Setting up and long-term management of Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a free tool from Google that allows you to manage and update analytics scripts, remarketing and conversion codes (collectively referred to as tags) on websites without requiring developer intervention directly in the code. The tool allows you to easily add new codes to your site and keep existing ones up-to-date without the need for web developer intervention. In this article, we’ll discuss in more detail our product dedicated to the setup and long-term management of Google Tag Manager.

What is Google Tag Manager and how does it work?

In addition to being easy to maintain, manage measurement codes and without the need for developer intervention, Google Tag Manager allows for simple management in one place, offering the ability to debug the settings made and work with versions. So if some settings cause a malfunction, the site can revert to the previous version and fix the implementation.

Google Tag Manager settings

A Google account is required to set up the tool, if you do not have a Google account, the complete administration can be done directly by us. Individual domains (referred to as containers) can be placed under one account, in which specific settings are then made. The most common rule is 1 domain = 1 container. 

If you have the appropriate access and an initial audit, a web analyst comes to the project and sets everything up according to the client’s wishes. The most common interaction that is required from the client is the provision of conversion and remarketing tag identifiers.

Benefits of using Google Tag Manager

Using Google Tag Manager has many benefits for website management. Below are some of them:

Simplify tracking code management

One of the biggest benefits of Google Tag Manager is the simplification of tracking code management. With all tracking codes stored in one container, it is easy to manage their activation and deactivation without having to intervene in the site code.

Faster code deployment

Using Google Tag Manager makes deploying new tracking codes to websites faster and easier. Users don’t have to wait for a web developer to intervene, but can insert the new code themselves and publish it immediately.

Flexibility and customization options

Google Tag Manager provides users with great flexibility and customization options. Users can create custom tracking codes, edit existing codes, define trigger conditions and much more.

Conclusion: 

We’ve been offering long-term Google Tag Manager management to our clients for years and we definitely want to continue down this path. GTM is a tool for storing all the scripts (for Facebook, Google Ads) and we set up, test and then manage everything for our clients on a long-term basis. The reason it’s important to maintain GTM long term is because tags become obsolete as sites change shape (site expansions, client wants to measure new data, etc). At the same time, this is intertwined with the benefits of the tool, i.e. once GTM is embedded into a site then without the need for developer intervention all these things can be changed, updated and new measurements set up. This makes the whole process faster, everything is in one place, everything is user friendly, has a data layer that allows debugging (= checking settings) and allows the project and marketing team to work with the site more efficiently.

We can illustrate this with two example extremes:

1. Websites often run on technologies that are becoming obsolete and anything older than 3 years is “behind the times”. So if we have a company that has been running on the same platform for 10 years, for example, that platform is becoming obsolete, technologically outdated and difficult to maintain. We encounter a phenomenon often described by many of our clients, where even developers are afraid to touch the platform under the motto “don’t fix what isn’t broken”. Subsequently, if a new technology comes along (e.g. TikTok, Bing Ads), developers struggle to set up these technologies in the site and often their work is not done with the necessary quality. What usually happens is that it breaks something on the site. So, if a client wants to execute actual marketing strategies and needs to implement these tools into the site, the negative attitude of developers is very common. And this is what GTM facilitates, which is embedded in the site and the scripts are inserted through the administration. 
2. The second example is where a GTM account is shared access to many external people. There are users there who have no business being there with pretty high privileges and who can put the whole site at risk. Because of the lack of understanding and cluelessness of these applications, clients give access to different agencies. Then, when GTM already exists on the site, what happens is that these people set it up wrong, there are bugs in it or the site uses a mix (some of the code is in the site and some is in GTM). And we make sure that only relevant people, people who understand and know what they are doing, have access to GTM.

So it’s a good idea to take a long-term approach to data collection and use a GTM that’s managed for you by professionals. Those who don’t own this are working against themselves and are just putting off the crash of the site to a future time. If developers are concerned about security risks, we have a solution for you in this case too – because we can set up GTM to eliminate most of these risks. 

We offer full implementation and care of Google Tag Manager. We’ll maintain it for the long term, troubleshoot accesses, perform other setups, and hold the nomenclature and documentation over it, so that when a new person comes in, they’ll be able to figure it all out. 

Feel free to contact us and get a free consultation. We will arrange a meeting with you to explain your situation. Then we will prepare everything exactly according to your needs ?.