Many ecommerce websites are powered by WordPress. After all, WP is one of the best and most popular content management systems (CMS) in the world.
What’s great about it is that you can turn your blog or website into whatever you wish using the right plugins and settings. That includes turning your website into an e-commerce platform. That’s why so many online stores these days are powered by WP.
Since you’re an online store owner, you must measure relevant metrics and KPIs to determine how your customer behave and how your marketing efforts are performing. You should strongly consider integrating Google Tag Manager in WP using the GTM Kit plugin.
This tool allows you to deploy tags across your websites, such as measurement tags or marketing optimization JS tags, without having the need to alter the source code itself. This is a neat feature for those who just want to run and optimize their online store without worrying about the technical stuff. So with that in mind, you should integrate Google Tag Manager in WordPress.
What is Google Tag Manager?
As mentioned before, Google Tag Manager is a free tool that allows you to manage and deploy marketing tags (snippets of code or tracking pixels required for deploying measurement and advertising features on your website) on your website or mobile app without having to edit the source code.
Once the Google Tag Manager container snippet has been added to your site, you can add and update your tags from the Tag Manager user interface without involving a developer. This means you can add and edit your Google Ads, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and other tags entirely on your own and without needing tech-savvy skills.
This reduces errors and means you can make changes to your tags quickly and easily without having to wait for someone else to do it for you. You can also use Google Tag Manager to test new titles before deploying them on your live site. And if you ever need to remove a tag, you can do so quickly from the Google Tag Manager interface, again, without editing any code.
What are the benefits of using Google Tag Manager?
Google Tag Manager boosts your agility by helping you add or update existing tags you use for re-marketing, tracking conversions, website analytics, and so on. In other words, tags allow you to track all sorts of activity on your website to gather relevant data for improving your efforts in the future or adjusting your current endeavors.
Furthermore, an intuitive design allows you to leverage error-checking features and fast tag loading to ensure that all the essential data is collected accurately and reliably. That being said, you can rest assured that your online store operates as smoothly as possible, even when consumers go into a shopping frenzy during the holiday season.
In today’s competitive market, it’s of the utmost importance that you track every bit of information that can help you boost your store’s performance and functionality to remain competitive and relevant in the market.
Why Google Tag Manager is essential for WordPress websites
One of the critical reasons why GTM is important to WP sites, especially e-commerce stores, is customer retention. By tracking activities and gathering data through tags, you can optimize your store to better meet consumer needs, wants, and expectations. In turn, potential customers will remain longer on your pages to browse around and eventually convert into paying customers.
The best part is that you can add or customize tags as you see fit without having to hire an expensive developer to do it for you. That is a great way to reduce expenses and use those resources to improve your online store further. In addition to that, GTM doesn’t bloat your WP website, so you don’t have to worry about website speed or page loading time going down because of all the tags you’ve implemented.
Tips and tricks for getting the most out of Google Tag Manager on WordPress
Instead of going all technical and adding code to your WP site, use a plugin that will complete the process, so you don’t have to. After that, simply integrate GTM into your WP site and use the workplace screen to begin tagging your website.
Remember that Google Analytics 4 will also be included, but you’ll have to install it before you can use it, so that means that you can use existing templates for tags or create your own if you need something specific that isn’t included in the templates.
So to make the most out of GTM on WP, ensure you configure everything you need correctly and set the right triggers for your tracking tags so you can gather data efficiently. After you’ve set everything up, you can check if everything works as it should.
What common errors can occur when adding tags in Google Tag Manager?
A few common errors can occur when adding tags in Google Tag Manager. This is especially true if you’re new to the whole tags thing and are unsure how to set everything up accordingly. Therefore, here are a few common mistakes you should try to avoid as much as possible so that errors won’t occur.
- Wrongly placed snippets in GTM
- Over-tracking website events
- Using too many nondescript parameters
- Forgetting to publish changes
- Forgetting to annotate version changes
- Creating overly-specific tag triggers.
That being said, here are some common errors that may occur that you should be aware of.
- Data layer variable name in the wrong case: “conversionID,” “PageCategory,” “pageSubcategory,” “visitorId,” etc.
- <script> tag must not be included in a <flow:ifenabled>
- <script> tag must not be included in a <header>
Everything is case-sensitive and needs to be placed in the right place for everything to work, so keep that in mind when creating tags for your WP website.
Google Tag Manager is an excellent solution if you’re looking for a way to make managing tags on your WordPress site easier. So don’t hesitate to integrate it into your WP, as it can be a precious tool.
