When push comes to shove, I\u2019m a pretty lazy guy. I enjoy nothing more than just to stretch my legs on a couch, pick up my iPad, and read what\u2019s going on in the world. I skip the news, since they\u2019re just full of depressing stories. Instead, I head over to my favorite Google+<\/a> communities to see what\u2019s new in the blogosphere.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n This approach has led me to some pretty amazing individuals, whom I follow like a suckerfish. These people have written a bunch of great articles, which have helped countless people with their Google Tag Manager<\/a> installations. Or they might be really active in the online communities which people turn to for advice.<\/p>\n As you might have noticed, Google\u2019s own documentation<\/a> is often pretty scarce. That\u2019s why so many amazing people do such an incredible job in making the often complicated details behind tag management a bit easier to comprehend.<\/p>\n Without too much further ado, I think the time is ripe to reveal my favorite Google Tag Manager resources, so that you can get on your way to becoming a Grand Tag Master.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve added a short description under each link, along with a difficulty level (my own subjective analysis). The difficulty level has nothing to do with the quality of writing. Rather, I use it to denote how difficult it is to understand the concept<\/strong> the article focuses on.<\/p>\n If you feel like an essential article or individual is missing from these lists, drop me a line with a link and description, and I\u2019ll see if they belong here!<\/strong><\/p>\n \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 First and foremost, here\u2019s my Follow These People<\/strong> list. I consider these people to be top contributors in Google Tag Manager related posts. I\u2019ve chosen them partly because I really think that they write a lot of great stuff either in the forums or on their blogs, and partly because they exhibit a quality I enjoy most about a good writer: they don\u2019t brag about themselves or their companies, nor do they exhibit (too much) self-promotion.<\/p>\n Seriously, we\u2019re all taking part in a huge knowledge transfer experiment here. Leave your ego at the door.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n And yes, I\u2019m aware that I\u2019ve added myself to the picture of my favorite GTM superstars, and also that I\u2019ve linked to a number of my own posts in the latter sections. I claim the right to do so under editorial privileges \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Also, don\u2019t forget to visit the Google Tag Manager community<\/a> in Google+ on a regular basis. That\u2019s where most of these people hang out.<\/p>\n Lukas Bergstrom<\/strong>, Product Manager for GTM at Google Julien Coquet<\/strong>, Senior Digital Analytics Consultant at Hub\u2019Scan Yehoshua Coren<\/strong>, CEO at Analytics Ninja Justin Cutroni<\/strong>, Analytics Evangelist at Google Doug Hall<\/strong>, Head of Internet Marketing at Conversion Works St\u00e9phane Hamel<\/strong>, Director of Innovation at Cardinal Path Claudia Kosny<\/strong>, Web Analytics Expert at Knewledge Brian Kuhn<\/strong>, Software Engineer at Google Andr\u00e9 Mafei<\/strong>, Founder and Web Analytics Consultant at Upmize Carmen Mardiros<\/strong>, Entrepreneur Phil Pearce<\/strong>, Freelancer Jeff Sauer<\/strong>, President at Jeffalytics Daniel Waisberg<\/strong>, Analytics Advocate at Google These guides should help you with deploying GTM. There\u2019s a lot of things to keep in mind when adopting a tag management system. You\u2019d best start with Julien Coquet\u2019s excellent slide show on what tag management is, and, more importantly, what it isn\u2019t<\/em>.<\/p>\n Julien Coquet<\/strong> – Tag Management Is Not A Miracle Cure<\/a> Daniel Waisberg<\/strong> – Google Tag Manager: A Step-By-Step Guide<\/a> Dave Fimek<\/strong> – The Google Tag Manager Datalayer Explained<\/a> Doug Hall<\/strong> – Google Tag Manager: Coding & Naming Conventions<\/a> Simo Ahava<\/strong> – Macro Guide For Google Tag Manager<\/a> Jeff Sauer<\/strong> – 5 Ways To Troubleshoot Your Google Tag Manager Installation<\/a> Google<\/strong> – Developer Guide – Google Tag Manager<\/a> Kristoffer Olofsson<\/strong> – A Guide to Google Tag Manager for Mobile Apps<\/a> Dorcas Alexander<\/strong> – Unlock the Data Layer: A Non-Developer\u2019s Guide to Google Tag Manager<\/a> Phil Pearce<\/strong> – Google Tag Manager Development Guide<\/a> Tracking is why people install Google Tag Manager. There are so many different ways to track efficiently (and inefficiently) with GTM, and these guides will get you on your way to making sure you collect all the relevant data from your visitors.<\/p>\n Julius Fedorovicius<\/strong> – 30+ Google Tag Manager Recipes<\/a> Justin Cutroni<\/strong> – Auto Event Tracking With Google Tag Manager<\/a> Pier-Yves C. Valade<\/strong> – A Guide To E-Commerce Conversion Tracking Using Google Tag Manager<\/a> Nicholas Blexrud<\/strong> – Google Tag Manager: Configuring Content Grouping<\/a> Yehoshua Coren<\/strong> – Universal Analytics and Google Tag Manager<\/a> Alex Moore<\/strong> – Classify your Blog Posts in Analytics Using Content Groupings<\/a> Claudia Kosny<\/strong> – Google Analytics Cross-Domain Tracking with Google Tag Manager<\/a> Jim Gianoglio<\/strong> – Cross-Domain Tracking with Google Tag Manager<\/a> Simo Ahava<\/strong> – Google Tag Manager: Track Social Interactions<\/a> Google<\/strong> – AdWords Dynamic Remarketing – Tag Manager Help<\/a> Simo Ahava<\/strong> – Why Don\u2019t My GTM Listeners Work?<\/a> This is where the real meat of GTM is. Since it\u2019s basically run-of-the-mill client-side scripting, you can do some crazy JavaScript magic to collect data in ways you wouldn\u2019t have thought possible. Of course, best practices must be observed, which is why you shouldn\u2019t try your hand at these before understanding the basics of client-side programming and markup languages.<\/p>\n Shay Sharon<\/strong> – Using Google Tag Manager to Enable Visitors to Opt-Out of Being Tracked<\/a> Simo Ahava<\/strong> – Universal Analytics: Weather As A Custom Dimension<\/a> Jon Meck<\/strong> – Make Phone Numbers Clickable (and Trackable!) Across Mobile Devices with JavaScript<\/a> Alex Moore<\/strong> – How To Upgrade To Universal Analytics: A Survival Guide<\/a> Doug Hall<\/strong> – Extending Auto Event Tracking in Google tag Manager<\/a> St\u00e9phane Hamel<\/strong> – YouTube Video Tracking with GTM and UA: A Step-By-Step Guide<\/a> Finally, here\u2019s a bunch of resources you can download or use online to make using and debugging GTM installations so much easier. I use almost all of these on a regular basis.<\/p>\n WASP<\/a>: Browser extension for debugging your tags.<\/p>\n GA Checker<\/a>: Online tool to check what tags are installed on your website pages.<\/p>\n Tag Inspector<\/a>: A more robust tool for tag crawling on your pages.<\/p>\n JSFiddle<\/a>: Test your JavaScript and your markup before adding it to your site.<\/p>\n Firebug<\/a>: Debugger extension for Firefox.<\/p>\n Google Analytics Debugger<\/a>: Google Analytics debugger extension for Google Chrome.<\/p>\n Tag Assistant (by Google)<\/a>: On-site tag debugger extension for Google Chrome.<\/p>\n![\"Google](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2014\/02\/suckerfish.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
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Google+<\/a>, Twitter<\/a><\/p>\nGeneral GTM Guides<\/h2>\n
EASY<\/strong> – Essential reading before you go along and implement Google Tag Manager on your website.<\/p>\n
EASY<\/strong> – A basic introduction to the tool itself.<\/p>\n
EASY<\/strong> – A nice, simple post explaining what the dataLayer object actually is.<\/p>\n
EASY<\/strong> – Best practices for Google Tag Manager deployment, naming & extending via custom code.<\/p>\n
EASY<\/strong> – A guide to macro use in Google Tag Manager by yours truly.<\/p>\n
EASY<\/strong> – Jeff goes over different ways to make sure your GTM installation is running smoothly.<\/p>\n
INTERMEDIATE<\/strong> – Google\u2019s own developer guide for Google Tag Manager. Essential reading.<\/p>\n
INTERMEDIATE<\/strong> – Implementation guide for mobile app tracking with Google Tag Manager.<\/p>\n
INTERMEDIATE<\/strong> – A nice guide to the dataLayer object in Google Tag Manager.<\/p>\n
ADVANCED<\/strong> – A very long and complex guide by Phil about GTM development.<\/p>\nTracking Guides<\/h2>\n
EASY<\/strong> – A handy list of Google Tag Manager tracking solutions in a well-presented, easily implementable format.<\/p>\n
EASY<\/strong> – An excellent tutorial by Justin on tracking events in GTM.<\/p>\n
EASY<\/strong> – How to setup your tags and your data layer to send eCommerce transactions to GA using GTM. This example uses Magento as the backend.<\/p>\n
EASY<\/strong> – Getting content grouping data sent with your hits is dead simple with Google Tag Manager.<\/p>\n
INTERMEDIATE<\/strong> – Excellent slide presentation on Universal Analytics and Google Tag Manager.<\/p>\n
INTERMEDIATE<\/strong> – Another great guide for using content groupings with Google Tag Manager.<\/p>\n
INTERMEDIATE<\/strong> – Excellent three-part guide to cross-domain tracking in Google Tag Manager.<\/p>\n
INTERMEDIATE<\/strong> – Jim\u2019s great tutorial for tracking cross-domain traffic with GTM and Google Analytics.<\/p>\n
INTERMEDIATE<\/strong> – Track social interactions in Google Analytics using GTM.<\/p>\n
INTERMEDIATE<\/strong> – Google\u2019s guide to deploying the AdWords remarketing tag on a website.<\/p>\n
INTERMEDIATE<\/strong> – Guide to event listeners and conflicts.<\/p>\nGTM Extensions<\/h2>\n
INTERMEDIATE<\/strong> – How to make your data layer persist using cookies, and how to use this to provide an opt-out of tracking for your visitors.<\/p>\n
INTERMEDIATE<\/strong> – Pull weather data from an external API, and send it to GA with your visit hits.<\/p>\n
INTERMEDIATE<\/strong> – Nice extension for tracking on-site phone number clicks.<\/p>\n
INTERMEDIATE<\/strong> – A great read on how you should use GTM to upgrade to Universal Analytics.<\/p>\n
ADVANCED<\/strong> – Not satisfied with the listeners that GTM provides? Create your own! Doug will show you how.<\/p>\n
ADVANCED<\/strong> – Track embedded YouTube videos on your site with GTM and Universal Analytics.<\/p>\nExternal Resources<\/h2>\n