From the SMX West Conference in San Jose, California, March 21-23, 2017. SESSION: Google Tag Manager: The Marketer's Essential Multi-Tool. PRESENTATION: Google Tag Manager: The Marketer's Essential Multi Tool - Given by Jonathon Weber, @jonathanweber - Lunametrics, Data Evangelist. #SMX #22C3

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The Marketer’s Essential Multi-Tool
Google Tag
Manager

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The Marketer’s Essential Multi-Tool
Google Tag
Manager

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Jonathan Weber
Data Evangelist
Analytics & Insight
weber@lunametrics.com

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A “tag” is a bit of
HTML.
• It could be a pixel in
an <img> tag.
• It could be
Javascript in a
<script> tag.
• It’s usually for
tracking purposes.

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A content management system manages the content of a website.
A tag management system manages the tags of a website.

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• Access control and permissions
• Preview and test before publishing
• Manage updates and past versions
• Re-usable components
Advantages of Tag Management

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APPLICATION #1:
Measurement Tools

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Lots of third-party
tags, too! (Or, copy
and paste any tag.)

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No Javascript? No problem.
GTM has built-in listeners for clicks, form
submissions, AJAX history changes, and more.
You don’t have to see any Javascript directly
to work with them.

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“Triggers” say when a tag
should fire
• Every page
• Some pages
• Clicks on certain elements
(based on ID, CSS Selectors)
• Form submissions
• AJAX history changes
Some GTM Lingo…
“Variables” fill in values for a
tag or trigger
• Page URL or referrer
• Cookie value
• Javascript variable
• Value of an element or
attribute in the page’s HTML

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Lots of common
scenarios:
• Downloads
• Outbound links
• YouTube videos
• Scroll tracking
• Mailto & tel links
LunaMetrics Recipes
GTM lets you export
and import
“containers” full of
tags, triggers, and
variables.

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SEO-Specific Applications?

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A tag management tool can be
an end-run around an
uncooperative IT department
or poor tools.*
*With great power comes great responsibility. IT departments sometimes have good reasons – pesky things like
“security” and “testing”. Don’t break your website!

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IMPORTANT:
GTM loads Javascript, which we can use to
make changes or additions to the page’s
code. Google crawls these changes
appropriately, but other crawlers might not.
This is a workaround, not a preferred method.
Special thanks to Simo Ahava, who did the initial legwork in testing that Google crawls changes by GTM correctly.

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APPLICATION #2:
Canonical URLs

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<link rel="canonical" href="https://blog.example.com/dresses/green-dresses-are-awesome" />
Canonical URLs
We can use GTM’s variables to construct a canonical URL from
some building blocks:
• HTTP or HTTPS
• Include www or no www in hostname
• Remove query parameters
*With great power comes great responsibility. IT departments sometimes have good reasons – pesky things like
“security” and “testing”. Don’t break your website!

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Canonical URLs: Variables

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Canonical URLs: Tag & Trigger

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Fear not. You don’t have to figure this out from scratch.
We’ve made a recipe for this, too (and all of the other examples in
this presentation). You’ll need to tweak for your needs (www or
no, http or https, query parameters).
Grab a handout with the link or go to
www.lunametrics.com/labs/recipes
Wait, where do I click to…

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You’ll be able to see the <link> tag in the generated source.
In Chrome, open up the Developer Tools and go to the Elements
tab.
Is it working?

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APPLICATION #3:
Structured Data Markup

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• Site name
• Site logo
• Social profile links
• Search box
• etc.
Structured Data Markup

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Structured Data Markup: Tag
You can combine a bunch of blocks into a single tab. Our recipe
has examples.
You can use variables if needed (if you’re re-using these values in
multiple places or other tags).

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• Yes, theoretically.
• But, you need to get the values (headline, author, etc.) that you
want to fill in.
• You can use GTM variables for this if the information is
accessible in the page (HTML <h1> element, for example)
• You’ll need more complex triggers and variables to achieve this,
however.
Structured Data for Articles, Events, etc.?

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APPLICATION #4:
Titles and Descriptions
(for the truly desperate)

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Variables: Lookup Tables
Match values in one list to
another
For example, URL to Title

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There’s a reason I said this is for the truly desperate. You don’t want
to enter those all in by hand, do you?
• Quick spreadsheet generator:
http://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2014/11/20/gtm-lookup-table-
upload/
• Support flexible matches:
http://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/gtm-match-table-
generator/
Entry 1. H as in Harry, T as in Thomas, …

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BONUS:
You can use GTM on AMP pages, too.

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BONUS:
Verify a site in Search Console with GTM.

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LEARN MORE: UPCOMING @SMX EVENTS
THANK YOU!
SEE YOU AT THE NEXT #SMX
Grab a handout or go to
www.lunametrics.com/labs/recipes