We are publishing this article at this time in order to give you enough information to understand the difference between Google Tag Manager (GTM) and Google Analytics (GA), and the impact these tools will have on your data management.
Google Analytics is a tool that provides a set of information useful to understand several important components of the medium you want to follow. If it is a website, you will have information on:
All the data collected allows you to obtain a global visibility of your visitors and to understand quite roughly what works and what does not work as long as you are in a position to find the right data by yourself.To install GA, you need to install a JavaScript code snippet that is provided during the process of creating a Google Analytics account. It should be visible on all pages, in the section <head>of your pages. When a user interacts with the website, the GA tracking tag sends relevant information to your Google Analytics solution. Very easy to set up if you manage your code yourself, this is also the case if you use a CMS like WordPress or Prestashop since there are modules. Many stop at the Google Analytics stage, when it is possible to go much further with Google Tag Manager.
Google Tag Manager is a tool that allows you to manage and deploy tags on your website (or mobile application) without having to modify the code. It therefore becomes very easy to add tracking codes if you use several audience analysis tools And of performance monitoring that require you to install Pixels.Updating your tags is very easy with GTM, and this makes it possible to avoid countless requests on your site = which directly impacts your charging time.Here is an example of How does Google Tag Manager work : a user arrives on the “rates” page of your site, you send an objective in Google Analytics and you then send a tag in Facebook to follow these people with intelligent retargetingWith GTM, you can do this very simply thanks to triggers (rules that enable beacons to be activated) and to tags that you implement (which send information back to your tools).
GA is a very simple solution to set up, unlike Google Tag Manager which will require more effort and more time. Google Analytics does not require any technical knowledge to be implemented.In most scenarios, you can simply copy/paste the code provided by Google into your website code. The CMS (Content Management System) will do it for you thanks to modules, or even on Shopify, the addition is native. Having Google Analytics installed on your site is the first essential, but insufficient, building block of a good tracking. And that's why you'll need to go further with Google Tag Manager.
The biggest advantage of Google Tag Manager Does it allow people new to web development to set up complex tracking tags without having to call on developers.Developers are usually busy working on other projects that are more interesting to them than the marking up a site. This way, Google Tag Manager helps you avoid editing the source code, and you can quickly add or edit tags. This is a great advantage when, for example, you don't need to use a tag to collect data for a very short period of time. Sans Google Tag Manager, there is a good chance that setting up the beacons will take longer than it would actually take.
Any business, regardless of size, number of employees, or business, can benefit from Google Tag Manager. Google's tool makes it a lot easier to add and edit tags without the help of a developer, it's ideal for small businesses with little resources that often have limited access to technical support. And since larger sites can easily use dozens of tags, Google Tag Manager makes it possible to facilitate this tracking management and improves the speed of the site. It is common for a service provider to install a Tag Manager before starting a mission ofmarketing support for example.
One problem with traditional tracking tags is that if they fire at the same time, they can Slow down the speed of the site. When tags fire in parallel, the fact that a tag is slow to load slows down all the other tags that are waiting for it. The longer a site takes to load, the more likely it is that people will leave the site in question. Les tags in Google Tag Manager by default load out of sync and independently, which means that each tag can fire at any time. If you need to control the order in which your beacons are launched, you can do so using the feature in tag sequencing and launch priorities available in Google Tag Manager.
While GTM helps to reduce dependency on developers, it is not completely eliminated. You'll always need someone to add the container code to each web page at the very least and in the right place. While Google Tag Manager has lots of tag templates to choose from which it's pretty easy for a non-developer to work with, custom tags more complex ones will probably require the help of someone who really understands the code of the site. If you have existing tags that have been added manually to the source code of your site, you must first remove them in order to avoid ending up with duplicate data, which could distort all the results.
It is important to understand that GA is a solution that can work on its own! Unlike GTM, which without the tags will make no sense. GA is integrated into GTM and allows you to obtain the same data as an integration into the code. You will simply go further thanks to GTM and all the things you can create.
Google Tag Manager speeds up your numerous marketing processes and allows you to test much more quickly. Changes and new tags can be done in minutes and most don't require changes to the site.
The two main concerns about maintenance of a website are generally security and the possibility of bugs. Be reassured, Google Tag Manager will not crash your website, and will not open doors to possible hackers. You should always follow the safety standards with Google Tag Manager just like you would with any CMS. Using standardized templates for common tags reduces the risk of errors.
GTM requires a minimum of web development knowledge only for the most complex tags. Most of the time, you can add tags without a single line of code. That makes Google Tag Manager a great tool for marketers who want to be autonomous and free in managing their marketing campaigns in order to add the tools they need.
Google Tag Manager offers extended integration thanks to Google Analytics for the e-commerce part for example, allowing you to configure more elements, from installing the default code to the coverage of advanced tracking scenarios.GTM should become an integral part of your tasks if you perform marketing campaigns. Explore advanced options to customize them according to your needs, you will save time and reduce exchanges with your IT.