I am glad to hear it. Thanks for the feedback, Alan! Feel free to drop me a line here if there are other Tag Manager questions you have. It's possible there's something I can point you towards. And if not, it's probably a great idea for something I should try and learn and document. Have a great one! Zack
You're quite welcome, Naomi. I'm glad it was helpful! Wishing you all the best with Google Tag Manager from here on out. Feel free to keep me posted if you will be using it for GA4. There might be a resource or two I could point you towards based on where you find yourself at this point in the journey. Good luck and Godspeed! Zack
Hmmm...I think it depends on what scripts are running before the Google Tag Manager script. If, for example, you have a Google Analytics tag hard coded on your site and it's running before the GTM script, you could remove the hard coded Google Analytics script and then deploy the Google Analytics tag through Google Tag Manager. The same thing goes for other tags / scripts that might be running before GTM.
Yes I am using GTM for Analytics tags and others, but I just realized the script type itself is actually up top, it's the function that is further below and it seems to be ok since that's how it looks on most pages I've seen. Thanks again@@rooted-digital
Hi there. Great question. The short answer is I would have placed that second snippet (the noscript one) in the body if the plugin allowed for that. But since it didn't, the footer works well. The reason I'm so loose with this is two-fold 1.) Google doesn't seem to really care. If you check Google tag assistant after installing it will show that the container code has been installed correctly with the script tag in the header and noscript tag in the footer. 2.) The noscript tag rarely does anything at all. It's only there in the very limited situations where the script tag doesn't apply. In other words, I'm not sweating it much. Thanks for asking and for checking it out. Best of luck.
Hi there. According to this article, you can add it to functions.php wplook.com/how-to-add-google-tag-manager-to-your-wordpress-website-without-any-plugins/ Good luck and Godspeed!
I’ve never used sitekit before, but from what I’ve read here (wordpress.org/plugins/google-site-kit/) you can use sitekit to deploy GTM. In other words, you don’t need to use the plugin I use in this video to get GTM on the site since you can use sitekit to get GTM on the site instead.
when you installed the GTM using that plugin, lets say i make a new page on the website like new blog/article page. is the GTM will automatically installed in the new page?
Yes, it will be. Unless you take steps with the plugin to manually restrict which pages GTM will be installed on, it will be automatically applied to all pages on your domain.
If you're referring to a Google Ads conversion that you've tried to set up, this article might help: docs.getelevar.com/docs/troubleshooting-google-ads-conversion-tracking-statuses Good luck and God bless!
Glad to hear it, Nick! I totally agree...a lot of this stuff sounds super intimidating but there are ways it can be tackle that are much simpler and faster than we might expect. By the way, if you're down for learning more about Tag Manager I'd nominate this video for understanding how the component parts of Tag Manager (tags and triggers) work together: th-cam.com/video/dqBAGRNHBso/w-d-xo.html Zack
You're right, it only lets you use the header and footer. But if you put the body tag in the footer it works perfectly fine. That body tag rarely does anything (it comes into play only for visitors who don't have javascript enabled) and it will do it's backup duty just as well in the footer as in the body.
You are most welcome! Glad you found it useful. 😄 If one of the ways you’re going to use GTM is for the new Google Analytics, that process is a bit more complicated (not the GTM part of it, but the part about learning the new Google Analytics). If that’s on your agenda - and you have some time to dedicate - this tutorial might be worth checking out: m.th-cam.com/video/oPngBJsxUmI/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygUMZ2E0IHR1dG9yaWFs Wish you all the best regardless! 🙌😎
So, I think you can do this but I'd be careful. Because if and when your theme updates, you'd likely lose those codes. I haven't done this myself, but you could look into using a child theme if you really wanted to. Info below. Good luck! www.hostitsmart.com/blog/difference-between-parent-theme-child-theme-in-wordpress/ ➜ A parent theme is independent of any other theme for working while a child theme is dependent on the parent theme to work. ➜ A child theme can save you from losing your customizations even if you update the parent theme as all the customizations are stored in the child theme and you can view or edit them there.
Well, Amy - thanks for officially winning the "most encouraging comment of the day" award. : ) I didn't know there was a competition until now, but you've made my morning. I will do my best to keep it up. Feel free to share if you have questions or ideas for future blogs / videos. Good luck and Godspeed to you in all things GTM and GA4 and beyond! Zack
Hi Uzoma, are you talking about your GTM container not being published? If so, you need to log in to tagmanager.google.com and then hit the blue "Submit" button in the top right of your container. Then hit the blue "publish" button so your container is live. Let me know if that does it for you. Best of luck! Zack
Jagadish, that is incredibly kind of you. Thank you. I think there are people who know a lot more than me in this space, but I'm going to work on accepting gracious compliments and just say THANK YOU. I sincerely appreciate it.
How did you check? Google tag assistant is a chrome extension that has been deprecated but still works well. I’d recommend giving that a shot to see what you see.
I don't think it would be a bad idea to install GTM (like the basic setup in this video) without understanding how it works, but I wouldn't actually "do" anything with it until you understand how it works. That's because you basically change your website with the tags and triggers you deploy in GTM, and that's rarely (never) wise unless you know what you're changing. If you're interested in learning more about how the platform works, I'd recommend this blog on *tags* and *triggers* in GTM. Those two elements are the basic building blocks of Tag Manager. www.rootandbranchgroup.com/google-tag-manager-basics/
Just wondering, why are you using this plugin to install the code snippet? Why not GTM4WP by thomas geiger? I saw GTM4WP also has something with datalayer? Does HFCM add this automatically too? I'm really not that advanced but trying to figure out the best way possible to set up my analytics and gtm
Hello there! The simple reason I used HFCM vs. GTM4WP is that the former had slightly better reviews (4.9 average rating vs. 4.7) and a slightly better record of resolving issues. That's according to the plugin reviews below. wordpress.org/plugins/header-footer-code-manager/ wordpress.org/plugins/duracelltomi-google-tag-manager/ Both have good reviews, but I went with the one that was slightly better. With that said, if you will need dataLayer work through a plugin, I think GTM4WP is probably the way to go. I'm curious, what are you looking to track that would need a dataLayer push? Or do you just want to be prepared if and when you do? This is making me curious to check out GTM4WP and I might need to do some testing and make a future video about that. If you end up using it first, I'd love to hear what you think as I may be joining you down the road. Cheers! Zack
Oh, and maybe also worth mentioning - which is also the reason that started me thinking about this. GTM4WP automatically includes some basic data in the dataLayer: posttype of current post, category of the post, and the tags and author of the post. Do you think this adds any value? You can also easily check additional data, like browser data, OS data, search data, etcetera. The whole dataLayer is still really vague to me, to be honest. I'm still in the process of learning all about GTM and GA. So I can't really think of any use cases of this? Because this will be already tracked automatically right?
@@Kproductions2012 posttype, category, author, etc are not really helpful to me. Now, if I was running a website with a lot of different authors and I wanted to compare the aggregated engagement stats of their collection of articles, I would feel much differently! I'd say it depends on your situation. If you want a really high level view of the Data Layer (aka, dataLayer), here's a dummies guide I wrote: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/google-tag-manager-data-layer/ And yes, I very much consider myself a dummy in this area. 😀 Please do keep me posted if you end up using the GTM4WP. I'd love to hear what you think and learn from your experience. Thanks! Zack
@@rooted-digital Ah yes I see. I'm btw very confused, my comment is gone, I replied first and then I sent another comment but it's gone. Weird, but it was the most important one. Anyways! Thanks! I'm going to save it to read when I have time, it looks really good and well explained so that will definitely be of help to me. I will! I think I might choose GTM4Wp because it has some interesting beta features, but I will have to figure it out in the future.
Hi there. I have not worked with Elementor Canvas pages but based on the little research I've done, I'm not sure if there's an easy solution here. Here's a thread on reddit that might be worth checking out: www.reddit.com/r/elementor/comments/l517tl/adding_google_analytics_to_a_landing_page_using/
Wonderful news, Chris! Let me know if you are getting rolling with the new GA4 now that you have GTM installed. I could point you towards a few resources that I might check out first. Either way, wish you all the best! Zack
This *is* weird. I just tried creating a new container code in GTM and I still see the two 2 tags. Are you still seeing only one on your end? The second one (body tag) is much less important. It will only take over when a visitor doesn't have javascript enabled in their browser. So if you're able to get the primary header tag on, it still may be useful for your purposes. I'll keep my fingers crossed. This is a new one for me.
Hello, yes this will still work just fine. It’s how I have it set up rootandbranchgroup.com (and other WordPress sites) and it works. 😎 This second part of the container code snippet is used very rarely, so having it in the footer means it will load up just slightly later than if it was in the body. In other words, an almost negligible difference for a very, very small percentage of overall sessions. Thank you for the good question! Zack
Thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for. Straight and to the point.
You are most welcome! Glad this helped with what you were looking for 🙌🙂
Excellent, simple and straightforward explanation. Very good, made the installation easy.
I am glad to hear it. Thanks for the feedback, Alan!
Feel free to drop me a line here if there are other Tag Manager questions you have. It's possible there's something I can point you towards. And if not, it's probably a great idea for something I should try and learn and document.
Have a great one!
Zack
Very clear and easy! Thank you!
That's what we're hoping for! Glad you found it useful, Dan. Best wishes.
simple explanation! Thank you
Digital marketing can be so complicated (for me, at least) so I love when there are simple things. :)
Glad it was helpful! Have a great day.
Amazingly easy! Thank you!
You are most welcome! Glad you had success with it. 🙌
Very clear, thanks, it solved a few issues for me
Great to hear! Glad it was helpful, Dave.
Great tutorial, thanks a lot!
You're quite welcome, Naomi. I'm glad it was helpful!
Wishing you all the best with Google Tag Manager from here on out. Feel free to keep me posted if you will be using it for GA4. There might be a resource or two I could point you towards based on where you find yourself at this point in the journey.
Good luck and Godspeed!
Zack
Thanks, my only issue is that the script is not placed at the top "as high in the tag as possible, any workarounds there? 🤔
Hmmm...I think it depends on what scripts are running before the Google Tag Manager script.
If, for example, you have a Google Analytics tag hard coded on your site and it's running before the GTM script, you could remove the hard coded Google Analytics script and then deploy the Google Analytics tag through Google Tag Manager.
The same thing goes for other tags / scripts that might be running before GTM.
Yes I am using GTM for Analytics tags and others, but I just realized the script type itself is actually up top, it's the function that is further below and it seems to be ok since that's how it looks on most pages I've seen. Thanks again@@rooted-digital
why would you place the GTM snippet that belongs in the body in the footer?
Hi there. Great question. The short answer is I would have placed that second snippet (the noscript one) in the body if the plugin allowed for that. But since it didn't, the footer works well.
The reason I'm so loose with this is two-fold
1.) Google doesn't seem to really care. If you check Google tag assistant after installing it will show that the container code has been installed correctly with the script tag in the header and noscript tag in the footer.
2.) The noscript tag rarely does anything at all. It's only there in the very limited situations where the script tag doesn't apply. In other words, I'm not sweating it much.
Thanks for asking and for checking it out. Best of luck.
Thanks!
You are most welcome!
Hi, please could I do this without plugin !
Hi there. According to this article, you can add it to functions.php
wplook.com/how-to-add-google-tag-manager-to-your-wordpress-website-without-any-plugins/
Good luck and Godspeed!
If we have google sitekit should be uninstall it and then use the GTM?
I’ve never used sitekit before, but from what I’ve read here (wordpress.org/plugins/google-site-kit/) you can use sitekit to deploy GTM. In other words, you don’t need to use the plugin I use in this video to get GTM on the site since you can use sitekit to get GTM on the site instead.
nice job
Thank you! Cheers!
when you installed the GTM using that plugin, lets say i make a new page on the website like new blog/article page. is the GTM will automatically installed in the new page?
Yes, it will be. Unless you take steps with the plugin to manually restrict which pages GTM will be installed on, it will be automatically applied to all pages on your domain.
why its also my conversion status is inactive :/
If you're referring to a Google Ads conversion that you've tried to set up, this article might help: docs.getelevar.com/docs/troubleshooting-google-ads-conversion-tracking-statuses
Good luck and God bless!
As always, clear and succinct instructions! Much easier than I would have thought.
Glad to hear it, Nick! I totally agree...a lot of this stuff sounds super intimidating but there are ways it can be tackle that are much simpler and faster than we might expect.
By the way, if you're down for learning more about Tag Manager I'd nominate this video for understanding how the component parts of Tag Manager (tags and triggers) work together: th-cam.com/video/dqBAGRNHBso/w-d-xo.html
Zack
@@rooted-digital I will definitely check that out, thanks!
What about the body tag? I see only header and footer in this plugin
You're right, it only lets you use the header and footer. But if you put the body tag in the footer it works perfectly fine.
That body tag rarely does anything (it comes into play only for visitors who don't have javascript enabled) and it will do it's backup duty just as well in the footer as in the body.
wow thank you! I thought it was going to be a lot of work hahah. I really appreciate you!
You are most welcome! Glad you found it useful. 😄
If one of the ways you’re going to use GTM is for the new Google Analytics, that process is a bit more complicated (not the GTM part of it, but the part about learning the new Google Analytics).
If that’s on your agenda - and you have some time to dedicate - this tutorial might be worth checking out: m.th-cam.com/video/oPngBJsxUmI/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygUMZ2E0IHR1dG9yaWFs
Wish you all the best regardless! 🙌😎
hey, really helpful video.. I was wondering, what if I paste the codes directly in Theme Editor, header and body pages? Cheers
So, I think you can do this but I'd be careful. Because if and when your theme updates, you'd likely lose those codes. I haven't done this myself, but you could look into using a child theme if you really wanted to. Info below. Good luck!
www.hostitsmart.com/blog/difference-between-parent-theme-child-theme-in-wordpress/
➜ A parent theme is independent of any other theme for working while a child theme is dependent on the parent theme to work. ➜ A child theme can save you from losing your customizations even if you update the parent theme as all the customizations are stored in the child theme and you can view or edit them there.
I rarely subscribe to receiving email from anything anymore but I totally signed up for yours because you give amazing information!! Thank you 🙂👍
Well, Amy - thanks for officially winning the "most encouraging comment of the day" award. : )
I didn't know there was a competition until now, but you've made my morning. I will do my best to keep it up. Feel free to share if you have questions or ideas for future blogs / videos.
Good luck and Godspeed to you in all things GTM and GA4 and beyond!
Zack
What does it mean when it says not published?
Hi Uzoma, are you talking about your GTM container not being published?
If so, you need to log in to tagmanager.google.com and then hit the blue "Submit" button in the top right of your container. Then hit the blue "publish" button so your container is live.
Let me know if that does it for you. Best of luck!
Zack
You're the best video on this topic. I am so thankful I came across your channel. Wish you best sir.
Jagadish, that is incredibly kind of you. Thank you.
I think there are people who know a lot more than me in this space, but I'm going to work on accepting gracious compliments and just say THANK YOU. I sincerely appreciate it.
Hi there,
I did all according to you. but when testing for gtm on my website, it can't detect GTM on my website. Could you please check.
How did you check? Google tag assistant is a chrome extension that has been deprecated but still works well. I’d recommend giving that a shot to see what you see.
Do you recommend using Google Tag Manager without any prior training?
I don't think it would be a bad idea to install GTM (like the basic setup in this video) without understanding how it works, but I wouldn't actually "do" anything with it until you understand how it works. That's because you basically change your website with the tags and triggers you deploy in GTM, and that's rarely (never) wise unless you know what you're changing.
If you're interested in learning more about how the platform works, I'd recommend this blog on *tags* and *triggers* in GTM. Those two elements are the basic building blocks of Tag Manager. www.rootandbranchgroup.com/google-tag-manager-basics/
That`s very easy method Thank You💗
It’s always nice when there are some east approaches, right? So many things are often more complicated than expected. 😉
Glad it was helpful for you!
" Its not to bad isnt it" that definitely was my reaction as well lol
Ha! It's always nice when we get those things that are surprisingly not complicated, right? Too many things fall in the opposite category. ;)
Just wondering, why are you using this plugin to install the code snippet? Why not GTM4WP by thomas geiger? I saw GTM4WP also has something with datalayer? Does HFCM add this automatically too? I'm really not that advanced but trying to figure out the best way possible to set up my analytics and gtm
Hello there! The simple reason I used HFCM vs. GTM4WP is that the former had slightly better reviews (4.9 average rating vs. 4.7) and a slightly better record of resolving issues. That's according to the plugin reviews below.
wordpress.org/plugins/header-footer-code-manager/
wordpress.org/plugins/duracelltomi-google-tag-manager/
Both have good reviews, but I went with the one that was slightly better.
With that said, if you will need dataLayer work through a plugin, I think GTM4WP is probably the way to go. I'm curious, what are you looking to track that would need a dataLayer push? Or do you just want to be prepared if and when you do?
This is making me curious to check out GTM4WP and I might need to do some testing and make a future video about that. If you end up using it first, I'd love to hear what you think as I may be joining you down the road.
Cheers!
Zack
Oh, and maybe also worth mentioning - which is also the reason that started me thinking about this. GTM4WP automatically includes some basic data in the dataLayer: posttype of current post, category of the post, and the tags and author of the post. Do you think this adds any value? You can also easily check additional data, like browser data, OS data, search data, etcetera.
The whole dataLayer is still really vague to me, to be honest. I'm still in the process of learning all about GTM and GA. So I can't really think of any use cases of this? Because this will be already tracked automatically right?
@@Kproductions2012 posttype, category, author, etc are not really helpful to me. Now, if I was running a website with a lot of different authors and I wanted to compare the aggregated engagement stats of their collection of articles, I would feel much differently! I'd say it depends on your situation.
If you want a really high level view of the Data Layer (aka, dataLayer), here's a dummies guide I wrote: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/google-tag-manager-data-layer/
And yes, I very much consider myself a dummy in this area. 😀
Please do keep me posted if you end up using the GTM4WP. I'd love to hear what you think and learn from your experience.
Thanks!
Zack
@@rooted-digital Ah yes I see. I'm btw very confused, my comment is gone, I replied first and then I sent another comment but it's gone. Weird, but it was the most important one. Anyways! Thanks! I'm going to save it to read when I have time, it looks really good and well explained so that will definitely be of help to me.
I will! I think I might choose GTM4Wp because it has some interesting beta features, but I will have to figure it out in the future.
simple and straightforward explanation! Thank you
Glad it was helpful for you. 😄
Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback!
Whew! You made this so easy. TYVM!
At least some things in life should be, right?😉
Best wishes!
How to do it for just pages with type Elementor Canvas??
Hi there. I have not worked with Elementor Canvas pages but based on the little research I've done, I'm not sure if there's an easy solution here.
Here's a thread on reddit that might be worth checking out: www.reddit.com/r/elementor/comments/l517tl/adding_google_analytics_to_a_landing_page_using/
Great video, thank you for this!
Hello there, thanks for taking a minute to share this encouraging feedback. Glad to hear you found it useful!
Thx! Short and clear, can it be better :)
Kind of you, Kestas. I appreciate the encouragement. : )
God bless you, brother!
Thank you! Just what I needed. Chris
Wonderful news, Chris! Let me know if you are getting rolling with the new GA4 now that you have GTM installed. I could point you towards a few resources that I might check out first.
Either way, wish you all the best!
Zack
Easy and good - thanks heaps for the tip
I am glad to hear it was useful. : )
Thanks and best wishes to you!
Thank you so much!!
You're welcome. Thanks for taking the time to share the kind words. :)
Thanks for this video
You are certainly welcome, Hassan. Glad it was helpful. : )
Thanx man!
You are very welcome. Happy measuring!
Thank you
You're most welcome. Thanks for coming by to check it out.
Best wishes!
Straight to the point, thanks!
Glad you found it helpful, Hussein. Appreciate the feedback!
Very clean and neat!
Thank you!
Thank You!
You're most welcome! Glad it was helpful.
Gracias!
De nada! 😄
Weird, I don't have two tags -- just the header tag to install, no body tag. Did Google remove the body tag?
This *is* weird. I just tried creating a new container code in GTM and I still see the two 2 tags. Are you still seeing only one on your end?
The second one (body tag) is much less important. It will only take over when a visitor doesn't have javascript enabled in their browser. So if you're able to get the primary header tag on, it still may be useful for your purposes.
I'll keep my fingers crossed. This is a new one for me.
@@rooted-digital Yes, I am only seeing one, so I only installed one.
Hello, is it okay to put GTM body code to footer section like you did?. Since the GTM instruction said it should be in Body section. Thank you
Hello, yes this will still work just fine. It’s how I have it set up rootandbranchgroup.com (and other WordPress sites) and it works. 😎
This second part of the container code snippet is used very rarely, so having it in the footer means it will load up just slightly later than if it was in the body. In other words, an almost negligible difference for a very, very small percentage of overall sessions.
Thank you for the good question!
Zack
Thank you.👍🏽
You're most welcome. Glad it was helpful!