Google Tag Manager in a nutshell

Google Tag Manager is an exciting tool if you are a digital marketer, but what does it mean for customers with 'regular' websites? We explore what Google Tag Manager is and what it can do...

So what is Google Tag Manager?

In a nutshell, Google Tag Manager is a one-bucket solution that allows users of all experience levels to efficiently organise their marketing tools (or 'Tags') together. These tiny tags are snippets of code that provide an essential function (Google Adwords / Google Analytics as examples) to a website. Tags are integral to any digital marketing strategy for any business but come with some drawbacks:

• Too many tags on a site may cause performance issues with sluggish load times.
• Manually inputting tags leads to the possibility of user error.
• Inputting tags is usually done by someone in IT or a Webmaster who have some level of disconnect from the online marketing team who will be using the data, creating slack in the data collection and interpretation process.
• Fixing incorrectly applied tags is time-consuming and generally must go back up the ladder to IT or the Webmaster. This time I am lost with no tagging while waiting for a fix to troubleshoot leads to lost time, data and conversions.

If your site or website implementation process has experienced or is experiencing one of the above problems, Google Tag Manager should be something you or your team should strongly consider.

Why should you use Google Tag Manager?

Inserting Google Tag Manager into your site allows you to manage everything from a web interface instead of going into the backend and dealing with intimidating walls of code. Marketers can gain enhanced flexibility and control over their tags without tying up IT and Webmasters and distracting them from more pressing tasks... There is a tag preview mode, automatic error checking, and error recovery features for IT and Webmasters who worry about marketers monkeying around and adding their tags (thereby breaking the website). Everyone wins!

When wouldn't I use Google Tag Manager?

Despite Google Tag Manager being excellent for organising and streamlining the insertion of tags, it doesn't necessarily need to be applied to all businesses and website models. There are a few occasions where Google Tag Manager just isn't necessary:

• Sites with simple measurement requirements that don't require deeper analytics. (i.e. Microsites)
• Companies that cannot dedicate the resources to learn and implement a new process
• Sites with complex eCommerce requirements

Ready to give this a shot?

Follow Google's online tutorial. Then watch this YouTube video...