4 Reasons To Start Using Google Tag Manager

By admin July 13, 2015

Google Tag Manager has been around for a while but many people don’t know exactly what it is or even how it works. So, what exactly is a tag you may ask for the novice users? A tag is a snippet of JavaScipt code that sends information to third parties such as Google and a tag serves a specific function. For example, if you want tracking capabilities on your website, you needed to install Google Analytics across all your webpages. This allows you to see and track the effect of your marketing or remarketing. If you are not using a tag management system as such as GTM (Google Tag Manager), you need to add these specific snippets of code directly on your mobile app, website or blog for example. Earlier, you needed the help or involvement of a web developer to help you install certain snippets of code for tracking purposes to serve or track different functions on your website. With the introduction of Google Tag Manager that is no longer the case as you can install snippets of code through Google Tag Manager without even being technical. With the introduction of Google Tag Manager, a webmasters life is much easier than ever. Below, we will discuss 4 reasons on why you should start using Google Tag Manager on your website if you aren’t already along with explain to you why it has become such a popular choice amongst both webmaster and marketers:

✓ No More Multiple Tagging – Tag management systems are by no means something new that has been invented recently as they have been around for years now. Microsoft was one of the first companies to introduce a tag management system but they charged a fee to install/use it. With the introduction of Google Tag Manager, it allows you to use a FREE system that can make your life a whole lot easier without having to pay anything which is a huge plus. Google Tag Manager works via its own container tag which you can place across all of your website pages and even multiple websites if need be through a single login. This container tag allows you to replace all other tags on your website such as tags from Google Analytics, Adwords, Floodlight and even other 3rd party tags through the GTM container tag. If you are working with an SEO company or a digital marketing agency for your online marketing efforts, ask them to install Google Tag Manager which really allows you to keep all your tagging in one place. GTM has included all tags for universal analytics, Adwords, remarketing, classic analytics and even popular ad networks. From a marketers perspective, this is really helpful/easy as they can start using Google Tag Manager as it allows them to customize tags even with little knowledge of coding or development.

✓ Easy To Do – Earlier on websites, you needed to install different pieces of code for different functions which is no longer the case as earlier mentioned. You also needed the help of a web developer if you weren’t technical enough to install snippets of code across each and every page. With GTM, you can install it once across all pages and keep on updating or making the necessary changes which makes it much easier than ever before. Once your Google Tag Manager container is added to your website, you can easily add, update or edit your tags through the Google Tag Manager web application making your life super easy. This also allows you to reduce errors and problems when trying to install Google tags or any other type of tagging that you want to add for tracking and optimization purposes. If you want to make any changes or add anything, you can do easily on your own as its in a single container tag rather than having to tag your whole website with a snippet of code. Lastly, you will also free up time of your web developers or IT staff who needed to help you with these things earlier on. They can therefore focus on other parts of the business that need these resources or work on other things you need help with rather than installing tracking or snippets of code which they needed to earlier.

✓ Future Proofing – When you upgrade to Universal Analytics (if you haven’t already done so), you can easily implement GTM also as it will allow you to make future enhancements and upgrades easily. With the introduction of Google Tag Manager, you can easily add things later on in one GTM web interface rather than installing it across your whole website which will take more time to do as well as delay things. In addition, changes can be quickly made and you don’t require any coding changes that were needed earlier on. It really allows to speed things up from a webmaster or marketers perspective by allowing you to decrease launch time and being able to do things yourself. Future proofing your website is much easier now as compared to before and you can do that with Google Tag Manager. It allows you to really stay ahead and up to date as if you have a website with thousands of pages, imagine how long it would take to add snippets of code across all of it. That is no longer the case as a single update in GTM allows you to do this faster than ever before.

✓ Speed & Tracking – The fact is when you have more code on your website it takes longer to load that webpage. With Google Tag Manager, this tagging system allows you to load only the tag container snippet and all your tags are housed within that specific snippet which means less loading time on your website. In addition, recording and monitoring what people do on your website is nothing new but with GTM, it’s easier than ever before to track events that are taking place on your website or blog. GTM even comes with event tracking built-in for certain things but it still does need some setting up of course. Some things you can track with GTM are form submissions, link clicks, time specific activities and overall clicks of course. Having a website that is fast to load is critical as even Google holds it as an SEO ranking factor as its part of a user experience which is absolutely essential. Lastly, you want to also be able to monitor what is taking place on your website through event tracking which is much easier to do now than before with the introduction of GTM. Both speed of your website and event tracking are very much possible if you install Google Tag Manager.

Summary

The installation and use of Google Tag Manager can really make your life super easy if you are a webmaster or marketer. Time to market, tracking, events taking place on your website and ease of use are all things that GTM offers which is a must in this day and age if you are serious about growing/optimizing your website or blog. If you don’t have GTM installed on your website, then it is something that you should seriously consider doing as some of the above points make that very much clear. In addition, Google is also offering a free certificate for a limited time as well as training on the installation/optimization of Google Tag Manager which clearly shows how important it is. If you are looking for a company to help you install Google Tag Manager or help you with any other type of digital marketing or development activities, please feel free to reach out to the team at Mind Digital for any of your needs you have. If you have any other comments or benefits that you have experienced with GTM, please feel free to comment below as this list is by no means a complete one.