What is Google Tag Manager (GTM)?

Google Tag Manager is one of the most popular tag management system. With GTM you can add tags to your site that can help you to a) understand how users are using your site b) determine where to improve c) get more out from your advertising campaigns by enhancing your re-marketing and targeting efforts with GTM.

What is a tag?

A tag is a small code or snippet - usually a Javascript - that you can insert to your site. For example Google Analytics tracking code is a tag. Tags are your primary point where from where you will get your data out.

How to setup GTM?

If you have a Google Analytics account already, go to tagmanager.google.com and set up an account. Tag manager works as a bucket of tags which you can customize to your site but you don't need to add new tags manually as codes to your site, you just simply add the bucket of tags as a code. Add the bucket code snippet to your site, just like you would with a Google Analytics code snippet.

Once you added your bucket code to your site manually, you can now set up your tags directly from the GTM interface. There are lots of tags built in like Google properties such as Analytics, AdWords and Customer Surveys but there lots of third party tags as well which are supported by Google. If you can't find your tag that you want to use, there is also a Custom HTML tag editor where you can add for example Facebook codes.

Once you added and configured your tags, you hit save and publish your tags to your site, all from the GTM interface.

Data Layers in GTM and how to use them

GTM works with data layers, which are specific data sheets in order to capture information for you on the activities on your site or app. For example, if you have a signup button on each post you publish and you want to know how many users clicked on that button, a data layer on this activity can provide you that information. A data layer will capture this information and sends it to your Analytics board for further analysis.

Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager

GTM works well with Google Analytics (GA), adding new capabilities to your metrics. GTM has built in event manager for example. You can set up events that can be triggered by various activities on your site and send this information to your Google Analytics Events section. If you don't use GTM, you need to set up these events manually with a Javascript code most likely, but with GTM it's just a matter of clicks and you will see the same information in Google Analytics.

What are the benefits of GTM?

GTM has the benefit to give you complete control of your site or app and implement analytics capabilities without having to code anything. GTM helps you to understand how users interact on your site or app. GTM works well with other Google-related products like Google Analytics or Google AdWords and also supports lot of third parties.