Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics are two popular Google platforms that various digital marketers and web developers use. To some, they may seem similar and the distinct purposes of these two platforms may be unclear. As a web design agency in Singapore, our work requires us to use both frequently, and thus with our knowledge, we will explain the basic differences between them.
Google Analytics (GA)
This is the more widely known of the two platforms. In a nutshell, Google Analytics is used for collecting data. It can collect, store and generate reports for websites. Examples of such data can be:
- How many people visited your site
- The geographic location of your customers
- Which pages were most popular on your website
However, the only way that Google Analytics can track these statistics is by the use and help of a tracking code, also known as a GA JavaScript code snippet. For the tracking to work, there needs to be one code on each separate webpage. You can also put the GA tag codes on websites to track general information like page views, bounce rates, session duration etc, but this is just a small portion of what you can do.
Some people may also want to track a specific feature or statistic on their website such as sales. If that is the case, one would need to add custom tags. Google Analytics events only send the data once a customer or users finishes a certain tag. In our web design agency, one of our web developers will help create custom tags to do what we wish. Although this may add to the development time of your project, it will definitely help to boost your tracking and marketing efforts.
Google Tag Manager (GTM)
Now Google Tag Manager is a different service, but it goes hand in hand with Google Analytics to help enhance your digital marketing. Google Tag Manager is a free software by Google to deploy various codes and tags to your website. Examples of tags would be Google Analytics tracking codes, Google Analytics event codes, Google Ads conversion scripts and even custom codes. Google Tag Manager does not replace Google Analytics but instead helps users add these tracking codes and tags to websites.
The Perfect Pair To Help Boost Your Digital Marketing Efforts
Hopefully, the differences between these two platforms are now clearer to you. They compliment each other nicely and if used together well, can become a powerful tool in your digital marketing strategy. Stay tuned for future posts where we give a more in-depth look into the individual platforms. For more information on our digital marketing services or how to use these platforms to your advantage, don’t hesitate to drop us a line! As a web design agency in Singapore, it is our wish to help strengthen the online presence of other businesses through our services.
