. Pay attention: container code must be copied to each page of the site..

что дает код gtm на сайте картинка

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Key Elements for Configuring Google Tag Manager

To understand how Google Tag Manager works, let's look at which elements used in the setting it consists of.

  1. Gmail account
    Your "personality" for working on Google and its services.
     
  2. GTM Account
    For one Gmail account, several Google Tag Manager accounts can be created - one for each project. We recommend using additional accounts if you work with several customers and their sites. For one GTM account (project), several sites can be added. Therefore, if you own 3 - 4 sites, there is no need to create a 3 - 4 account, all of them can be combined in one project.
     
  3. Container
    "Packaging" for all tags of a single site. The container code is added to each page of the site, as we wrote above. In the future, to manage tags, you no longer need to change or add anything to the resource structure, work continues only in Google Tag Manager.

    The container code is indicated when it is registered with GTM. In addition, it can be seen at any time by clicking on the Administration of the service tab. To the right, in the “Container” section, click on the “Install Google Tag Manager” link, the code in front of you.

    Как работает менеджер тегов от гугл
     
  4. Tag
    This performs a certain function (data transfer to a service analyzer, start remarketing, etc.), code fragment.

    Google Tag Manager already has the most popular features for 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, user, tags.

    Как можно использовать google tag manager
     
  5. Trigger
    Triggers are the conditions under which the activation of a particular tag occurs. They can be configured both for the operation of the functional code and blocking. When setting up a trigger, we can set filtering rules, for example, switching to a specific page of a site, or event: clicking on a link, clicking on a banner, etc.

    что дает триггер в google tag manager

    Varieties (types) of GTM triggers:
  • View page - clarification of the moment in which the tag should work:
    • The DOM model is ready (the object document is loaded);
    • Window loaded (window fully loaded);
    • View page (state of readiness of the container for work).
  • Click - a click was made on a specific element of the site:
    • All elements (the user clicked on any area on the site or elements corresponding to the conditions specified by the settings);
    • Only links (user clicked on the active element);
  • User interaction - clarification of the conditions for the user to interact with the elements of the site:
    • YouTube video (visitor activated video object);
    • Scroll depth (page scroll was used);
    • Element availability (the object is completely visible on the page);
    • Sending the form (the user sent the completed form);
  • Other
    • Change of history (change of URL fragment);
    • JavaSript error;
    • Custom event (setting individual events).
  1. Variable
    Variable is the custom parameters of triggers.

    пример переменной в диспетчере тегов

Benefits of Google Tag Manager

To the main pluses, that we get through using the tag manager, can be attributed:

  • there is 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, clear and convenient interface;
  • the ability to use the service to several specialists, for each of which individual access rights are configured;
  • integration with many popular services;
  • acceleration of the site through the use of abbreviated codes;
  • simplified process confirmation of resource rights in Search Console;
  • the function of pre-testing changes excludes the possibility of random errors in the settings;
  • auto-save settings and the ability to return to a previously saved version.

Google Tag Manager Minuses

There are several minor service disadvantages, the main ones include:

  • damage to the code component of the container inevitably leads to the shutdown of all tags configured with its help, finding an error can create a serious problem;
  • full service still requires some understanding of the features of HTML, DOM and JavaScript;
  • lack of online support;
  • lack of intraservice reports.

Conclusions

Tag Manager - convenient and useful tool for site owners, SEO specialists and marketers, which allows you to quickly and easily install and configure external services without the need to work with the site code. If you even understand in general terms how you can use Google Tag Manager and what this service can do, you can easily install and configure its components yourself without any problems. As a result, you have the opportunity to refuse the services of a programmer, as well as avoid serious errors when working with codes, and speed up the resource, which is associated with the features of GTM.

And who helps you with connecting external services to the site?

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We will tell you more about the features of working with this and other tools necessary for site analytics course "Web analytics for business". For a month of training, you can configure these services, get and analyze data, and most importantly - find solutions to how to improve behavioral factors and increase conversion. For readers of our blog who will report when buying promotional code "Analytics-GTM", we will make an additional pleasant bonus.