Online marketing benefits from collecting data about users and their behavior. Based on this data, analyses can be carried out to increase the performance of the site and install new features. Furthermore, analysis is also important for creating new methods to drive more traffic to a company's website.
Apart from analytics, there are several things that Google Tag Manager or GTM does, such as providing a debugging option before publishing to the website, increased security and many more things that make GTM interesting for website owners, agencies and developers.
Here are 10 benefits of Google Tag Manager that you need to know:
#1 The GTM helps you to collect and analyze data
You can use GTM in conjunction with Google Analytics to obtain information about how customers perceive the site. With the help of GTM and Google Analytics, you can track the effect of the measures you have taken on a website or app.
Google Tag Manager makes it easy to set and track individual events, such as clicks on buttons. Tools such as Hotjar and their analysis functions can also be integrated via Google Tag Manager.
#2 You can increase the speed of your site
To install GTM, you only need to place code in the head area and in the body area. Third-party tools can then also access this.
As important as it is for online marketing to collect data, additional code can slow down your website. However, if you use the GTM, you can speed up the loading process.
The GTM can be integrated into your website with two snippets of code. This gives all the tools you integrate into your GTM account access to the data collected by the Tag Manager. So instead of integrating and running the tracking code of all the analytics tools you use individually, you only need to use the tracking code from GTM. This means that the page loads faster and all codes can be managed in the GTM account.
#3 Changes can be implemented quickly
The GTM increases the speed with which you can implement changes. Instead of having to deal with all the tools individually, you can make changes directly in the GTM. There you have access to various elements such as events and triggers, which you can adapt and expand as you wish. You can then reproduce and test your changes live or in debugging mode.
#4 A single location for all tags
You can add your own tags or tags from third-party providers at any time.
With Google Tag Manager, you can access a variety of integrations, including Google Analytics, Google Ads, Crazy Egg, Hotjar, Quora Pixel and LinkedIn Insight. Instead of integrating the code of each individual program into your site, you simply add the corresponding tag to your GTM account. You can also use variables there, for example to enable tracking only on certain URLs or to define complex conditions.
#5 You can test your tracking in the preview
GTM simplifies the entire process of installing tags, code snippets and scripts on your website. With the help of GTM, you can bypass an entire process where you need developers, analysts and testers to evaluate the performance of the code. GTM offers all these possibilities in one place.
Before you activate a code on your page, you want to test it. This is where the preview mode in GTM comes in, which shows you in real time whether your tag is firing and what data is being transferred via the variables you have set. Often the tracking needs a little fine-tuning or you make a logic error. Thanks to the preview mode, these errors can be quickly identified and rectified.
#6 The Google Tag Manager is secure
Tracking codes are usually integrated into the website via JavaScript. As you have no chance of managing these small scripts yourself, you are reliant on them not crashing, being compatible with many browsers and being secure against hacker attacks. If you use the GTM, you minimize these risks.
The GTM prioritizes the security of any website that uses the GTM for script management or for using the GTM to check that codes are working correctly or not. You can also use GTM to identify scripting errors that represent your website's vulnerabilities. Once identified, you can deactivate security-critical codes. In this way, GTM ensures that your website stays up and does not crash due to poorly written code.
#7 You don't have to be a programmer to manage tags
A tag can be easily configured individually.
GTM is designed to be user-friendly. You don't need to be a professional coder to use GTM. It's best to watch a tutorial to understand the basic principles - after that you should be able to use GTM.
Since the tags are all in one place, you can easily access them and make the necessary changes. The ease of use makes GTM one of the most popular script management systems around, and it's also free.
#8 Changes can be undone by versioning
Any number of versions can be saved and accessed at a later date.
If you use GTM as a script management system, you can save a version with a description after each change. This is important because if something goes wrong, you don't have to search for the critical changes, you can simply use a working version. This also simplifies the problem of troubleshooting one of the tags, should this be necessary.
#9 Different users have individual rights
If you manage a team, you can create different users in your GTM account. These come with clearly defined roles such as "view", "edit" or "publish". Not everyone who has access to the account can also make changes to it or publish them. This is particularly useful if you outsource the management of tags, for example, but want to have the final say when it comes to publishing.
#10 Support of templates
Templates can be imported from third-party providers or created yourself and then used in several projects.
With GTM you can create templates for tags. For example, if you have several pages that require similar tags, you can create a template and then use it in another workspace. There are also free online templates that track when someone copies text from your page, measure engagement metrics or measure interactions with HTML5 video players, for example.
