What is the difference between google tag manager and google analytics?

What is the difference between google tag manager and google analytics?

I am reading about web analytic and came across GTM and GA.

It seems that GA is a service provided by Google which generates reports and statistics on website traffic. As per my limited understanding in order to generate these reports we need to perform some type of tagging at our end.

It also looks like that in GTM also we need to add some tags on our website.

So, if both GA & GTM are related to tagging what is the difference between them and why do we have two different products by google.

回答1

Google Analytics' main job is really just generating the reports and statistics about your website, like how many people saw your website yesterday, what web browser they used, which pages were the most popular, etc. The only way it can know this stuff is if you put a "tag" on all of your pages. The tag is the javascript code on your pages that runs on the visitor's browser, which tells Google Analytics' servers that they are visiting the page right now.

There's no problem if you just want to put the tag in the master file of your website so it shows up on all of your pages. Google Analytics can use the "referrer" parameter to figure out which page the visitor is on and can do all the simple stuff like counting page views.

However, you may want to track how many people use a specific feature. Maybe you want to group certain pages together or count some similar but different URLs as being the same page. Now you need unique tags for all these different features and groups of pages so Google can identify which feature or type of page got used or visited. Now it's complicated! You have multiple tags, and you only want the tags to "fire" sometimes (e.g. don't fire unless they click this button or use this feature.)

Google Tag Manager makes it easier to manage this mess of tags by letting you define rules for when your tags should fire. It also lets you test your tags to make sure they go off when you load the right page or click a certain button. This is done by putting the Tag Manager's code on your website instead of the actual tags, and as Crayon's answer points out, the tag manager outputs the tags for you. This gives you another cool benefit: you can change your tags and the way they work without actually changing the source code of your website (which you may not be able to do because of slow-release cycles) -- instead you just change it from the Google Tag Manager website, and it will spit out different code on your pages dynamically when they're loaded in the visitor's browser.

回答2

GA is the analytics tool that provides reports about activity on your site. GTM is a tag manager that can output tags based on defined rules. So for example, you can either implement your GA code on your site directly, or you can implement the GTM code and use GTM to output the GA code.

The main benefit of GTM (or any tag manager worth anything) is that you can use it for multiple tags or code snippets or pretty much anything you want. Usually you implement a data layer and a set of rules, and then within the tag manager interface, put a new tag or code snippet under those rules, using stuff from the data layer. That way for example, if you use GA today and then tomorrow want to also implement a different analytics tool e.g. Adobe Analytics, you can just do it within the GTM interface following the same rules and data layer you setup already.

So IOW GTM is a container in which to output other stuff. GA is one of the "other stuff" you'd output.

回答3

Google Analytics + Tags + Tag manager = Website Stats

Google Analytics is used to form Reports about the no. of people visiting your website, their location, the browser they are using. GA gets this information from the tags.

Tags for each and every action that happens on the website has a separate tag. For example, If I wanna play a video on a website, I need to click a button to play a video, that button has a tag. If I wanna make a purchase or need to submit a review form, I need to click buttons again those buttons will have a separate tag. So, the no. of time video button is clicked the tag assign with that buttons send the information to the Google Analytics to form stats.

Tag Managers As a word explains tag managers manage tags. For each website there are Hundreds and thousands of tags. Each tag needs to be assigned rules. For example: Take the previous example, If I wanna play a video on a website I'll click a button which will be having some tag. Now, this tag should know that it needs to be fired only when a user wants to play a video and for nothing else. For this certain set of rules are assigned to the tag. These rules are assigned by the Tag manager.

In a nutshell The tag manager assigns rules to the tag. Tag collects data the number of times there is action and sends it to Google Analytics.GA collects these data and forms stats, Showing User how the page is performing.

Google Tag Manager vs Google Analytics: What’s the difference?

Google Analytics In a Nutshell

Google Analytics’ main purpose is tracking data, storing it, and generating reports about your website, for example:

• how many people visited your website yesterday?
• what country are they from?
• how many pages did they visit per session?
• how many visitors bounced off your website (without performing any action)?
• which pages were the most popular, etc.?

The only way Google Analytics can track these user interactions is with the help of tracking code (also known as GA Javascript code snippet)  that must be placed on every page of your website.

Once an interaction occurs on a site (e.g. pageview), a Javascript snippet sends the corresponding data to Google Analytics.

There’s no problem if you just want to put the GA tag on all websites and track general information like page views, bounce rate, session duration, referrals, etc. However, you’re limiting yourself big time.

You may want to track how many people use a specific feature on your website/app. Or maybe you are interested in tracking sales, huh? In this case, you’ll need to add custom tags – Google Analytics events that send the data only when a visitor completes a particular action on your website. A good example here could be a form submission.

So what do you do here? Ask the developer to add that form submission tracking tag to a website (directly in the code), right? But what happens when there are tens or hundreds of interactions you are willing to track with Google Analytics?

Unfortunately, it will require a lot of developer’s time (and they are always very busy!). It might take weeks or even months until you can get your marketing tags up and running, which is a real bummer.

Google Tag Manager to the Rescue!

Google Tag Manager makes it easier to manage this mess of tags by letting you define the rules of when certain tags should fire, but first, let’s take a quick overview of GTM.

If you prefer video content, here is what GTM does in a nutshell:

Google Tag Manager is free software from Google that allows you to deploy various types of code (tags) to your website. Some good examples of a tag would be Google Analytics tracking code, Google Analytics event codes, Google Ads conversion script and remarketing tags. There are many more types of code that can be added to your website using GTM, including custom codes.

Google Tag Manager does not replace Google Analytics. Instead, it helps users to easily add Google Analytics tracking code (tag) to a website, deploy GA event code snippets and define rules when each code must fire.

Prior to GTM, GA tracking codes had to be hard-coded, usually by a web developer on each individual page. Having hundreds of events is very difficult when it comes to maintaining/updating them. But Google Tag Manager solves this problem because all your tags are stored in one place – your GTM account.

Imagine that Google Tag Manager is a Toolbox, where you keep all your tools: a ruler (Google Analytics), a hammer (Google Ads), etc.

Google Tag Manager also lets you test your tags to make sure they are triggered when you load the right page or click a particular button. Another great benefit: you can change your tags and the way they work without actually changing the source code of your website (which you may not be able to do because of slow-release cycles or the busy schedule of developers) – instead you just edit tags in GTM user interface and publish changes with a click of a button.

Google Analytics is not the only tag compatible with Google Tag Manager. Other examples include:

• Google Ads Conversion Tag
• Google Ads Remarketing Tag
• Facebook Pixel code
• Crazyegg tracking code
• Any other custom HTML/Javascript code.

What is the difference between Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager?

They are totally two different things that serve two very different purposes.

Google Tag Manager lets you manage various Javascript tracking codes (also known as Tags) on your website. Google Analytics tracking code is one of those tags. 

Google Analytics is an analytics tool that provides reports. Google Tag Manager has no reporting features. It is used to send data from your website to other marketing/analytics tools (including GA).

If you don’t want to use Google Tag Manager, that’s fine. You can still continue adding Google Analytics tracking codes directly to your website’s source code (but keep in mind that you, as a marketer/analyst, will lose a lot of flexibility).

Example

As I have previously pointed out, Google Analytics is a Tag itself. According to GA instructions, you need to place GA tracking code on every page of your website. A sample tracking code should look like this:

<!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics -->
<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=UA-83848370-1"></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('js', new Date());

  gtag('config', 'UA-XXXXXXX-X');
</script>

Google Tag Manager offers a default Google Analytics tag template, so setting it up is fairly easy. After you installed GTM on your website, go to Tags.

• Click New
• Click the Tag Configuration block and choose tag template – Google Analytics 4 Configuration
• Paste your GA4 data stream’s measurement ID
• Click the Triggering section.
• Choose All pages.

Google Tag Manager vs Google Analytics: Events

In Google Analytics, events can be found in various reports, e.g. Engagement > Events. They represent interactions that happened on your webpage. The data for this report is populated from Event hits that are sent from your website to Google Analytics’ servers. Prior to the birth of Tag Management systems (like GTM) Event hits had to be initiated by small Javascript codes placed on your website. Here’s an example:

gtag('event', 'login', {
  method: 'Google'
});

As you can see, this snippet of code contains event name and a parameter method). After a particular action occurs on your website (e.g. user log in to his/her account), the Google Analytics Event will be fired and the corresponding data will be passed onto Google Analytics.

Then you can see those events in the GA4 DebugView and, after a while, in other reports.

Now let’s talk about Google Tag Manager events. In order to see them enable GTM’s Preview and Debug mode by clicking the Preview button in the top right corner of Google Tag Manager interface.

Google Tag Manager vs Google Analytics: Conclusion

I hope this blog post made sense to you, although some parts of it might look really tricky. In a nutshell: GA is the analytics tool that provides reports about activity on your site. GTM is a tool that fires your tracking codes based on defined rules. In the end, you can either implement GA code on your site directly, or you can implement the GTM code on a site and use GTM to fire your GA code.

If you want more specifics, here are the main points that should be emphasized once more when it comes to comparing Google Tag Manager vs Google Analytics:

• Google Tag Manager does not replace Google Analytics. Instead, it helps users to easily add Google Analytics tracking codes (tags) to your website, deploy GA code snippets and define rules, when each tag must fire.
• Google Tag Manager is the middle-man of your digital analytics implementation on any website. If you want to add Google Analytics Tracking code or events, it’s recommended to do so with GTM, because you don’t need to do constant changes in the website’s code, therefore your deployment process is faster.
• Google Tag Manager can exist without Google Analytics and vice-versa. Your developers can hard-code Google Analytics codes directly to your website. But if you constantly need to publish changes, only developers can help you here. But with GTM, you could add/edit/remove your Google Analytics Tracking codes all by yourself. You can also use Google Tag Manager to add Facebook, Google Ads or other tracking scripts to your website (leaving Google Analytics behind).
• Google Tag Manager Events are used as triggering conditions that define when a certain tag must be fired. Google Analytics event in this context is a Tag. Example: GTM event formSubmission can be used as a trigger to fire a GA event tag called “form_submission”.
• You cannot create Google Analytics goals/conversions in Google Tag Manager. GTM sends events to GA. Goals/conversions are configured inside of Google Analytics where you instruct GA to turn some regular interactions into more important/valuable goals.

If you feel that the “Google Tag Manager vs Google Analytics” topic is still not clear, post a comment below and I’ll see how I can help you.

Google Tag Manager vs Google Analytics   measureschool

In this side-by-side guide, we’ll compare Google Tag Manager vs Google Analytics and show you the differences, plus when and how to use each of them to your advantage.

We’re going to cover the differences between these two tools, why they are often confused with each other, and how you can utilize them together or separately as part of your marketing strategy.

Here’s an overview of what we’ll cover in this guide:

• What is Google Analytics?
• What is Google Tag Manager?
• Why do marketers confuse Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager?
• Alternatives to Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager

What Is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a tracking tool that you can install on your website or mobile app. It will gather user data like pageviews and sessions, which you can analyze later in the Google Analytics interface.

You’ll start by installing a little bit of tracking code onto your website or app, which will then measure user data, and transfer it over to the Google Analytics platform. 

Once all this data is ready, we as marketers are able to view it through a polished user interface.

We can analyze, segment, filter, and move this data around giving us unique insights into our site and app users. This helps us make strategic business decisions based on these newfound insights.

What Is Google Tag Manager?

Google Tag Manager, on the other hand, is a Tag management system (TMS).

You get one central JavaScript snippet from Google Tag Manager and install that on all your pages. This single script replaces the multiple snippets that you would install individually for each tracking tool (like Google Analytics).

From there you use Google Tag Manager’s interface to easily add or remove other Google tools or third-party Tags—without messing with the site’s code over and over again.

There are several Tags that you may want to install through the Google Tag Manager (for which we have tutorials that guide you through the process).

Installing Google Analytics, which is a web analytics service, will provide statistics and basic analytical tools for marketing purposes and for the search engine optimization (SEO).

Facebook Pixel tracking will help you optimize your Facebook Ads campaigns and analyze your audience data.

The LinkedIn Insight Tag helps you track your conversions, website demographics, and retargeting for your LinkedIn ad campaigns.

Setting up a remarketing campaign in Google Ads will help you turn your leads into conversions.

And the Twitter Universal Website Tag provides Twitter conversion tracking and Twitter retargeting conveniently through one Tag.

In short, Google Tag Manager allows you to manage all of these tracking tools through one single, convenient, and user-friendly interface.

Why Do Marketers Confuse Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager?

Google Analytics is the tracking tool, while Google Tag Manager is the mediator between your website and the tracking tool.

In other words, Google Analytics collects, stores, and analyzes data. Google Tag Manager sends the data from your website to Google Analytics (or other tools) in the form of Tags.

So where does the confusion actually come from?

Well, first of all, they’re both Google products, and they’re both free!

But the confusion really lies in the implementation of Google Analytics. While many marketers install Google Analytics through Google Tag Manager, you can also install Google Analytics directly onto your site.

If Google Analytics is your only tracking tool, it makes perfect sense to install the code directly onto your website. You only need to fuss with one interface, and the configuration is very simple.

But if you’re using multiple tracking tools or want to use more complicated tracking events, you can also install Google Tag Manager on your website, then connect your Google Tag Manager account to your Google Analytics account.

The setup is a little more complicated, but it gives you more advanced tracking options and is more flexible with multiple tools.

So theoretically, you could have both Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager installed. 

This would be really poor implementation and could result in faulty data, but having two separate tools can confuse some marketers into thinking they need both.

In truth, either implementation works fine—it’s all a matter of your personal tracking plan. 

The main reason you would go with Tag Manager is if you plan to use other tool Tags like the Facebook Pixel, Google Ads, or the Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads) in the future.

If so, it would be best to use Google Tag Manager from the get-go, as it allows you to add many Tags in an organized fashion to your site.

Going with Google Tag Manager also makes sense if you require more complex tracking like button or scroll tracking. This would be pretty hard to do (but still possible) if you went with the direct implementation of Google Analytics.

Are There Alternatives to Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager?

There are plenty, but they aren’t all free and they aren’t all mainstream. It may be more difficult to get your whole team trained on tools that they may be less familiar with.

If you want to get a qualitative data view, a tool like Hotjar should be combined with Google Analytics. In our comparison of GA vs Hotjar, you can also find a 3-month free Hotjar business account! If you’re not sure whether you want to pay for this type of tracking service, this is a  great opportunity to try it out for free.

Mixpanel works great for event-driven analytics, which is perfect for mobile apps, web apps, and SAAS (software as a service) businesses. Check out our comparison of Mixpanel and Google Analytics to learn more!

Adobe Analytics excels in applying real-time analytics and detailed segmentation. 

And finally, Kissmetrics provides a clear picture of users’ activities on your website—and it collects detailed data of every visitor, which is useful for some businesses.

Summary

I hope we cleared up any confusion surrounding Google Tag Manager vs Google Analytics and how they should be used!

You could install your Google Analytics tracking code onto your page directly without using Google Tag Manager.

Or, you could install Google Analytics through Google Tag Manager if you plan on using other Tags, like the Facebook Pixel or Adobe Analytics Tag.

(But as a reminder, use one implementation or the other—not both!)

Essentially, Google Tag Manager is just the middleman between the implementation on your website and the tracking tool (Google Analytics), where the data gets sent.

I would recommend using both tools because they’re both free and they can help your business in different ways.

Are you using other tool Tags with the help of Google Tag Manager? Do you prefer to use Google Analytics with or without Google Tag Manager? Let us know in the comments below!