{"id":134639,"date":"2025-03-15T06:35:01","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T06:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/analytics\/ga-snippet-and-ga-gtm-tag-on-the-same-page\/"},"modified":"2025-03-15T06:35:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T06:35:01","slug":"ga-snippet-and-ga-gtm-tag-on-the-same-page","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=134639","title":{"rendered":"GA Snippet And GA (GTM) Tag On The Same Page"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

In this article, I\u2019m going to tackle one of the most frequently asked questions out there:<\/p>\n

Can you run Google Analytics<\/a> using the snippet AND using a Google Tag Manager<\/a> Tag on the same page<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

There are many facets to this query, so I\u2019ll try to tackle as many of them as I possibly can.<\/p>\n

First, a terminology rant. You hear lots of talk about \u201con-page\u201d and \u201cinline\u201d Google Analytics tracking, as that\u2019s what\u2019s used to describe the non-GTM way of tracking Google Analytics. Well, all the power to you, but I think they\u2019re just adding to the confusion. GTM is just as \u201con-page\u201d and \u201cinline\u201d as GA\u2019s own snippet, as both are based on injecting an asynchronous HTTP request that downloads the respective library.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve chosen to use snippet-based tracking<\/em> to describe Google Analytics tracking that\u2019s outside GTM, and Tag-based tracking<\/em> to describe Tags run through GTM. Note the capital \u2018T\u2019, as that\u2019s the syntax I most commonly use in this blog to denote Google Tag Manager assets.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m fully aware this distinction can cause confusion as well, but since I\u2019d hesitate to ever call the ga('send',...)<\/code> commands on the page \u201ctags\u201d of any kind, I think this makes a bit more sense.<\/p>\n


\n X<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n The Simmer Newsletter<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n

\n Subscribe to the Simmer newsletter<\/a> to get the latest news and content from Simo Ahava into your email inbox!\n <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The premise: what the problem really is<\/h2>\n

Most often this question gets asked when migrating to Google Tag Manager. There was a crazy<\/em> amount of questions about this in the Google Tag Manager Fundamentals<\/a> course forums, where I was volunteering my help. There were so many questions about it that I felt the need to write the following intro to course participants:<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

\"GTM<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I don\u2019t know if it helped, but at least it let me jot some things down that would be helpful to anyone pondering about these issues.<\/p>\n

The problem itself is usually a manifestation of the following, underlying queries:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    Will just adding Google Tag Manager to the site break my existing Google Analytics tracking?<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    Will adding a Google Analytics Tag in GTM break my existing Google Analytics tracking?<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    Can I run the bulk of my tracking via the Google Analytics snippet, and use Google Tag Manager Tags for tracking certain specific things?<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  4. \n

    Can I run the bulk of my tracking via Google Tag Manager, and use ga('send',...)<\/code> commands on the page to cover some, usually legacy, tracking needs?<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  5. \n

    I\u2019m just curious, how does snippet-based tracking differ from GTM\u2019s Tag-based tracking?<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The last question is just the best, I can\u2019t wait to get to it!<\/p>\n

    OK, I\u2019ll start with it! That\u2019s how crazy and unpredictable I am.<\/p>\n

    5. Snippet-based vs. Tag-based tracking<\/h2>\n

    When you create your Google Analytics tracker using the given snippet<\/a>, you have the option of providing a tracker name<\/a> vs. using the default name.<\/p>\n

    For example, if you want to name the tracker SuperTracker<\/strong>, you\u2019d use the following syntax in the tracker creation command:<\/p>\n

    \n
    ga('create'<\/span>, 'UA-12345-1'<\/span>, {'name'<\/span> : 'SuperTracker'<\/span>});\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
    This would give the tracker a name, after which you interact with it by prefixing all commands sent to the ga()<\/code> queue with the tracker name: ga('SuperTracker.send', 'pageview);<\/code>.<\/p>\n
    If you don\u2019t<\/strong> provide a tracker name, you can use the naked ga('send',...)<\/code> syntax, where you don\u2019t use a tracker name prefix. However, the tracker does<\/strong> have a name: t0<\/strong> (t-zero). So the following two commands do the same thing:<\/p>\n
    \n
    ga('send'<\/span>, 'pageview'<\/span>);\nga('t0.send'<\/span>, 'pageview'<\/span>);\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
    This is clear, yes? The reason you\u2019d want to rename the tracker is if you\u2019re running multiple trackers on the page, or due to some very special edge cases I might or might not touch upon later in the article (I\u2019m just making this stuff up as I go along).<\/p>\n
    Now, with Google Tag Manager<\/strong> it\u2019s a bit different. In GTM, whenever a Tag is injected<\/em>, i.e. whenever a Tag \u201cfires\u201d (hate that terminology as well) due to some Trigger \u201cfiring\u201d as well, a new<\/strong> tracker is created with a random, unique name:<\/p>\n
    \n
        <\/p>\n
        \"Google<\/p>\n
        <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
    So here the GTM tracker was created with the name gtm1454402957304<\/strong>. For you fellow nerds, look at the numbers in that string. Don\u2019t they look vaguely familiar? That\u2019s right, it resembles Unix time<\/a>! So, in fact, the tracker name isn\u2019t random, it\u2019s just the exact timestamp of when the tracker was created, down to the millisecond. So it\u2019s not deterministically unique, either, but having two Tags fire at the exact same millisecond is, as far as I know it, next to impossible.<\/p>\n
    \n
        <\/p>\n
        \"GTM<\/p>\n
        <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
    So, now the major difference is spelled out for you: the GA snippet requires that you either use a fixed, default tracker name when creating the tracker, or you give it a custom name. This tracker name is then used when communicating with the tracker object.<\/p>\n
    GTM, on the other hand, creates a new, unique tracker name for every single Tag on the page – even when the same Tag is injected multiple times.<\/p>\n
    This is, in fact, how GTM manages to navigate through one of the biggest flaws of the platform. I\u2019ve outlined this in a previous article on the dangers of messing with the tracker name<\/a> setting in GTM\u2019s GA Tags. In a nutshell, GTM doesn\u2019t let you assign settings, fields, custom dimensions and the ilk on the hit itself, but they\u2019re always set on the tracker object. This means that they are \u201chit-scoped\u201d by default, since each Tag has its own tracker, but if you mess with the tracker name you\u2019ll run into some unexpected side effects.<\/p>\n
    Now that we have the basics sorted out, let\u2019s jump into the queries themselves.<\/p>\n
    1. Will Google Analytics break if just Google Tag Manager is installed on the page?<\/h2>\n
    This is easy to answer:<\/p>\n
    NO, IT WILL NOT!<\/strong><\/p>\n
    Remember, Google Tag Manager has nothing to do with Google Analytics when you add the container on the page. It\u2019s just a container, a chassis, a receptacle, a vehicle, a vessel<\/em> (making the most out of my thesaurus here) for your Tags and other arbitrary JavaScript you want to execute on the page.<\/p>\n
    When you add the Google Tag Manager container snippet to the page, all it does is load a library from Google servers. It doesn\u2019t create any Google Analytics trackers, it doesn\u2019t mess with your tracking code, it doesn\u2019t interfere with other JavaScript running on the site, or anything like that.<\/p>\n
    In other words, feel free to add the container snippet to the page the minute you\u2019ve created the container<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
    2. Will adding a Google Analytics Tag in GTM break my existing tracking?<\/h2>\n
    This is also easy to answer:<\/p>\n
    NO, IT WILL NOT!<\/strong><\/p>\n
    Now, choose your favorite conjunct: \u201cHowever\u2026\u201d \/ \u201cBut\u2026\u201d \/ \u201cUnless\u2026\u201d. I\u2019ll go with the first one.<\/p>\n
    However, if you\u2019ve manually set the Google Tag Manager tracker name to the GA tracker name<\/strong>, and you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing, problems can arise.<\/p>\n
    I\u2019ve covered many of these cases in my tracker name rant<\/a>.<\/p>\n
    The most important thing to note is that if the tracker name is shared between the snippet-based tracker and GTM\u2019s Tag, each time a new tracker is created on the page (usually via GTM) with that name, any settings it has will overwrite all the previous settings on any of the trackers.<\/p>\n
    So, for example, let\u2019s say you\u2019ve created the snippet-based tracker with:<\/p>\n
    \n
    ga('create'<\/span>, 'UA-12345-1'<\/span>);\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
    And then you set the Tracker name in GTM to blank<\/em>:<\/p>\n
    \n
        <\/p>\n
        \"GTM<\/p>\n
        <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
    Now, since you only create the tracker once when using snippet-based GA tracking, any GTM Tag that shares the tracker name and fires after<\/strong> the snippet-based tracker will overwrite<\/strong> all the settings that were in the snippet-based tracker.<\/p>\n
    So, let\u2019s say you\u2019re tracking to UA-12345-1<\/strong> in the snippet, using the ga('create','UA-12345-1')<\/code> command to create the tracker. Then, you have an Event Tag in GTM, collecting data to \u2018UA-12345-2<\/strong>\u2019, and firing after 15 seconds of dwell time on the page. If this Tag has the same tracker name as the snippet-based tracker, any<\/strong> ga('send',...)<\/code> commands you run on the page after this GTM Tag has fired will now use the settings in the GTM Tag, including the new property ID<\/em>.<\/p>\n
    You can see how this is potentially a huge problem.<\/p>\n
    But like I wrote in the beginning of this chapter, if you don\u2019t<\/strong> mess with the tracker name setting, there will be no interference. You can freely track via Google Tag Manager to a Google Analytics property, and then keep the snippet-based tracker collecting data to some other property, if you wish.<\/p>\n
    This is a great segue to the next question.<\/p>\n
    3. Run the bulk of tracking via the snippet, and use GTM for specific things<\/h2>\n
    In this case, we want to combine<\/strong> snippet-based GA tracking with Google Tag Manager Tags.<\/p>\n
    Interesting!<\/p>\n
    Well, it\u2019s certainly doable. You can easily have a snippet-based tracker track to UA-12345-1, and then add the occasional Tag via GTM to also track to UA-12345-1, and you don\u2019t have to make any changes if working with default settings. Google Analytics uses a combination of Client ID<\/strong> found in the _ga<\/code> cookie together with the UA-XXXXX-Y code to make sure hits are attributed to the same session and the same user.<\/p>\n
    There are some cases where you will<\/strong> need to make changes:<\/p>\n