August 2, 2018
Google Tag Manager vs Google Analytics: What’s the difference?
Updated: August 2nd, 2018. When I first heard about Google Tag Manager (GTM) in early 2013, I felt a bit confused. At that time I had no idea that tag management was a thing at all, so naturally, I found myself questioning what Google Tag Manager was anyway? What’s the difference between Google Analytics events and GTM events?
And nowadays I actually still notice this trend of confusion among many beginners. In this blog post, I’ll compare Google Tag Manager vs Google Analytics and show you the main differences.
Google Analytics In a Nutshell
Google Analytics’ main purpose is generating reports and statistics about your website, for example:
- how many people visited your website yesterday.
- what country are they from.
- how many pages they visited per session.
- how many visitors bounced off your website (without performing any action).
- which pages were the most popular, etc.
The only way Google Analytics can track these user interactions is with the help of marketing tag. Usually, it’s called GA Tracking Code or GA Javascript code snippet which must be placed on every page of your website.
Once an interaction occurs on a site (e.g. pageview), a Javascript snippet sends the corresponding data to Google Analytics’ servers.
There’s no problem if you just want to put the GA tag on all websites and track general information like pageviews, bounce rate, session duration, referrals, etc.
However, you may want to track how many people use a specific feature on your website/app. Or maybe you are interested in tracking sales, huh? In this case, you’ll need to add custom tags – Google Analytics events which send the data only when a visitor completes a particular action on your website. A good example here could be a form submission.
So what do you do here? Ask the developer to add that form submission tracking tag to a website, right? But what happens when there are tens or hundreds of interactions you are willing to track with Google Analytics?
Unfortunately, it will require a lot of developer’s time (and they are always very busy!). It might take weeks or even months until you can get your marketing tags up and running, which is a real bummer.
Google Tag Manager to the Rescue!
Google Tag Manager makes it easier to manage this mess of tags by letting you define the rules of when certain tags should fire, but first, let’s take a quick overview of GTM.
Google Tag Manager is a free software from Google that allows you to deploy various types of code (tags) to your website. Some good examples of a tag would be Google Analytics tracking code, Google Analytics event codes, Google Ads conversion script and remarketing tags. There are many more types of code that can be added to your website using GTM, including custom codes.
Google Tag Manager does not replace Google Analytics. Instead, it helps users to easily add Google Analytics tracking code (tag) to your website, deploy GA event code snippets and define rules, when each GA event must fire.
Prior to GTM, GA tracking codes had to be hard-coded, usually by a web developer on each individual page. Having hundreds of events is very difficult when it comes to maintaining/updating them. But Google Tag Manager solves this problem because all your tags are stored in one place – your GTM account.
Imagine that Google Tag Manager is a Toolbox, where you keep all your tools: a ruler (Google Analytics), a hammer (Google Ads), etc.
Google Tag Manager also lets you test your tags to make sure they are triggered when you load the right page or click a particular button. Another great benefit: you can change your tags and the way they work without actually changing the source code of your website (which you may not be able to do because of slow release cycles or busy schedule of developers) – instead you just edit tags in GTM user interface and publish changes with a click of a button.
Google Analytics is not the only tag compatible with Google Tag Manager. Other examples include:
- Google Ads Conversion Tag.
- Google Ads Remarketing Tag.
- Facebook Pixel code.
- Crazyegg tracking code.
- Inspectlet tracking code.
- Any other custom HTML/Javascript code.
To sum up, Google Tag Manager lets you manage various Javascript tracking codes (a.k.a. Tags) on your website. Google Analytics tracking code is one of those tags.
Example
As I have previously pointed out, Google Analytics is a Tag itself. According to GA instructions, you need to place GA tracking code on every page of your website. A sample tracking code should look like this:
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<script> (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-XXXXXXXX-1', 'auto'); ga('send', 'pageview'); </script> |
Google Tag Manager offers a default Google Analytics tag template, so setting it up is fairly easy. After you installed GTM on your website, go to Tags.
- Click New
- Click Tag Configuration block and choose tag template – Universal analytics
- Add Google Analytics Settings Variable. If you’re new to it, here’s a guide.
- Keep Track Type as Pageview and click Triggering section.
- Choose All pages.
Congratulations! You just created a Google Analytics Pageview tag in Google Tag Manager. It will track pageviews on all pages which have GTM container snippet installed. All pageviews will be sent to Google Analytics property UA-XXXXXXX).
Google Tag Manager vs Google Analytics: Events
In Google Analytics all events are displayed in the event report (Behavior → Events). They often represent interactions that happened on your webpage. The data for this report is populated from Event hits which are sent from your website to Google Analytics’ servers. Prior to the birth of Tag Management systems (like GTM) Event hits had to be initiated by small Javascript codes placed in your website. Here’s an example:
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ga('send', 'event', [eventCategory], [eventAction], [eventLabel], [eventValue]); |
As you can see, this snippet of code contains eventCategory, eventAction, eventLabel and eventValue (optional). After a particular action occurs on your website (e.g. user submits “Contact us” form), the Google Analytics Event will be fired and the corresponding data will be passed onto Google Analytics, for example:
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ga('send', 'event', 'Form submission', 'Contact form', 'https://www.example.com/contact-us'); |
You can track those events in GA Real-time GA reports.
Now let’s talk about Google Tag Manager events. In order to see them enable GTM’s Preview and Debug mode by clicking the Preview button in the top right corner of Google Tag Manager interface.
After you enable Preview and Debug mode, a large orange notification banner will appear in GTM user interface.
Once the preview mode is enabled, navigate to the site where Google Tag Manager Container code is placed and you will see a debug console window at the bottom of browser showing detailed information about your tags, including their firing status and what data is being processed. If it didn’t appear, read the guide explaining how to fix GTM preview mode.
On the left side of Preview and Debug console, you should see a list of some vague definitions. These, my friend, are Google Tag Manager Events.
They actually play a very important role within GTM – you can fire your Tags (scripts from various marketing tools) based on these Google Tag Manager events. Here are few examples to make it easier to comprehend:
- A Pageview Google Tag Manager Event can be used as a trigger to fire Google Analytics Pageview Tag.
- A gtm.linkClick GTM event (which happens when a visitor clicks any link on your website) can trigger a Google Analytics Event Tag (which sends a particular event to GA event reports).
- A gtm.formSubmit GTM event (which happens when a visitor submits a form) can trigger another Google Analytics Event Tag (which sends an event with the data of submitted form to GA event reports). gtm.formSubmit event can also be used as a trigger to fire a Google Ads Conversion Tag.
- Since all Google Tag Manager events are populated in Data Layer, you can also ask your developer to fire custom Google Tag Manager events (a.k.a. “Data Layer Events”).
To sum up, Google Tag Manager event is an interaction on your website that is spotted by GTM and then placed in the Data Layer (p.s. Data Layer is automatically created on your website when GTM container code is implemented and published). That interaction on your website can be used as a trigger (condition) to fire your marketing tags (scripts), e.g. Facebook Pixel, Google Analytics Events, Mixpanel Events, Google AdsTags, etc.
So as you can see, Google Tag Manager is the middleman in your Digital Analytics implementation. It observes interactions that occur on your website, creates GTM events and then uses them to fire tags (e.g. Google Analytics Event). Although the term Event is the same in both Google products, in Google Tag Manager a GTM Event is a trigger, while GA Event is a Tag.
What about Google Analytics Goals?
If you read all the comments below this post, you will notice several repeating themes. One of them: Google Analytics goals. How should one configure them with Google Tag Manager? In fact, that’s not how goals work and Google Tag Manager has no direct connection with them.
Speaking of the relationship between GTM and GA, Google Tag Manager is a way of data transportation, which sends various interactions (page views, events, transactions, etc.) over to Google Analytics.
Some of those interactions are more important than others (say, a newsletter subscription or visiting “Order confirmation” page) and they are called goals. How does Google Analytics understand which interactions are more important than others?
You do that by configuring GA (not GTM). You need to go to the Google Analytics Admin section > View > Goals and create a goal. It might be pageview-based, event-based, or engagement-based (e.g. visited > 3 pages). After a goal is properly configured, certain page views or events will be treated as important actions (goals).
In other words, you tell GA that some interactions (which are sent to GA) are more valuable to the business. And it does not matter how that interaction was sent to Google Analytics, whether it’s via GTM, or directly from the website’s code, or somewhere else.
Do you see the difference? GTM is a way to pass the interaction data to Google Analytics. Goals are valuable interactions which are configured in the GA itself.
Google Tag Manager VS Google Analytics: Conclusion
I hope this blog post made sense to you, although some parts of it might look really tricky. Here are main points that should be emphasized once more when it comes to comparing Google Tag Manager vs Google Analytics:
- Google Tag Manager does not replace Google Analytics. Instead, it helps users to easily add Google Analytics tracking codes (tags) to your website, deploy GA event code snippets and define rules, when each tag must fire.
- Google Tag Manager is the middle-man of your digital analytics implementation on any website. If you want to add Google Analytics Tracking code or events, it’s recommended to do so with GTM, because you don’t need to do constant changes in website’s code thus deploy changes faster.
- Google Tag Manager can exist without Google Analytics and vice-versa. Your developers can hard-code Google Analytics codes directly to your website. But if you constantly publish need changes, only developers can help you here. While with GTM you could add/edit/remove your Google Analytics Tracking codes all by yourself. You can also use Google Tag Manager to add Facebook, Google Ads or any other tracking scripts to your website (leaving Google Analytics behind).
- Google Tag Manager Events are used as triggers which define when a certain tag must be fired. Google Analytics event in this context is a Tag. Example: GTM event formSubmission can be used as a trigger to fire a GA event tag called “Form submission”.
- You cannot create Google Analytics goals in Google Tag Manager. GTM sends events/pageviews/other regular interactions to GA. Goals are configured inside of Google Analytics where you instruct GA to turn some regular interactions into more important/valuable goals.
If you feel that “Google Tag Manager vs Google Analytics” topic is still not clear, post a comment below and I’ll see how I can help you.
153 COMMENTS
Thanks Julius for such a wonderful post,Now it's very clear to me about google analytics and google tag manager.
Keep rocking !
Hey! Thanks for this.
Question. If I already have GA and Facebook pixel installed on my website, do I need to add them in GTM? If I add them will they be on there twice? Is it better to have them through the tag manager? If I leave them as is, will I be able to create the same type of event tracking through GTM?
Thanks for your help.
Hey,
Q: If I already have GA and Facebook pixel installed on my website, do I need to add them in GTM?
A: GTM is not necessary here. You can continue using GA and Facebook Pixel without GTM installed.
Q: If I add them will they be on there twice? Is it better to have them through the tag manager?
A: If you leave GA and Pixel as they are (hardcoded) and also install them via GTM, they will be duplicated. E.g. instead of 1 page view you'll get two page views.
Q: Is it better to have them through the tag manager?
A: Yes, it is. You'll be able to add/edit/remove events/tags by yourself. If you leave GA and Facebook hardcoded on your website, only developers will be able to change their implementation.
Q: If I leave them as is, will I be able to create the same type of event tracking through GTM?
A: If you leave FB Pixel as it is and also implement it via GTM, you'll get errors. FB Pixel cannot be fired twice on the same page. You need keep only one implementation: either hardcoded on the website or via GTM.
As for GA, you can use them both but the result might be unstable and give unexpected results. It's better to choose only one. IMHO, GA via GTM is the way you should choose..
Julius
Julius,
Thanks so much for this info!!! Incredibly helpful
Nice article! Do you think it's better practice to put the GA tracking code inside GTM or for both codes to live separately on a website?
Hey, it's better to install GA via GTM. That's the whole point.
After you implement GA via GTM, you'll be able to add/edit/remove tracking codes anytime you want and usually without developer's input. Here's a list of various Google Tag Manager templates that will help you track a lot of interactions in no time.
This was extremely helpful. Thanks for the clear explanation. Keep up the good work!
If I am currently tracking through GA and wish to switch over to GTM will i lose any historical data in GA?
Hey, you will not lose historical data because you can connect your existing GA account via GTM.
Gotcha. Thank you very much! This cleared up a lot!
I am trying to hook up GA through GTM and I thought you could just connect the two from a holistic standpoint but it's making me select specific Track Types for my GA hook up. Do I need to hook up GA for every Track Type possible or ... how do I get the two connected?
Hey, Samantha, If you want to track pageviews, then create one pageview tag and fire it on all pages. If you want to track events, then you'll need to create event tags. Beginners usually create separate event tags for each event. Transaction tag is needed for standard ecommerce tracking. To sum up, the number of tags depends on how much do you want to track.
Hi,
"Q: If I already have GA and Facebook pixel installed on my website, do I need to add them in GTM?
A: GTM is not necessary here. You can continue using GA and Facebook Pixel without GTM installed."
I got confused at this point. So...If I already have a GA account ( I did not add facebook pixel and I'm trying not to because I believe GA is better for analytics, but it looks like you can't post a fb ad without fb pixel even though they say it's optional...somehow you have to activate it at the end) So what you're saying in your answer is if you have GA installed on your website then GTM is not necessary? So I guess my question is in this case when I already have GA installed on my website (via code I added in the dashboard in WP) what is the best way to connect to GTM ( or do I need a new GA account in order to start using GTM?
and yes! Thank you for the very informative post :)
Hey,
The best way to install GA via GTM (if GA is already added directly to website's code) is:
- Add GTM container snippet to all pages of the website (you can do that with DuracellTomi's GTM plugin for WP https://wordpress.org/plugins/duracelltomi-google-tag-manager/).
- Set all Google Analytics tags via GTM.
- Remove all hardcoded GA tracking codes from the WP (which are directly coded in website's source code).
- Publish GTM container.
Lunametrics have published an amazing article about migration from Plain GA to GA via GTM https://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2015/07/16/safely-migrating-to-google-tag-manager/
And no, you do not need to create a new GA account. You can safely continue using the old account. But be careful, the migration process isn't very easy.
And thanks for the positive comment.
Cheers
Thak you for your quick reply, I really appreciate this!
Cheers :)
Why when i checked my website with Google Tag Assistant, Google analytics tag is displayed twice and both tags have got different property ID.
One tracking ID is mine, but i don't have a clue, about the second GA ID. How to remove the wrong GA ID?
Hey, could you give me a link to the website where this issue occurs? There are many reasons why this might happen. One of them, you migrated to GTM but left the old Google Analytics code hardcoded in website's code.
here is the website www.andonpokayoke.com
This website is in maintenance mode. And on that page Tag Assistant sees only one Google Analytics code and no Google Tag Manager. So my guess is that you're having two IDs because, obviously, the second ID is hardcoded in website's source code.
Remove that and you should be good to go.
Where can i find the hardcoded in website's source code?
See https://imgur.com/MEjOhTQ , My tag assistant show my Google tag manager. And see https://imgur.com/y9kNQvq i can not find the wrong GA ID.
A video.js file initiates Google Analytics tracking. Here's the link to that file. Consult your developer how to find it on your server. http://andonpokayoke.com/wp-content/plugins/maintenance-pro/frontend/_bgvideo/_videojs.js?ver=4.9 (open this link and use search. You'll see that there is a UA-XXXXX tracking code there).
Maybe there's some sort of plugin you're using? Anyway, my powers end here. You need to either find that file or consult a developer who could do that.
I will follow your advice. Thank you
I have 2 questions related to GA and GTM events
1. When should i use GTM events or GA events?
2. If i'm tracking and event in GTM should i still track that same event in GA?
Hi,
GTM event itself is useless unless you use it as a trigger.
GA event's purpose is to pass data to Google Analytics.
1. So if you want to send data to Google Analytics, you need to use both GTM and GA events. In this case, GTM event is a trigger/condition which can dispatch a Google Analytics event (if you have created a Google Analytics event tag in GTM).
If you use other analytics tools, like Mixpanel, then you should use only GTM events which would dispatch Mixpanel tags.
2. GTM event is just a bridge between an interaction on a website and 3rd party tool, like Google Analytics. You cannot track GTM events only, that does not make sense. You can track events with other analytics tools, like Google Analytics, and the purpose of GTM events here is just to indicate WHEN Google Analytics events should be delivered.
I hope that makes sense.
Say that you have created a Google Analytics Event Tag which fires on all Link Click events. Here's what happens next:
- User clicks a link
- GTM Event gtm.linkClick appears in the GTM Preview and Debug console.
- GTM spots that gtm.linkClick event occurred and fires Google Analytics Event tag.
As you can see, without GTM event, no GA event would have fired. Also, instead of GA event, there could have been any other tag, like Adwords remarketing, etc.
Hi Julius,
Thanks for this post. GTM vs GA is quite clear to understand the differences between both snippet libraries.
in the same manner, some people ask himself what differences are between Google Analytics, Universal Analytics and Google Tags Analytics (analytics.js, ga.js and gtag.js) ? it's a little bit confusing for a beginner... gtm.js can be combined with any of the three (knowing that the migration between Google Analytics and Universal Analytics is advisabled).
*sorry for my English which is not perfect
Bruno.
Hey Bruno, don't worry about your English.
- ga.js is very old Google Analytics library (Classic Google Analytics). No new projects should use it, so it's better if you just skip it, if possible. That's a legacy stuff.
- analytics.js is the library of Universal Analytics. It's a newer solution, compared to ga.js, supports more features that are currently available in the Universal Analytics.
- gtag.js is the latest version of Google Analytics tracking code which works like a mini Google Tag Manager and, when loaded, calls analytics.js, etc. Its documentation is still poor (knowing that Google published it very hasty due to Apple's decision to start blocking 3rd party tracking cookies.
If you're using Google Tag Manager, you shouldn't worry about analytics.js or gtag.js, because when you implement GA tracking, you need just tracking id (UA-XXXXX-XX) and the rest is taken care of by GTM.
I hope this explanation makes sense to you.
Hi Julius,
I have a question. I am having requirement to apply GTM on my website. Till now, no tags, no data attributes has been added.
Should i start directly with GTM and add data attributes for GTM in the markup ?
Please let me know the flow.
Thanks in advance,
Harshit
Hey, I'm not sure I understood the question. Firstly, you need to install GTM's container code on the website.
Then think about what you're about to track. Do a tag implementation plan (say, an excel sheet) with what you want to track and which tags should you use.
Then start adding tags one by one. I always start with Google Analytics Pageview. Then add some events.
If you want to have some custom data, ask developers to push that data to the data layer. Then you'll be able to read that data and use it in tags/triggers/variables.
Does that make sense to you?
Hi Julius,
I am getting what your are saying. But I have a very basic question.
My website is new. It is not having any tag or data attributes in its html markup. So, to start with it, do I need to go to each Html markup and add data attributes there ?
It will be a first time implementation of GTM, so do we need to edit each and every markup manually to add data attributes there ? Or it can also be achieved by using GTM tags, so developers don’t need to edit every html ?
Thanks,
Harshit
Now I understood your question. Although it's a good practice to ask a developer to add "data-" attributes to important website elements, you can start implementing GTM without them. Since I haven't seen the website you're working on + I don't know what your tracking goals are, it's hard to say whether you can track everything important without developer's input.
Anyway, start implementing GTM now, you'll see where developer's input is needed and where you can track stuff autonomously.
Thank You so much for such descriptive answer. It helped a lot. I will try the approach, and will ask you, if something got stuck.
Thanks,
Harshit
Hello Julius,
Thank you for your support till now.
I successfully created GTM configuration with working tags. Now I got stuck in something. I am facing two problems.
1. When my data-attribute is added in class, the tag is not firing.
For ex:
I have created a trigger using "All Elements" and used variable equals "xyz".
2. I am not able to fire tag when, it is setup on a click event , which redirects your page to another URL on click. When I click on the link, it redirects me to another URL, and my tags remain unfired, and GTM debug got refreshed.
I am using "All Elements" click trigger for this also.
Please advise me, what I am doing is incorrect.
Thanks,
Harshit
Sorry, forgot to add:
1. When my data-attribute is added in button class, the tag is not firing.
For ex: button data-attribute="xyz" data-label="abc"
Hey,
1. If you want to debug link clicks, click them with the CTRL button (on the keyboard) pressed. This will open the link in the new tab and the old tab's preview and debug mode will still have the data.
2. If you want to access "data-attributes", read this blog post about the auto-event variable - https://www.analyticsmania.com/post/auto-event-variable-google-tag-manager/
Hi Julius,
Thank you so much. Now I am able to track the tags with CTRL button.
Right now, I am having only 1 issue left.
When my tags should have dynamic value, as my data-attribute value is also generating run time, in an "li" tag. I am not able to achieve it, to get the dynamic value saved in tags.
Hi Julius
We had our GA tracking tag in the source code and we moved it now to the GTM container (in the header), which is only foreseen for GA.
Other tags (for affiliation etc.) will be put into a second GTM container in an iframe.
Before we switched the GA tracking into GTM we had on average ca. 6% missing conversions in GA compared to the number of conversions in our own back office.
Now, with GA tracing in GTM, we are on 13% and it is not a random result due to a few data (sampling).
We are actually only live in one country as a pilot: www.smartphoto.co.uk
Until now we did not find the reason for this difference.
Can you give me an idea what the possible cause(s) for this increase of missing transactions could be? (it cannot be a GA sampling issue, we see it in the data and the traffic on this domain is still small to reach any hit limits)
Hi, it's hard to tell without knowing the full context. This is what I do when I migrate from the hardcoded GA to GTM:
- I create a mirror GA property where I implement tracking via GTM (while the old implementation is still working)
- Then I accumulated data in both GA Properties (the new one and the old one).
- Then I compare their data and if something is different by more than 3%, I keep digging. By having two different properties I can slice data from various angles and find possible reasons why does it happen. You can read more about it here https://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2015/07/16/safely-migrating-to-google-tag-manager/
The discrepancy between old and new implementation usually means either the old tracking was inaccurate and numbers are too bloated or you've missed something in the new tracking.
Hay Julius,
I have a website with no GA or GTM installed. Normally you would use the tracking code for GA so GA is seeing the website.
But in the case of installing GA and GTM together, I guess you would set up GTM first and then GA and instead of using GA tracking code you refer or link GA to GTM tracking code somehow to avoid repeated code.
Thanks for your info so far.
W.
My question would be what the correct method would be.
sorry for that.
W.
Yes, first, I'd install GTM code on a page and then would implement Google Analytics tracking through GTM interface.
Cheers
We have added GA global code in our website. Now if we add GTM code in our website, do we need to remove the existing GA code?
Hi, It is recommended to remove the existing GA code and implement Google Analytics via Google Tag Manager. Here's a great guide how to migrate https://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2015/07/16/safely-migrating-to-google-tag-manager/
Thank you Julius for answering my question.
I want to create a trigger in GMT. But the screens in you tube videos & blogs are different then what appearing in my account. Was it because we have not added the GMT in our website ?
There is only 'Untitled Trigger' and 'Save' Button. I tried pasting the screen shot but was not getting pasted.
I need to track lot of events like click button, book an event, submit button. Will all these start tracking once we add one GMT account?
Hi, it depends on how old those videos are. GTM interface changed at least a couple of times. Here's a video with relevant information https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28d60ejfk3s
Thanks, Julius, for this information. It helps clarify not only the difference, but the synergy possible between GA and GTM.
How to track in amp page? Can you explain it
I don't have a guide for that but Simo has, so feel free to read that https://www.simoahava.com/analytics/accelerated-mobile-pages-via-google-tag-manager/
Thank you for this! This is super helpful and clear to me as a newcomer to this space.
Thanks, Julius for this article. TGM seems very powerful. However, I don't understand how it removes the need for developers.
For instance, if I want to log a custom event to GA, from my understanding, the developer will still have to update the code to populate the TGM data layer. Can you please confirm?
It depends what kind of custom event do you want to track. If that event is a click and you want track the clicked URL, you can do that without developer's input. All by yourself.
If you want more custom stuff, then developer will not be avoided.
Excellent article! You cleared up some of my confusion for sure. I certainly understand the role GTM plays in the ease of deploying tags and events, but what I still find confusing is the redundancy. That being - I can setup an event goal in Analytics for a form submission but I can do the exact same thing in GTM. Yes, I understand that without GTM I would have to deploy the event tracking code myself, but I'm still confused as to whether I have to create an event goal in Analytics if I already created the same event trigger/tag in GTM.
It does not matter, how the event was sent (via gtm or via hardcoded ga). In both cases you will have to create an event-based goal in GA. GTM is just a way of how the data is sent to GA.
Well, that makes sense. But of all the tutorials I have read not one specifies that. That's where I find the complexity; in the little things.
Slightly off topic question: Have you ever experienced speed or performance issues due to the number of tags/variables/triggers that you had deployed? I haven't been able to find anything about this. It's logical to assume that having a bunch of tags running at once would impact performance. But, again, I have found no data on this at all.
Usually, GTM increases page loading speed. But it depends on the configuration.
does gtag able to track visitor from China? Base on website that wrote about google analytics, it suggest google tag manager will slow down the website for visitor from China. Wondering if gtag will effectively collect all visitor data from China
Sorry, I don't have the experience with Chinese market and traffic.
Hi,
I'm facing issues with one of my clients' GTM account. Currently, there exist 2 GTM's in the website for which they doesn't have access. Also, the GA is configured via GTM for which we have full admin access.
If we create a new GTM from our end then will it affect the tracking/readings in Analytics.
Please guide as how to go about it & what will be the impact of adding new GTM.
If not properly monitored and configured, multiple GTM containers on the same page will cause issues. Not only to GA but to the entire container. Unless it is really planned to have multiple containers, I'd remove the first two containers and implement the new one.
However removing two old ones will also be challenging because if they have some important tracking, you will have to implement the same tracking codes in the new GTM container. The process:
- You implement all the necessary tracking in the new container
- Test it
- Remove the old containers and install the code of the new container to the website.
Something similar is explained here (except, that in your case there are no hardcoded tracking codes. You'll need to migrate from one GTM container to another.
Thank you for this.
I just have a quick question.
I have set up GTM for my webpage, however, do I need to create Goals in order to see these events in GA or will they automatically appear in my events section?
Goals need to be created separately. GTM is responsible only for sending events, pageviews, transactions, etc. Goals are always configured in GTM.
Thank you for your quick reply. This just occurred to me.
So whenever a tag is created, the event (tag fired) is always sent to GA and there's no need to set up a goal on the tag? I imagine this would give you duplicate results?
Goals and events are two totally different things. A goal might be a pageview, an event, engagement (like "Spent time X on a page"). And they are configured only on GA. In other words, you tell GA that some interactions (which are already sent to GA) are more important.
With GTM, you just send the initial interaction data and you cannot set GA tags to turn interactions into goals.
To sum up:
- With GTM tags you send interactions to GA
- In GA, you configure goals, saying that some interactions are more important than others.
Yep, it all makes a lot more sense now. I have been unable to find the difference between this anywhere.
This article does a great job of explaining how both tools work! Thank you
PS - There's a typo in the 3rd line of your post! :) tag manageadment
You're welcome! And thanks for noticing that mistake! Fixed.
Hi Julilus as you mentioned use only one GA or GTM why i am seeing both on your site http://prntscr.com/kw8a2w , do we need to implement both
Google Tag Manager does not replace Google Analytics. I use both because I have installed Google Analytics via Google Tag Manager. GTM loads and then it fires Google Analytics tag that sends data to GA servers.
How is this applicable to mobile apps? Could you explain?
Sorry, my experience with Mobile app tracking is very much limited. You can read more about mobile app tracking here
Thanks for the wonderful article. I'm new to an organization and I hope to check if some elements on the organization's website are instrumented by GTM. when I add a tag for an event, will that code on the website be visible to everyone by checking the 'inspect' button through chrome browser?
It's possible. It depends on what that tag does.
For a client - I have a tag set up in GTM and a goal set up in GA for click to call event. The event is firing in Real Time > Events but not in Real Time > conversions or on the Conversions > Goals > Overview report
As for the Real-time reports, I'd double check if the conversion is properly configured. As for the Conversions > Goals > Overview, it takes some time for the data to appear in those reports, thus you won't see them in real-time.
In Google analytics guide are describing how to send events for gtag.js:
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gtagjs/events
Will events be send if instead of Anlytics Gtag.js code is installed GTM with standard tag "Unieversal Anlytics"?
Code in guide:
gtag('event', , {
'event_category': ,
'event_label': ,
'value':
});
If you've implemented Google Analytics via Google Tag Manager (by using Universal Analytics tags), gtag.js or analytics.js documentation does not make the difference because you're just setting event fields (category, action, label) in GTM and GTM is taking care of it in the background.
If you already have some hardcoded gtag.js code on your website and you want to implement some GA events via GTM, that will also work.
If an Event in GTM is erased for cleanup "tidying the house purposes" ... will it then be erased in GA historically for data purposes only? Another words ... if I have an Event "Send Us Your Feedback?" trigger and it is no longer valid on the website ... and we clean it up in the backend via GTM ... can I still see the data historically via GA?
Historical data will definitely not be touched in GA. You'll continue having it.
Follow up to my last question would be we have been using GTM for awhile, so before it streamlined it's interface and making things easier via point and click it required a bit more coding right ... so we have "Custom Variables" as well that are now stale. If that needs to be deleted as well for "Spring Cleaning" then will that data be lost historically in GA?
It does not matter what you delete in GTM, it will not touch your historical data. You'll just stop getting new data in GA.
Amazing follow up man! Thanks for the helpful tidbits. Phenomenal blog and resources. Excited to part of the community =).
Thanks for being a part of it!
This article was incredibly useful. Thank you so much!
Hey thankyou for this post, is so usefull.
I have some doubuts with GTM events, gtm.click, gtm.js, gtm.dom...
Can we manage them? for example, a gtm.click event is sent in every user click (even in no link clicks). Are all this events affecting negatively in our page loading time, or other aspects of the web?
And is it possible to configure gtm.click to be sent only in an especific clicks?
Thankyou!
Update your triggers to listen only to certain gtm.click events. For example, when Click URL contains xxxxx
Hi Julius, I am working on magento environment. How do I create a data layer using tool in magento. I want to override product original price with final transaction price.
I am not very familiar with Magento when it comes to GTM. You need to ask a developer to write some functions in the backend that push new values to the Data Layer (which is basically a JavaScript Array).
Hi Julius,
Very informative post. Keep up the good work. I have few questions on the recent changes which have been taken place in the world of Google tags.
I read that gtag.js now replaces Adwords website conversion tracking tag and remarketing tag. Conversion tracking and remarketing functionalities are now combined into a single tag (gtag.js). I wanted to understand
1) How does this change impact Google Tag Manager (gtm.js)?
2) when it says conversion tracking and remarketing functionalities are now combined in a single tag (gtag.js) ,does that mean Google Analytics tag is now combined within gtag.js?
I am getting slightly confused with this change, mainly trying to understand gtag.js has replaced which tags?
gtag.js does not affect the GTM in any way. Just continue using Google Ads and Google Analytics (universal analytics) tags in GTM and don't think about the gtag.js. gtag.js should be used only outside of GTM, meaning that it only should be added directly into the website's source code.
Both gtag.js and GTM tags (Google Analytics and Google ads) use the same analytics.js library and Google Ads library so there aren't many differences there.
To sum up, gtag.js does not change/affect GTM tags in any way.
Thanks for your response Julius. If there are no major differences then what is essentially the importance of gtag.js? Which tags have it replaced?
Hey Julius. Thank you for the article! I have Google Tag Manager installed, connected Google Analytics, and set-up my own tags/triggers. I also connect Google Ads to the GTM with the intent of creating separate remarketing pools based on user engagement. i.e. poolA = pageviewers, poolB = more engaged pageviewers that were on site more than 2min, poolC = highly-engaged visitors that submitted email or contact info. I have the individual remarketing tags set up with the appropriate triggers, but they all seem to be combined in same remarketing audience on Google Ads. Any insight or resources how to create separate remarketing audiences? (My attempts to research have not produced any good solutions). Thanks!!
Yes, connect your Google Analytics with Google Ads and automatically import GA segments as audiences into G Ads. That's the best and most flexible way.
Hi Julius Fedorovicius,
You are doing well. you advise I will follow.
I have one question about google analytics.
I am using google analytics code but I want to create a GTM account.
If I installed GTM code on the website so then I should remove google analytics code.
Please help me about google analytics & google tag manager doubt.
I hope that you will reply fast.
Thanks & Regards,
Nimesh Koshti
Yes, if you install GA via GTM, you need to remove the hardcoded GA from the website's source code.
beautifully explained. Thanks.
Hi Julius!
Great article! Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
I have a dilemma about the pixel tracker for a new Linkedin Life page, a second tab that I will publish soon for my company I'm currently working for.
The LinkedIn representative I talked with said that a new pixel tracker should be created to be able to distinguish between which page the traffic is going. And I want this.
I have the following questions:
1. Is it right to create this new pixel in GTM?
2. How can I see my traffic in GA from the first LinkedIn Life page and the new one? Do I need to create a Custom report? What metrics should I choose to see the traffic coming from the first Life page and from the second one? Can I see this traffic in the Acquisition/Behavior reports and add an Advanced filter? If yes, what should I select as a filter?
Thanks a lot!!! I really appreciate your help.
Hey,
1. I haven't worked with the new Linkedin Pixel, but it most likely should work with GTM. So it does make sense.
2. I don't know what is a Linkedin Life page so I cannot give you a precise answer.
Thanks for this clarification...it really helps! I don't know why Google doesn't take the time to explain the difference in their videos.
Hello Julius.
Your article is very good, I have understood the difference but I have a problem now and I do not know what it can be.
I had installed the tracking with gtag on the site. when implementing GTM what I did was set it up with analitycs, then delete the tracking of gtag and ads that I had directly on the page to only manage it by GTM, create a general tracking tag on all pages, in the purchase confirmation file insert the dataLayer script with the purchase event. then in GTM create another label for tracking the purchase through an event and using the variables created previously using data layer, with the infomation of "id" and "revenue" this for the monitoring of improved electronic commerce (this is activated in analytics)
I am using joomla with virtuemart and when I see the virtuemart order register they do not match those registered in analytics, I know that this tool has a failure of approximately 5% but 8 transactions are only being 4 to 5 registered. Have some guidance on how to implement improved e-commerce tracking step by step or that may be the error to verify.
I will be attentive to your answer.
You still have not enough data to draw conclusions. As the time goes by and privacy becomes a bigger issue, some businesses see up to 30% discrepancy. Adblockers, Javascript errors, etc.cause discrepancy.
You can check these tips to make your debugging more accirate, maybe that will give you more ideas what to test https://www.analyticsmania.com/post/google-tag-manager-debugging-tips/
Hi Julius,
Such a good read! One question on my end:
1. What is the relationship between google ads/ GTM/ and analytics? For example, I want to track conversions using GTM connected to Google Ads and I also want that same conversion data to show up in analytics but I'm worried there might be a duplicate. What's the best way to track form fills in your opinion?
The relationship between G ads and GTM is the same as between GA and GTM. GTM is just a method/way how to activate your tracking codes. If you want your G Ads conversions to be displayed in GA, you need to connect GA with G Ads.
GTM has nothing to do with it.
Hi, first of all, appreciated your posting!
It should be helpful to every beginner marketer like me.
So, Question.
I don't know the purpose and difference between Google Analytics / Facebook Pixel.
When I learned all about Annalysis, I started teaching Google Tag Manager.
Until then, I understood the purpose of Google Tag Manager.
It's a tool that makes it easy to insert and modify the code required for events and transitions.
But while I was learning Google Tag Manager, I came up with a concept called Facebook Pixel.
GTM used Facebook to insert code for page views, shopping carts, and purchase conversion that they can get to GA.
Why should I use a Facebook Pixel for data that I know enough about GA using GTM?
Please explain the exact purpose and distinction of the two tools and best way to get/analyze datas.
The main goal of Facebook pixel is not for analysis but rather for advertising. With help of Facebook Pixel you can track your visitors and retarget them later on Facebook (the social network itself).
Google Analytics - for tracking visitors
Facebook pixel - for measuring Facebook conversions, retargeting people later on Facebook.
These two are also very different tools
Thank you so much for your quick and accurate reply.
You'll be blessed :D
Hi Julius Fedorovicius,
I profoundly thankful for your efforts, and I am impressed with your technical writing also too. Your writing is too organised.
Thanks a bundle.
Hi and thank you very much. 2 years later, this is still useful ;)
How would you go about using this in a Single Page Application?
If you want to track Single page apps with GTM and GA, read this https://www.analyticsmania.com/post/single-page-web-app-with-google-tag-manager/
Excellent. Appreciate the quick reply.
Great article!!! Thank you.
We have set up Google Tag Manager and find that it is very useful however the question I can't get an answer to is why is there a discrepancy between Pageviews in GA and Pageviews setup in Google Tag Manager? They just don't match. I would appreciate any help with this :)
Pageviews via GTM will never match pageviews from hardcoded GA. IF the discrepancy is ~3%, that's still fine. There might be many reasons why pageviews are not matching. Maybe a developer did not include the GTM snippet on all pages. Maybe you have implemented the GDPR consent banners and not all people give consent. Maybe some issues with browsers and GTM did not work on some of them. Maybe ad blocking extensions had something to do with it.
Hi,
If I already have installed the html code for Google Analytics it says that in order to install Google Tag Manager I have to remove this html code. Will I loose everything I have tracked then? Even if I add Google Analytics to the Google Tag Manager right after removing the html?
Your historical data is not affected by GTM. But if the migration contains errors, your future data will be affected.
Hi,
May I ask the following:
1. If I setup my GA via GTM based on your guide above (Page View tracking), am I able to get back the same standard reporting data that GA is providing, or do I have to create additional tag?
2. What is the use of conversion linker tag, and do I need it if I'm going to setup both my GA and Adwords tag via GTM?
Thank you for your help.
1. Pageview tracking is equivalent to the standard GA tracking that is provided by placing their code directly on a page.
2. You need it if you don't have your GA connected with Google Ads or if you are using the older version of GA tracking code.
To learn more https://www.analyticsmania.com/post/conversion-linker-google-tag-manager/
I have been going back and forth with my marketing team on whether to keep GTM or just use GA. GTM is slowing down our page speed since it fires first. We were trying to figure out how we can improve our speed on our site. The problem is we're connecting out to Facebook, LinkedIn and HotJar (and Google, obviously) before anything else on the page loads. For speed purposes (also SEO, since Google loves speed) js files usually load in the footer, allowing images, content and styles to load faster, displaying everything on the screen before all of the javascript is retrieved and parsed. Analytics is the one thing I keep near the top so that reporting shows bounces properly. Can we keep Google on top, but the other three I mentioned, are we able to move them to bottom? So, if GTM doesn't have a way to split. I was considering taking everything nonGoogle out of GTM, and have them load within the footer. Does that work or makes sense?
In your case, not GTM but the tags within it are slowing the page.
With GTM, you can control WHEN to fire those tags. For example, Linkedin's tag is very slow, therefore, you can set it to fire not on "All Pages" (a.k.a. Pageview) trigger, but to create another one, called "Window loaded". That way, those tags will fire ONLY when all other page resources (including JS) are already loaded.
All in all, you can fire analytics on Pageview, pixels can be fired on "Window loaded".
We currently have GA tracking code (via GTM) on our site, but it's from a GTM account we don't own. (it's from an agency's GTM account). We are still collecting universal data into our own GA account from this tracking code. (which I'm a little confused about how that is working.)
However, I am trying to set up simple URL destination goals in GA, but they aren't being recorded in GA successfully as conversions. So my main question is - are the destination goals not being recorded properly because the GTM account that we are using for tracking, isn't from the same google account as our GA? Having them separate into different google accounts seems like it could be the problem. Hoping you can help!
No, that is not the case. GA does not care from which GTM account does it get the data. It can even get data from 2 or more GTM containers and it will be fine.
Hi, thanks for this very informative article. It seems very much valid till this day. This is my situation. I am working on a new website using Wordpress. I am comfortable using the standard GA code as I only need to install a plugin like Monster. I am contemplating whether to use GTM via a plugin you recommended above. My understanding is, if I use the standard GA via Monster, it immediate collects data 'out of the box' without any specific configurations unless it is events or goals tracking. So it means, I just log in to GA and there are lots of default reports in the menu on the left. My questions below.
1. If I implement via GTM, does it mean I have to configure a GA tag for everything I want to track? More precisely, what tags do I need to set up to have the same information in the default reports in the GA menu?
2. Is it an option to have both GA and GTM codes on my site but I use GTM only for event or goals tracking but other 'standard' information is tracked directly via GA?
Hope my question is clear and look forward to your advice.
Thanks!
Julius - thank you for this thoughtful and well-written article! I think I have a similar question as JT.
I have started working with a client who already has GA tracking hard coded on their site. They have a third party developer that is the 'owner' of the GA code.
I would like to implement GTM code on the site so I can do things like implement FB Pixel code and Google Ads Conversion tags without going through the developer.
If I do not duplicate the GA tracking code in GTM, is it ok for the GA tracking to be hard coded, but use GTM for other tasks? (this portion is similar I think to what JT is asking.)
Thanks!
If GA via GTM does not duplicate the tracking that is already hardcoded on a page, then you're good to go
Thank you for your reply Julius and for keeping this comment thread active for so long!
Hey,
1. Yes, you need to recreate everything. What tags do you need? Depends on what you want to track. There is no special universal recipe for this.
2. it is possible to keep both hardcoded GA and GA+GTM (for as long as they do not track the same things). But in the long run, you will see limitations that will make you migrate to GTM 100%. For example, if you decide you want to add a custom dimension to your pageviews (and your GA code is hardcoded), you will have to ask a developer to do that. Or if you're using the plugin, maybe you won't even be able to achieve that.
if i have both GA and GTM installed on my site, is my user info duplicated and tracked twice?
Yes
My question is if i am using GTM in a PAGE.
I have a common page for different Ad agencies.
Is it feasible they can see data of their promotions only.
They should not be able to view data of other agencies.
Hello, l would like to start using GTM to track some specific campaigns. My question is after l finished creating tags in GTM. How can l view the report or result in GA. Will there be another specific tabs for me to view? Or how it will look like on the report.
By the way, thank you for a useful article.
Campaign data is available in the Acquisition reports of GA
Thanks Julius, will it come up automatically? Or l need to create something under campaign - Acquisition in GG analytics.
Automatically. But you might want to consider using UTM parameters for custom campaigns.
Hi again Julius, l've now tried to do everything base on your instruction. And it seems like the Tag is successfully set up. But when l check the preview mode, my tag is visible with good condition in green tick but it still under Tags Not Fired On This Event.
Tags Fired On This Event still stay as none.
So l try to read your another article https://www.analyticsmania.com/post/how-to-check-if-google-tag-manager-is-working/#gref
From what l understand l have asked my developer to install this GTM code only on some page and not all. That could be the case right?
Several possible reasons:
- The blocking trigger is also added to the tag and it worked
- You have set the tag to fire only in published containers
- You have set the tag firing schedule
There might be some other cases but I cannot think of them now
Hi Julius
I have read through most of your comments, i am trying to figure out if its possible to setup enhanced ecommerce using GTM but withouth the use of dataLayer, specifically i would like to use ec.js code with GTM.
Thanks so much!
Haven't tried this because that does not sound right. Why would you want to go this way instead of using the proper solution?
Hi Julius,
Thanks for the answer, it was mainly due to mapping purposes on a integration i was curious about.
But after doing some more digging i found that using dataLayer also works.
Just another question.
How does cart abandonment work exactly?
eg what events are mainly needed for it to happen and also i am pretty sure there needs to be goals setup?
again thank you so much.
Cart abandonment relies on the solution that cart-recovery platform employs. It has nothing to do with GA:)
It is usually a cookie + server-side tracking combination.
Hi Julius
Is there any chance you can point me into the right direction to implement the cart abandoned event to be sent to google analytics, under conversion for shopping behaviour?
Kind Regards,
Leonard
1. Cooperate with a developer and ask him/her to push the add to cart and checkout events to the Data Layer
2. Implement Enhanced Ecommerce tracking in GTM. Google "Enhanced ecommerce via GTM" in Google and you will find your answer.
Hey Julius
Amazing post, it cleared many of my doubts about Google Analytics and GTM. I noticed there are many inbuilt tags available in the GTM, should we import them, is it safe?
Your response would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks again!
Are you talking about the Tag Template gallery? Yes, they are pretty safe. Don't import all of them. Just use what you need.
Wow, it was so quick, thank for the prompt response. Will approach you once again if I get stuck somewhere.
Every time you install Facebook Pixel or Analytics, one HTTP request or more are generated per item inside the website which can affect speed performance, my question is with Google Tag Manager how many HTTP request will be generated? Just one? The one from GTM? Or also HTTP request from Facebook Pixels or other tags we be generated?
One from GTM container and the rest as usual. Everything depends on when you fire pixels. You can delay FB pixel with GTM and fire it later, after everything else has loaded, thus lower the negative impact on performance.
really helpfull, thank you!!!!