Google Tag Manager (GTM): A Google Analytics 4 beginner’s guide

What is Google Tag Manager?

Google Tag Manager (or GTM for short) is a free tool that allows you to add and manage tags on your website without having to change the HTML or code on the website.

A “tag” is simply a snippet of code containing info from other apps such as Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

Tags collect data about user behaviour on your website, such as clicks, form submissions, and page views. GTM sends the data to an analytics tool like Google Analytics 4 (or GA4 for short) which analyses the data to generate reports.

Difference Between Google Tag Manager And Google Analytics 4

Google Tag Manager (GTM ) and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) are two separate tools that combine to help you make better product and marketing decisions. GTM deploys tracking tags that capture data, while GA4 collects and analyses this data to generate traffic, conversion, and sales reports. Together they help you to understand how visitors are interacting with your website and measure the performance of your website and marketing campaigns.

Create a Google Tag Manager account

To install GTM, you need to sign up for a free account and create a “container”. A container is simply a group of related tags – we recommend creating one container per website. So if you work at a company withs several sites and revenue streams, then you’ll want to have separate containers for those in your GTM account.

Install Google Tag Manager on your website

Click on the container to see the GTM container code, which is a JavaScript code snippet that allows GTM to function on your website. You can add the GTM code to your website’s header or footer, depending on your website’s design. If your website is running a popular content platforms like WordPress or Shopify, then you may be able to do this without the help of a developer. For WordPress, we recommend using this WordPress plugin. For Shopify, you’ll want to use Shopify’s official Google Channel app.

Account access for Google tag management

To manage access to your GTM account, you can add users and set permissions. This feature is useful if you want to give access to multiple team members, but you don’t want to give them full access to your account. Give Admin access only to people whom you trust.

Conversions in Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics 4

GA4 works by collecting “events” on your website (through GTM). “Events” which are basically user interactions like page views, scrolls, clicks, site search video engagement, and form submissions. But some of these events are more important (such as views of the “thank you” page that follows an ecommerce purchase or a form submit). In GA4, you can easily mark such important events as conversions to get deeper insight into how visitors who “convert” find your website and what actions they take before they complete a purchase or fill out a form.

Tip! You can easily link your GA4 account with your Google Ads account and start seeing Google Ads data such as impressions and cost inside GA4. This makes it easier to understand which paid search campaigns are driving most conversions and revenue.

Adding new tags in GTM

You can easily add a new tag to your GTM container by clicking on the New button. Use templates to save time when adding common tags like Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Just start typing in the Template Gallery search bar, select the right tag, enter the required ID, and hit the Publish button. However, when a tag is not in the Template Gallery, you’ll want to create a Custom HTML tag, which is an empty tag where you can copy/paste the tag code from the website of the app.

Setting up Google Analytics 4 with GTM: step-by-step

GTM make the GA4 configuration much easier. This requires just a single step: creating a trigger, setting up an image and testing the setup. It takes just 5 minutes. You need to create a GA4 property and link it to your GTM account. Once you have linked the two accounts, you can create tags that track user behaviour on your website.

Create a GA4 property

If you are new to Google Analytics, then click on the Set up GA4 button. If you’re already running the older version of Google Analytics (also called Universal Analytics or UA for short), then go to your Google Analytics account and click on the Migrate to GA4 button. Follow the on-screen instructions until you see the Measurement ID for your website. Copy this Measurement ID because you’ll need it in the next step.

Migrating to GA4 from Universal Analytics

Important! Google has announced that Universal Analytics will stop working on July 1 2023. businesses migrate to Google Analytics 4, Google has provided a migration process. However, this will only copy your basic details to the new GA4 property such as company name and industry. This is because GA4 is a standalone tool based on a new data model, so there’s no easy upgrade path and you can’t take your UA data, reports, and dashboards across.

That said, you’ll want to migrate soon because Google Analytics 4 has powerful new features for boosting your sales. In any case, Universal Analytics will stop working soon so businesses need to urgently switch to GA4 asap to ensure they have enough data for making business decisions. If you have questions about GA4 migration or need help to set up GA4 the right way, feel free to contact our team of Google-certified experts.

Create a GA4 tag in GTM

In GTM, go to Tags and click on the New button. Then search for Google Analytics and select the tag called Google Analytics 4 Configuration. Paste your website’s GA4 Measurement ID and hit the Save button. Don’t know where to find the Measurement ID? See below 🙂

Where to find the Measurement ID in GA4

The Measurement ID is a unique identifier that is used to track user behaviour on your website. To find the GA4 Measurement ID for your website, go to your Google Analytics 4 account and make sure the correct account is selected in the drop-down menu on the top. Then click on the “gear” icon on the bottom-left to go to the Admin panel. Click on Data Streams and select the correct data stream for your website. You’ll see the Measurement ID on the top-right (typically a “G-” followed by 10 letters or numbers).

Tip! If you don’t see this icon or can’t open it, that’s because you don’t have the Admin-level access for this account. If you need Admin-level access then try asking an existing Administrator to change your user type to Administrator.

Create a GA4 trigger in GTM

A trigger is a condition which decides the user actions that will load (or “fire”) the tag on the website. For example, you could create a trigger that fires when a user submits a form or clicks on a button. We want to load the GA4 code on all pages of the website. So go to Triggers and click on the New button. Then select All Pages and hit the Save button.

Testing GA4 configuration in GTM

Before you publish your GTM container, it’s important to test your GA4 configuration. This allows you to ensure that your tags are firing correctly and collecting the data you need.

The GA4 data usually appears within a couple of minutes but sometimes it can take up to 1-2 days to show up. To test the tag, click the Preview button in GTM, enter the URL of your website server, and click Connect. Your website will open in a new tab and you’re free to play around, view a few pages, click a link, etc.. Now go to your GA4 account, click on the Admin link at the bottom-right and then click on the link called “Debug View”. Here you’ll see a pretty visual showing all the events that were sent when you loaded your website. For example, if you viewed 3 pages, you’ll see 3 page_view events here.

Publishing a GTM container

Once you have tested the tag, you should publish the GTM container to your website, so that your tags can start collecting real data. To do this, simply click Publish and “sing like no one is listening” 😉

Congratulations! Your GA4 property is up and running and you’re ready to collect the insights you need to grow your business!

Now you’re ready to take your game to the next level with Google Analytics features like measuring user activity across devices with User ID tracking.

Understanding the types of events available

GA4 supports various types of events, such as pageview, scroll, and click events. Each event provides different insights into user behaviour on your website. You can use these events to optimize your website and improve user engagement.

Creating an analytics strategy & implementation plan

To get the most out of Google Analytics 4, it’s important to create an analytics strategy and implementation plan. This includes defining your key performance indicators (KPIs) and mapping out the data you need to collect.

For example, an ecommerce business would want to track revenue R and also other metrics which drive that revenue such as visitors V, conversion rate C, purchase frequency F, and Average Order Value (because R = V x C x F x AOV). These metrics in turn are driven by lower-level metrics such as add-to-cart, cart abandonment, etc.

Likewise, a SaaS business would want to track KPIs like Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and the lower-level metrics that contribute to those KPIs. If you’ve got a SaaS business with CLV:CAC ratio of 3:1 then congratulations you’re doing well, and if not then GA4 can help you get there.

With Google Analytics 4, we recommend a 3-step analytics strategy:

1. Create measurement plan

Define what needs to be measured. We’re big fans of the goals tree approach; it’s a great way to identify which metrics need to be tracked. Talk to business decision makers or product and marketing teams to understand what data should be collected.

2. Set up GA4 (using GTM) to track the right KPIs & metrics.

For most businesses, it will be sufficient to set up GTM and GA4 as mentioned in this article. But there may be additional steps depending on the nature of your business.

3 additional steps we recommend are Search Console integration (so you can understand what people are searching for on Google to find your site), Google Ads integration (to see Google Ads data inside GA4), and ecommerce tracking (if people can buy things on your website).

Beyond those, you may also want to implement advanced features like BigQuery export (to keep your data beyond 14 months and analyse data outside Google Analytics), User ID tracking (to track logged in users across devices), server-side tagging (to reduce data gaps due to privacy settings), and Firebase (if you want to measure the performance of your iOS or Android mobile app).

3. Training & support.

To get the most out of GTM and GA4, you’ll need to know the key features and how to use them to drive business growth.

Also, GA4 is a relatively new product and Google is continuously improving it. Likewise, your website or mobile app will also undergo changes. So it’s important to revisit your GA4 setup periodically to ensure that data is still being tracked accurately so you can still trust it.

A well-defined analytics strategy that includes training & support can help you make data-driven decisions and improve the overall performance of your website.

Need help with Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics 4?

Our Google-certified team has a lot of experience with using Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics 4 to grow a business. We’ll help you audit and/or setup your GTM and GA4 the right way. We’ll also provide training and ongoing support, so you can get more traffic, conversions, sales, and profits for your business. Click here to learn more about GA4 setup & training