What is Google Tag Manager ID (a.k.a. Container ID) and how to get it?

There are various reasons why you might need to get a Google Tag Manager ID. Maybe you own a website running on WIX (or some other content management system) and have to paste the GTM Container ID to a designated field. In this quick blog post, I’ll show you where to find it.

Quick version

First, I’ll presume that you have already created a Google Tag Manager container and want to get the ID. If, on the other hand, you don’t even have a GTM account, skip to the next chapter of this guide, and I’ll explain things in greater detail.

Log in to your Google Tag Manager account and open a container. In the top right corner (next to the Submit and Preview buttons) you’ll see some short text that starts with GTM- and then contains some letters/numbers. That’s your Google Tag Manager ID.

The same ID can be found in the Google Tag Manager container’s code snippet. Click that Google Tag Manager ID (as I’ve displayed above) and you’ll see a popup with two codes (you can learn about them more here). Both of them will contain the same Google Tag Manager ID.

That’s it! Copy and paste the ID anywhere you need.

Now, let’s proceed to a longer explanation if you don’t have the GTM container at all.

#1. Why does Google Tag Manager container ID exist in the first place?

First things first, the Google Tag Manager container is a thing that contains your tags, triggers, and variables. In order for Google Tag Manager to work, you need to place a GTM container JavaScript snippet on every page of a website. When the page loads, the snippet is also loaded meaning that your tags, triggers, and variables are initiated (P.S. if you’re not familiar with GTM very well, read this tutorial for beginners).

Obviously, you are not the only Google Tag Manager user in this world. And there are hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of GTM containers already created. So how can Tag Manager distinguish which container, in particular, should be loaded on your website? That happens thanks to an ID.

#2. If you don’t have a Google Tag Manager account yet

Chances are that you don’t have the GTM account at all (yet). If that’s the case, follow the steps to get a Google Tag Manager ID below.

#2.1. Create a Google Tag Manager Account

Go to GTM official website and click the main call-to-action in order to create a new account.

Just like with any other Google product, you will have to use your existing Google account for GTM. So if you’re already on Gmail (Google Ads, Google Analytics, etc.), you will automatically be logged in to Google Tag Manager. If not, create a Google account first (I will not show that procedure, so you’re on your own here  ).

Once you log in, you’ll be asked to create a new GTM account and a new container.

A GTM account works the same as a Google Analytics account. Usually, it’s for a company/business/client, while a container is usually for a website or application. A single container can contain many tags, triggers, and variables.

However, if several websites belong to a single business and their structure is very similar (plus, their tracking implementation is similar), feel free to use one container on multiple websites.

After you create a container, you’ll get two codes that need to be added to a website (BTW, here’s a useful guide on how to properly install Google Tag Manager codes on a website). As mentioned before, both codes contain a GTM Container ID that looks something like this GTM-XXXXXXX.

Once you close this popup, you’ll see that very same GTM ID in the top right corner of the user interface.

The ID can also be found in the Admin section of the container.

Or in the list of all accounts and containers.

#3. Find out what container ID is already implemented on a page

You might also want to check what the ID of the Google Tag Manager container is that is already implemented on a page. There are various techniques on how to do that, but here are two of them.

#3.1. Inspect the website’s source code

Open a website, right-click somewhere on the background, and choose View page source.  The name of this option and its location may look different on different browsers.

Then start looking for a code that contains “GTM-“. If the website has indeed Google Tag Manager installed, you should find it. Psst… Browser’s Find feature (CTRL + F or CMD + F) works wonders here.

#3.2. Check the developer tools

Another way to check the Google Tag Manager ID is to dive deeper into the developer zone. We’ll need Chrome’s developer tools here (other browsers have tools as well, but Chrome is the browser of my choice, that’s why I’ll give it more attention).

On Mac, you can access Developer tools through the View menu.

On Windows, click CTRL + Shift + I.

You will notice that an entire console is enabled at the bottom of your screen with several options.

Now, let’s go to the Network tab. You will also notice that it’s completely blank (or contains way too little information). This is because you will need to refresh your browser in order for this information to be populated. Refresh the browser and start seeing some data coming in.

This happens under the hood every time a web page is loaded. You will see the images for your site, scripts that you have in place, and (hopefully) that your Google Tag Manager code has fired correctly.

In the search field, enter gtm and start looking for the line with gtm.js?id=GTM-XXXXX (that GTM-XXXXX is the ID you are looking for).

Google Tag Manager ID: Final words

So there you have it. If you want to enter Google Tag Manager ID somewhere in your website’s plugin, just log in to your GTM account, open the container, and click the ID that looks like this: GTM-XXXXXX. When the popup (with the code) opens, copy the ID from there.

If this is your first time working with Google Tag Manager, this guide also explains how to create a new account and then get the container ID.