Phil Pearce, freelancing web analyst and wizard of all things Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics, is back again for another episode of Periodic Table of Google Analytics. This time, he will be sharing on Google Tag Manager in Google Analytics.
DATA: In this category, we talk about all things data. How to send data into Google Analytics, how to pull data out of it, tracking the data, advanced segmentation, privacy and personally identifiable information, Google Tag Manager, and more. After all, Google Analytics is all about the data.
Most websites send data to Google with each page load using JavaScript. Or they choose to send data using Google Tag Manager.
We can also send data for each mobile app screen viewed. For everything else, we can track them using the measurement protocol.
Once data is sent into Google Analytics, you can’t edit your bad data. You can’t clean up past mistakes you made with tracking. And that will certainly affect the data that you pull out.
GOOGLE TAG MANAGER: A solution to many of your JavaScript woes.
Google Tag Manager in Google Analytics helps you to create tracking tags for your marketing efforts. It allows quick deployment of code updates to your website.
Forget about waiting months for IT team's implementation of the site codes.
It allows import of configuration, and thus you can iterate rapidly. You can use the built-in version control to see the changes that have been made, and revert to previous versions if needed.
It's been widely used for various purposes, such as tracking events and outbound links.
Phil is a big fan of the product, and uses it for implementations of all levels.
Best of all, the tool is also free to use. We've also put together a pretty expansive tutorial on getting started with Google Tag Manager which you can find here.
Phil has created 2 useful guides for the implementation of Google Tag Manager:
- Development guide to the implementation of GTM: http://bit.ly/gtmdevguide2
This guide is a documentation a few years in making. It's helpful for planning, structuring, and debugging. - Script library: http://www.slideshare.net/phildpearce/4-clicks-to-measurement-superweek
A compilation of different configuration of GTM for an array of CMSs. It allows quick implementation to track almost anything you need.
Follow Phil at @philpearce and on LinkedIn
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