GOOGLE TAG MANAGER
Get set up and ready to go on Google Tag Manager.
- Visit the Google Tag Manager website.
- Click on “Start for free” and sign in with your Google account.
- Enter an Account Name (usually your company’s name), and select your country.
- Set up your first container by entering a Container name (usually your website’s name) and select where to use the container (Web).
- In your GTM dashboard, click “Admin” in the top navigation.
- Under the Account section, click “User Management.”
- Click the red “+” button, enter the email address of the user you want to add, and set the permission as “Manage”.
- In the GTM dashboard, click on “Admin.”
- Under the Account section, click “Container.”
- Click on “New” and enter a name for your new container, and where you want to use it (Web, iOS, Android, AMP).
- Follow the prompts to create the container.
Tags:
- In your GTM container, navigate to the “Tags” section from the left sidebar.
- Click on “New” to create a new tag.
- Select the tag type from the list (e.g., Google Analytics: Universal Analytics) and configure the tag settings as per your requirements.
- Under “Triggering,” choose the triggers that will cause this tag to fire.
Triggers:
- Navigate to the “Triggers” section from the left sidebar.
- Click on “New” to create a new trigger.
- Select the trigger type (e.g., Page View, Click, Form Submission) and configure the trigger conditions.
- Save the trigger, and now you can associate it with your tags.
The data layer is a structured format for collecting and storing data on your website, which can then be accessed by Google Tag Manager (GTM). It’s necessary for passing custom information from your website to GTM, enabling more precise tag firing and data handling, essential for advanced tracking and analysis.
Initialization:
- Before the Google Tag Manager (GTM) snippet, you should initialize the data layer on your website. This is done by adding the following code in the <head> section of your HTML:
<script>
window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
</script>
- This code creates a new JavaScript object called dataLayer if it doesn’t already exist.
Populate Data Layer:
- You can populate the data layer with information by using the push method. This can be done anywhere on your page, but it’s often done in the <head> or <body>:
window.dataLayer.push({
‘variable_name’: ‘variable_value’
});
- Replace ‘variable_name’ with the name of your variable, and ‘variable_value’ with the value of your variable. You can push as many variables as you need, and they can be used later in GTM.
Dynamic Data:
- If your website has dynamic elements, such as a shopping cart, you might need a developer to write JavaScript that pushes data to the data layer whenever the content changes.
Event Tracking:
- You can also use the data layer to track events. When an event occurs, you push an event and any associated data to the data layer:
window.dataLayer.push({
‘event’: ‘button_click’,
‘button_label’: ‘Sign Up’
});
If datalayer is not already installed and set up on your website, we advise getting a developer to set this up.
Get GTM Container Snippet:
- In your GTM dashboard, click on your container ID (e.g., GTM-XXXX) at the top right corner.
- A window will pop up with two code snippets.
Install GTM Snippets:
- Copy the first code snippet and paste it as close to the opening <head> tag as possible on every page of your website.
- Copy the second code snippet and paste it immediately after the opening <body> tag on every page of your website.
Verify Installation:
- After installing the snippets, verify your setup by going back to GTM, and clicking on “Preview” mode. Then visit your website to see if the GTM debug console appears, indicating a successful installation.
Publish Container:
- Once you’ve verified that GTM is installed correctly and your tags are configured the way you want, click “Submit” to create a version of your container and then “Publish” to push your container live.
Click here for more info on installing tracking codes.