How to Setup Google Tag Manager on Your Shopify Store (2021)

Find out how to setup Google Tag Manager for Shopify Below!

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You may face many problems while operating an online business. Issues relating to promotion, sales, or any other can easily be solved. All you need to have is adequate knowledge of different business tools. So if you are facing issues with marketing or keeping track of visitors, Google Tag Manager is there for your rescue.

What is Google Tag Manager?

Google Tag Manager is a tool offered by Google that helps you to deploy various marketing codes (tags) on your website for free. With the help of this tool, it becomes easy to manage a lot of tags stored in one place. You can add many more custom codes to your website using GTM. It also helps to share information from one data source to the other.

Fr instance without changing the source of your website, you can change the tags and the way they work. Likewise, there are numerous benefits of using Google Tag Manager.

It allows the marketers to place the website tags all in one place. Therefore, it helps in tag management. But you need to have some technical knowledge to tackle the setup of tags and variables. Also, you need to invest time.  

Google Tag Manager has three main parts – Tag, Triggers, and Variables. Tags are the pieces of javascript or tracking pixels that tell the GTM what to do. The most commonly used tags are facebook pixels, Adwords Remarketing codes, Heatmap Tracking code, and Google Analytics Universal tracking code.

Triggers help to fire the tags that you create. They tell when to do what you want to do. Few examples of triggers in Google Tag Manager are DOM Ready in page view, all elements in click, and custom event in other.

Variables work as additional information that is needed by tags and triggers to work. The most common type of variable that you can create is the Google Analytics UA number.

How is Google Tag Manager different from Google Analytics?

Some people confuse Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics. They don’t understand which one is suitable to use. The answer is both are important in their ways.

Google Tag Manager is used to manage and store third party codes. There are no reports to analyze in Google Tag Manager, whereas Google Analytics helps in actual reporting and analysis.

Before Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics tracking codes have to be hard-coded. Hundred of events can be very difficult to manage or update at a time. Google Tag Manager restores all your tags in one place. 

Apart from Google Analytics, other tags are compatible with the Google Tag Manager.

How to Execute Google Tag Manager on Shopify?

 If you want to grow your store to prominence with the help of Shopify, it is necessary to do what other biggies are doing to get there. If you have to optimize the flow of traffic to your website, you will have to interact with the testing funnel better than your competitors.

You can quickly execute Google Tag Manager using two common ways:

1. Implementing Google Tag Manager directly to your Shopify store’s theme liquid store

The only thing with it is the checkout as well as the thank you page as they will not collect the data.

2. Implementing with admin settings of Google Analytics

If you are not a Shopify plus store, you should go with Google Analytics to increase the amount of data you are receiving. It is a pretty quick implementation as it has to be set up in your store in one place.

• Firstly you will have to open your Shopify store to install Google Analytics. Enroll in it once you are done with installing, then open the Admin page. You will be able to enlist a new account on this page.
• Once you have made the account, take the Universal Tracking code of Goggle Analytics below Tracking Info then Tracking Code.
• After you have made a new account on Google Analytics, you will be directed to Google Analytics code by default.
• After copying the code, go the Shopify Admin Dashboard, then Online Store. Go to Preferences, then Google Analytics. Attach the copied code to the account pane of this page.
• Now click save. Here we need to do some customization to ensure that the Google Tag Manager properly sets up in our stores.
• You can include a custom javascript in the Google Analytics pane on your Shopify dashboard.
• To implement the code we will have to sign in to Google Tag Manager. Once you are with it, take the key from the main overview dashboard. Paste it to the custom javascript section.

How to ensure the proper working of Google Tag Manager?

Though there are many advantages of keeping Google Tag Manager with your Shopify store, you further want to enhance e-commerce and analytics on your store. It will take much time to do the same in Google Tag Manager.

So to test it, you will have to make another universal analytics tag in the tag manager. Select the type of event tracking that will implement on all of the pages.

• On Google Tag Manager, go to tags and make a new container. Then go to Google Analytics and from there to Tag Configuration. Now click Track Type and then Trigger.
• You will have to put another variable type below the pane for event tracking.
• Select {{Page_Hostname}}. Save it with the desired name.
• After that, you can save your container and name it.
• Now you can enter the preview mode. Run to your website’s URL. See your test tag while you examine your site.
• A code will fire on your pages. It will provide useful data.

Executing with theme.liquid

 It is not highly recommended. But you can try it out if you want.

• You will place a code in the Header section and for that you need to copy it from Google Tag Manager.
• You have to put this code in the section of your theme.liquid that fits perfect to it. For this go to Online Store and Themes and. Then left clink on Actions dropdown menu, press Edit Code and, then theme.liquid.
• Finally, save it. You will need to have a NoScript code. Put this at the head of your body in theme.liquid.
• Place the code in the theme.liquid’s section that suits it.
• Save it again, and that is it.

Other Benefits of having Goggle Tag Manager on your Shopify store

Google Tag Manager can help you in unique ways.

1. You can add third-party marketing scripts without using a lengthy development process.
2. Installing Google Analytics custom events can prove to be helpful in your conversion optimization strategy.

You can use Google Tag Manager for more advanced features and, clean URL sharing, etc.

Conclusion

Google Tag Manager is ideal if you are looking for an alternative solution for marketing. The tags of Google Tag Manager can prove to be game-changers for your business. Especially if you are looking to beat the competitors, then you will have to reach the audience from different corners.

The tags of Google Tag Manager help to promote your store at different levels. All you need is some knowledge, and you can get your business in demand. So go and set up Google Tag Manager now before it is too late!