Heard about Tag Manager, but don’t know if it’s suitable for your website? Not sure if it’s really worth the hassle to upgrade? Google Tag Manager (GTM) is free software you can install on your website that will dynamically insert all your tracking tags – e.g. Google Analytics code, Google Ads conversion code, Facebook tracking pixels etc, without you needing to put all those individual code snippets on the site itself. You control those tags – and when you want them to load / fire – online inside your Google Tag Manager account.We use GTM on our site, and strongly believe that most businesses should be using GTM on their sites, regardless of how big or small they are.Here are six great reasons why:
Because GTM allows you to make changes to your analytics setup without altering your website code, you won’t need to involve your web developers each time you want to add new tracking code or tweak your existing setup. This not only saves you money, it also frees up time for your developers to focus on other important projects for you.
The ability to make changes on the fly without involving developers also saves time that would normally be lost briefing them and waiting for code updates to be rolled out. Changes to tracking and testing can happen immediately – which is especially important when you’re doing a time-sensitive launch of a new product, service or promotion.
Being able to control all your tracking and marketing tags in one place is much easier than having them spread out all over the site in the HTML code. For your busy marketing team, this saves valuable time. Or if you have consultants like us who manage your analytics, it saves you money because we can do our job faster! The fact that there are built-in tags for Google Analytics, Google Ads, remarketing and other ad networks is also great for non-techie marketers who might have trouble with code implementation.
Tag Manager gives you the ability to preview and debug your tracking changes in real-time before you push them live, without needing to test them on a staging site. Knowing all your analytics data is coming through correctly in advance means there’s less risk of losing data, or worse, having visible errors on your site. It’s also easy to roll back your changes, as previous versions are stored in your Tag Manager account, making the process fast and easy.
Website speed (in particular, how fast your webpages load) is becoming increasingly important in the online world. Not only does having a fast website provide a better user experience and help increase your conversion rates, Google has also stated that slow websites may be at a disadvantage when it comes to search engine rankings.With Tag Manager, you’ll have just one or two small, fast-loading pieces of code on each page rather than lots of different code snippets all over the place – avoiding potential slow-downs.
Google Tag Manager is the industry standard for implementing tracking code. Online marketing products from major players like Google and Facebook can often be updated via Tag Manager at the click of a button, rather than having to make changes to your website’s code. Future online marketing products will also be built with tag management software firmly in mind – and there may come a time when non-tag management methods may no longer be supported by those big companies. By migrating to tag Manager today, you’ll be future-proofing your website for any such changes that lie ahead ahead. For the above reasons, we recommend every businesses upgrade their website to Google Tag Manager if they haven’t yet done so.
For small websites with basic analytics and ad tracking installed, upgrading should be a relatively straightforward task. Larger sites or those with complex tracking in place may require extra planning and developer time – but it’s a one-off project that will pay off handsomely in the long run. For a basic introduction and a walkthrough of how to open an account, we recommend heading over to the Tag Manager Get Started page. And for your developers, the Quick Start Developer’s Guide will give them the information they need to switch over the code. If you’d prefer to have someone manage the upgrade process for you, we’re happy to help! We’ve handled many Tag Manager migrations for our clients over the past couple of years, and can deal directly with your developers to get the job done with a minimum of fuss. If you’d like to find out more about Google Tag Manger and how it could help your business, or if you need help with any other aspect of your online marketing, please feel free to get in touch – we’d love to help!
Recovering ex-lawyer James heads up our Paid Media team. He handles advertising campaigns and paid media strategy across Google, Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn and more, together with Google Analytics.
With over 15 years' experience in the digital marketing space, James has a rounded background that includes SEO, email marketing and conversion rate optimisation, in addition to his current paid media focus. He enjoys working side by side with marketing teams and business owners, to create long-term success for our clients.
When he's not in the office, James can be found running social basketball games, listening obsessively to music, and running around after a toddler.
