Missing DOM Ready and Window Loaded events in GTM?

This will be a very quick guide, and it’s based on one of the recent posts in the GTM community on Facebook.

One of the members faced a situation where DOM ready (a.k.a. gtm.dom) and Window Loaded (a.k.a. gtm.load) were missing in the Data Layer although the Container Loaded event (gtm.js) worked just fine.

Simo Ahava’s eagle eyes spotted a weird thing that was implemented on a site. For some reason, an empty array was being pushed to the Data Layer like this (which is not a valid command for GTM):

If you want to push data to the Data Layer, it must be an object or a command array. And an empty array is neither of those.

So what must be done? You have to cooperate with a developer and ask him/her to remove the dataLayer.push that adds an empty array. Or disable a plugin that is doing so (if you are working with a popular website builder/ecommerce platform.

Unfortunately, there is no universal “go here, click this” answer. Websites are different and most of their codebase is different. So you should probably cooperate/consult with a person/company that is responsible for building that website.

Still missing DOM Ready and Window Loaded events?

If this tip did not help you, leave a comment below, and we’ll try to find a solution + update the guide. And if this indeed worked well, consider subscribing to my newsletter by getting one of these ebooks.