Saturday, July 27

Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager

How To Implement GDPR Cookie Consent Notification with Google Tag Manager

On May 25th 2018, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came in effect, meaning that online businesses that get visitors from the European Union, must track visitor/user behavior and collect data more carefully, responsibly, and with consent. I will not go into details what GDPR is (there are other great blog posts out there like this one, this one or this one). Long story short, a standard This website uses cookies blah blah blah cookie consent becomes irrelevant. From now on, if you are using some tools/scripts on your website that are used to identify individuals and their data is processed by you or 3rd parties), that can be done only when a person gives consent. This also affects tracking codes that are managed in Google Tag Manager. So before you get the actual consent, all the...
Google Analytics Cross Domain Tracking with Google Tag Manager
Google Tag Manager

Google Analytics Cross Domain Tracking with Google Tag Manager

There are already plenty of resources online that explain how to implement Google Analytics Cross-domain tracking. However, it feels that the questions of this topic are still one of the most popular ones in the community (source of this statement: my gut). And that’s no surprise. Sometimes people just blindly follow guides without properly understanding WHY this or that was made. In other cases, they do understand the basic principles but are not aware that their case/project has some nuances. That’s why I decided to also chime in, join this bandwagon and give my take on how to explain Google Analytics Cross-domain tracking with Google Tag Manager. Brace yourself, this guide will be a long one (but definitely rewarding). P.S. If you’re not sure whether you should use Google Tag Manager...
Google Tag Manager

Hotjar and Google Tag Manager: The Guide

If you’re interested in tracking website visitors and seeing that data as heat maps, then Hotjar is the right tool for you. In fact, the tool doesn’t only allow you to create heat maps but also lets you view things as scroll depth, create funnels, and ask your visitor questions, and more. Since Analytics Mania’s main target is GTM users, this blog post will not be an exception and I’ll show you how Hotjar and Google Tag Manager play along. Other guides I’ve seen online, usually explain just the installation part, even though there’s much more to be discovered, like event tracking, session tagging and more. Table of Contents What is Hotjar? How to install Hotjar via Google Tag Manager? How to track page views on a single-page website with Hotjar and Google Tag Manager? How to tra...
Google Tag Manager

How to track WIX website with Google Tag Manager

WIX is one of the most popular website builders that positions itself as “easy to use” and “allows to build gorgeous websites”). Even though such builders take away a lot of flexibility from you (especially when it comes to SEO-or-GTM-related modifications), their popularity is still solid. When the owners of such websites start realizing that they also need to track what their website visitors are doing, Google Tag Manager + Google Analytics come as one of the first tools to consider. Just a bit more than a year ago (early 2018) WIX added support for Google Tag Manager (meaning that you can actually implement its code and use the tool for what it does the best, controlling marketing tags and firing them when you actually need). Nevertheless, there are still some nuances people face and ...
Google Tag Manager

Google Analytics Goals Not Working? Here’s How to Fix That

In today’s blog post, I will not rant about how important goals are in Google Analytics and that every GA setup MUST use them. If you landed on this blog post, chances are that you are already trying to implement them. Kudos for that! In Universal Analytics, sometimes goals are not working as expected. You configure and they just don’t work. Maybe a blog post you’ve read was misleading/outdated? Maybe you misunderstood a certain part of the tutorial? Maybe you’ve encountered a bug? So, if you’re now stuck and your Google Analytics goals are not working, let’s take a look at possible reasons why this happens (+ possible solutions). Table of Contents A quick refresher #1. Incorrect match-type #2. Incorrect Page Path #3. There is some random delay in RT reports after a goal is crea...
Google Tag Manager

Track Page Translations with Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics

Very recently I spotted a conversation somewhere online asking about page translations (unfortunately, I don’t even remember on which platform/community did this happen. Anyway, if I recall correctly, the request was to track the original title of the page in GA (rather than the translated one) and that way keep the data purity at a higher level. In opposite, others were defending that this is very valuable information that can signal the need for a localized website’s version (read: no need for purification). And this conversation planted a seed in my head. Wouldn’t it be cool to track page translations with Google Tag Manager? Every time someone translates a page, we could track it as an event and later check the aggregated information. One thing led to another and here I am writing my ...
Google Tag Manager

Why Google Analytics tag in GTM displayed as “still running”?

Over the course of the last several days, this issue became more popular than ever, therefore, I decided to write a quick blog post. So here’s the problem: you enable Google Tag Manager Preview and Debug mode and see that a certain (or maybe multiple) Universal Analytics tag is displayed as “still running”.   You refresh the page but the tag is “still running”. You open your Google Analytics real-time reports to check whether the hit has reached its destination but no luck. The event (pageview or something else) was not received.   So where’s the problem? I’m not sure about what are ALL the possible causes of this problem but I can definitely tell you the most common one. Check where you have inserted Google Analytics Settings Variable in your Universal Analytics tag. When you create a Un...
Google Tag Manager

How to fix Low Bounce Rate in Google Analytics

Everybody wants to have a low bounce rate in Google Analytics. This phrase was recently said in the Google Tag Manager community by one of our members. The quick discussion was about whether particular events in Google Analytics should be tracked as interactions or not because the choice impacts the bounce metric. The truth is that bounce rate isn’t that important, after all. I mean, it is (to some extent). But not that much as some of you might be thinking. Unfortunately, many marketers still take the metric way too seriously. I’ve seen some them even using it as a KPI(!!!). While bounce rate can give you some valuable insights on whether the visitors are engaging with your content/page, it also makes inexperienced people focus on the wrong things. Instead of improving what really matte...
Google Tag Manager

How many Google Tag Manager containers do you need?

This time the guide will be indeed shorter than usual. First of all, this blog post will not talk about multiple GTM containers on the same page. I’m answering a bit different question. Say, you have 3 websites. How many GTM containers do you need here? One? Two? Three? The reality is that there is no universal answer. One container might work, two or three containers might do the job as well. The real answer is: it depends.   Think about the websites first When it comes to deciding the number of containers, I always think of the structure of websites. Are those 3 (or insert any other numbers) websites very similar (regarding content, structure, etc.)? Or are they quite different? If you have three websites that are very similar and, say, the main difference is localization (language), th...
Google Tag Manager

How to Track WIX Pageviews with Google Tag Manager

Earlier this year (February 2018, to be precise) WIX added a built-in support of Google Tag Manager. Finally, their users can without a hassle implement custom tracking techniques that are available in the GTM toolkit. By completing all the necessary steps, your GTM container can be added to all pages of your WIX store. However, there is still one nuance you need to keep in mind in order to properly track such a basic interaction as page views. You see, the problem is that when a visitor navigates from one page to another (of the WIX-hosted website), the page actually does not reload, therefore, all the subsequent page views will not be tracked… unless you continue reading because, in this guide, I’ll show you how to track WIX pageviews with Google Tag Manager. One of my Google Tag M...
Google Tag Manager

Undefined Variable in Google Tag Manager

In the middle of October 2018, Google Tag Manager silently introduced a new feature that caused some questions in the GTM community (including me), an Undefined variable. In this quick guide, I’ll shed some light on what an Undefined variable in Google Tag Manager is and where you can use it.   First of all, you can find this variable among other User-defined variables in your GTM container: It is simple to configure. In fact, it has no settings at all (if we ignore the standard “Format Value” feature). And all this variable does is just return an undefined value. So why is it useful? The answer: you can use it in your GTM stack to keep the data cleaner. Let me explain. In September, GTM introduced Format Value option in variables’ settings that allows yo...
[GIVEAWAY] Win a Google Tag Manager Course and 5 Web Analytics Books
Google Tag Manager

[GIVEAWAY] Win a Google Tag Manager Course and 5 Web Analytics Books

It’s been a while since I last posted something on this blog. I’ve been lately working on several things here at Analytics Mania. Over the course of the next several weeks, I’ll give share/show some stuff that has been running through my head lately. Some of them will be visible publicly, others just for email subscribers. This time, I’d like to share some goodies with my readers (which I have never done before). Who knows, maybe it’s the only time I do it, maybe not Time will show. Sorry for such un-analytical vagueness.   Enter the Giveaway below To get started, you need to complete at least one task from the widget below. That requires entering your full name and email address (which is important in case you win this thing). As for the email subscription (to my mailing list), you will...
How to fix the “net::ERR_ABORTED” Google Tag Manager Error in Tag Assisstant
Google Tag Manager

How to fix the “net::ERR_ABORTED” Google Tag Manager Error in Tag Assisstant

Here’s a quick one. Once in a while, I notice people asking the same question in our ever-growing Google Tag Manager community, therefore, I’ve decided to publish a short blog post offering a solution. Situation; a developer adds a Google Tag Manager container code to a website and you want to check whether everything works properly. You open Tag Assistant, refresh the page and get the following error next to Google Tag Manager An error occurred while the tag was fired: net::ERR_ABORTED. What do you do? Continue reading and I’ll show you a quick fix.   Here’s the screenshot of the error I have in mind: In fact, this issue is caused by the same thing that throws gtm.js 404 errors in the browser’s developer console. And the cure for that is exactly the same too. Solutio...
Google Tag Manager Click Tracking: All You Need to Know
Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager Click Tracking: All You Need to Know

As a feature, click tracking in Google Tag Manager is a perfect bait for a beginner. It’s fairly easy to get started: read one or two blog posts, maybe watch a video and done! You can track buttons, outbound link clicks, etc. However, what I’ve noticed among GTM beginners is that they do not fully realize the click tracking configuration flow in GTM and why is it necessary to complete one thing or another. Moreover, intermediate Google Tag Manager users are not always aware of some more serious click tracking techniques that open entirely new possibilities in tag management. That’s why I’ve decided to publish this (once again) extended/definitive/you-name-it guide on Google Tag Manager click tracking, covering not only basics but some advanced stuff as well.   Table of Contents #1. Why cl...
How to convince someone to start using Google Tag Manager?
Google Tag Manager

How to convince someone to start using Google Tag Manager?

Here’s a situation: you’ve read several articles introducing Google Tag Manager and how can it help you improve marketing and analytics processes by bringing control back to the hands of marketers/analysts. So you decide to introduce it to your company/client. However, you face resistance. For example, a lead developer of your company says that Google Tag Manager will bring chaos, slow down the website, and might increase security risks. “A marketer can add any tracking codes to a website/web application all by himself/herself? No, thank you. This is a recipe for disaster”, says the lead developer. Unfortunately, you’re lacking GTM skills in order to come up with counter-arguments, therefore, you have to accept the rejection. The end. But what if you could bring strong points to the table?...