Anyone who has ever spoken to a digital marketing agency or consultant about setting up marketing tracking on a website will tell you that a tool like Google Tag Manager (GTM) was central to the conversation. So what is Google Tag Manager, why do so many digital marketers recommend it, and is it the right choice for your company?
This is a slightly long post, so we’ve broken things down into four main sections:
- What is Google Tag Manager?
- Do you need a tag management solution?
- How do you get GTM set-up?
- Managing your GTM setup going forward
Of course, there are other tag management solutions out there, but Google’s offering is, by far, the most utilised. GTM is also the only tagging tool that we implement for our clients.
What is Google Tag Manager?
Google Tag Manager is a free tag management system that allows you to add, update, and manage small pieces of code on your website without editing the site itself (mostly). These pieces of code are called tags, and they are used to send data to third-party platforms such as Google Analytics, Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, X, and many others.
Before tools like GTM existed, adding any kind of tracking code meant going into the website’s source code or template files each time a change was needed. For many companies, that required a web developer and could take days. Google Tag Manager removes that dependency for most tracking tasks, thus streamlining and expediting the implementation.
How does Google Tag Manager work?
Once you’ve created a GTM account, you then create a container for your website. Upon creating this container GTM provides you with a small code snippet that needs to be added to your website’s source code. You only need to do this once, but you may need your web developer to help get it done. From that point on, you won’t need to bother them whenever you need edit an existing tag or add a new tag to your website in the future.
Once a single GTM snippet has been placed in your website’s code, the container you created in the GTM interface holds all of your marketing and tracking tags. This is really useful because it means you’ve now centralised your tracking management. Inside that interface, you create tags (the code you want to fire), triggers (the conditions that determine when a tag should fire), and variables (the values that tags and triggers can use).
A common example is a tag that sends a conversion event to Google Analytics whenever a user submits an enquiry form. In situations like this you won’t need a developer’s help to get it implemented because it can be done via GTM without ever touching the website’s source code.
The only time you may need to ask a web developer for help (after your container snippet is added to your website) is when dealing with a highly customised or advanced tag configuration that requires additional data from your website or database.
Do you need a tag management solution?
Before you look at any tag mangement solution, you should first decide if you need one at all. But chances are that if you are reading a post like this, you have already realised that you have moved beyond basic tracking requirements and would make good use of a tag management tool.
I already have Google Analytics. Do I need Google Tag Manager?
Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager serve different purposes. Google Analytics is the platform where your data is collected, stored, and reported. Google Tag Manager is the mechanism by which tracking code gets onto your website and fires correctly while also facilitating more advanced data collection techniques.
You can install Google Analytics without GTM by placing the Analytics tracking snippet directly into your website’s code. However, that approach quickly becomes limiting. In many ways, it restricts you to ‘out-of-the-box’ Google Analytics tracking. As soon as you want to track specific events such as button clicks, form submissions, file downloads, scroll depth, or video interactions, you will either need a developer to hard-code each one or you will need a tag management solution. GTM makes all of that significantly more manageable. In practice, most implementations maximise effectiveness by having both working together.
What can be tracked with Google Tag Manager’s help?
We couldn’t list all of the tracking possibilites here. However, some of the most common things we set up for clients include:
- Google Analytics 4 (GA4) tracking
- Google Ads conversion tracking and remarketing tags
- Meta Pixel for Facebook and Instagram advertising
- LinkedIn Insight Tag for ad campaign tracking
- X pixel tracking
- Form submission tracking
- Video watch time and interaction tracking
- Click tracking on specific buttons or links
- Various content engagement metrics
- Phone number and email address click tracking
- Online purchases and transaction data
Beyond marketing tags, GTM can also deploy things like chat widgets while also correctly adhering to consent management platform settings. Consent management (for things like cookie banners and user choices) is crucial for companies in many jurisdictions.
Is Google Tag Manager really free?
Yes, the standard version of Google Tag Manager is free to use. There is an enterprise version called Tag Manager 360, which is part of Google’s paid Marketing Platform suite and includes additional features and higher limits. For the vast majority of companies, the free version is more than sufficient and it is the version we use ourselves.
Does Google Tag Manager affect website speed?
Good question. Any additional code on a page has some potential to affect load time, and GTM is no different. That said, when implemented correctly, the performance impact is generally minimal. GTM loads its container file asynchronously by default, meaning it does not block the page from rendering while it loads.
The more important factor is what you put inside the container. Poorly implemented tags, unnecessary scripts, or third-party tools that themselves load slowly can all contribute to a sluggish website. A well-managed GTM container with clean, relevant tags is unlikely to cause noticeable performance issues.
Who should have access to Google Tag Manager?
Because GTM can place code on your website, it is important that access is controlled carefully. Someone with full publishing rights can, in theory, add any script to your website, which is a significant responsibility. At the same time, GTM does include a built-in approval workflow, so you can require that all changes go through a review and approval step before they are published live.
We recommend giving Publish access only to people who understand the implications of what they are deploying. Marketing team members who need to add or update tags can be given Edit access, which allows them to make changes but not push them live without approval. Getting this structure right from the outset is something we help clients with as part of our GTM setup service.
Can Google Tag Manager replace a web developer?
For many routine tracking tasks, yes. Once GTM is installed on your website, a competent digital marketer or analyst can handle a wide range of tag deployments without touching the underlying site code. That independence is one of the key reasons businesses choose to use it.
However, there are situations where developer involvement is still needed. Complex data layer implementations, custom JavaScript variables, and certain e-commerce tracking setups often require collaboration between the GTM specialist and a developer. It is more accurate to say that GTM reduces the frequency of developer dependency rather than eliminating it entirely.
How do you get GTM set up?
Once you’ve decided that you will implement Google Tag Manager, you need to work out who is going to install it, configure it and then look after it going forward.
Getting started with GTM
First, a GTM account and container are created, which generates the code snippet that needs to go onto your website. A developer or your CMS plugin handles that one-time installation. From there, your tags, triggers, and variables can be built out, tested in preview mode, and published when everything has been verified.
The preview and debug mode built into GTM is genuinely useful. It lets you walk through your website and see exactly which tags are firing, on which pages, and in response to which user actions, all before anything goes live. It is good practice to use it every time a change is made.
If you would like Auspire to take care of your Google Tag Manager setup, or if you need an audit of an existing container, feel free to get in touch and we can explain what is involved.
Should you hire someone to set up Google Tag Manager?
It depends on what you need to track and how confident you are with the platform. GTM has a learning curve, and it is not uncommon for businesses to end up with cluttered, poorly structured containers after attempting to manage things themselves without guidance. Duplicate tags, misfiring triggers, and missing conversions are problems we see regularly when auditing existing setups.
If your tracking forms the basis of any paid advertising decisions or business reporting, then it really is worth getting it right. Inaccurate data leads to poor decisions, and the cost of fixing a broken tracking setup later is almost always higher than getting it implemented correctly from the start.
While somewhat biased, we would always recommend that an experienced professional takes control of your setup. For companies with the budget and who understand the value of good data, it just makes sense.
Managing your GTM setup going forward
Once you have a proper tool in place for managing your marketing tags, maintenence of your system is the final, albeit ongoing, phase. While most of the heavy lifting is done up-front, keeping your GTM account lean and efficient requires good housekeeping.
When the time comes to add a new tag, you will already in good shape to make the changes quickly. Testing changes via the preview mode should be part of any update process before publishing your tags as live. You may even develop an editorial process to ensure only checked and tested changes are published to your website.
Whether you manage your Google Tag Manager account in-house or hire an agency like Auspire to do it for you, just keep in mind that some resources will be needed from time to time. It’s a small price to pay to ensure that your account is being professionally managed, that you are maintaining data hygiene and that your implementation is working inline with your business objectives.