A brief exploration into how to better your analytics through the use of Google Tag Manager. We cover; 1) User Behaviour - Bounce rate adjustment 2) First Party Cookies & Persistent Data 3) False Positives and Iframe Tracking

1. Bridging
Google Analytics
& Tag Manager
Daniel Wild | www.webfirm.com | #MelbSEO

2. More info
Dan Wild.
Head of Digital.
Webfirm.
GTM Aficionado
Dutiful Husband02
01
03
Overzealous Dog
Owner

3. Basics.
Google Analytics
Categorises and
displays website metrics
and dimensions to
assess marketing
channel success
Allows for tracking site
goals and events to
assess success and
ROI
Provides a breakdown
of audience data and
steps users take
through the site to
visualise UX roadblocks
Allows for advanced
filtering based on any
metric found or
added into Google
Analytics
Overview

4. Basics.
Google Tag Manager
Basically a code injector.
Has much more impact
on the site than Google
lets on.
Helps insure your tags
are always up to date
- avoids mass
updates after the next
ITP
Can be used to send
additional meta
information without the
need for a developer -
though having one
helps!
Sets up more robust
and dynamic event
tracking - no more
tags for each tel: link!
Overview

5. Why.
Tag Manager
Overview
Access to additional events Integrates with your
marketing tools.
Access to data outside of
GA’s scope
Variable based events

6. What you can
bring to Google
Analytics
Clarity of User Behaviour
Making sure that Google Analytics is recording what you
want in a way that is clear and consistent with your site
Utilising External Data Sources
Bringing external sources together for additional insight
into your Google Analytics & custom reporting
Smarter Conversion Tracking
Using web APIs and JavaScript to understand the full
extent of your on and off site conversions

7. Holds the data that your tags use.
Installing Tag Manager adds this to the
site and your tags interact with it.
Because dataLayers are not exclusive to
Tag Manager, your site may be using it
already.
The dataLayer can pass any information
that your site or browser has and is a
powerful tool to give your analytics more
clarity.
Key Concepts.
Tag Manager
Browser EventsThe dataLayer
Your browser is consistently listening for
web events that register your inputs to a
site and affect the UI accordingly.
Events can be triggered by your site and
server interacting, commonly this is
through something like AJAX.
You can access any of these events with
event listeners through Google Tag
Manager but they must be placed as a
Custom HTML Tag on all pages.
Overview

8. Variable Based
Tagging
Variables are used to
hold and save changing
values like UA codes,
Transaction IDs or Video
Titles.
Variables can help
you use conditional
logic to fire your tags.
Eg Video Percent
Creating custom
JavaScript variables
can allow you to
interact with the site’s
code to deliver things
Tag Manager can’t
natively do
Streamlining your use
of variables helps
save on the size of
GTM and makes your
site run quicker
(comparatively)
OverviewOverview

9. Behaviour
“If we have data, let’s look at data.
If all we have are opinions, let’s go
with mine.”
User Behaviour.
Fixing Google Analytics
Understanding how to manipulate and correctly
assess data from Google Analytics (Bounce rate)

10. Pogo sticking and bounce rate are independant
and your GA bounce rate does not affect rank!
More info
Correcting
Bounce Rate
SetupBehaviour
Bounce rate is a session with no
interactions - You can help dictate
what is an interaction and what isn't!
Creating events will help dictate what GA
considers bounced sessions.

11. More info
How To Fix
Bounce Rate
SetupBehaviour
Make sure you set your non-interaction
hit to false. If it is true, it does not affect
bounce rate
01
You can freely mess with your trigger group
to meet any kind of condition. You could use
the visibility of the footer instead
02
Always use a timer. You don’t want to
consider bots that are not absorbing
content
03
It’s always worth having a few “Scroll Depth”
triggers to get an idea of content
performance - I mean you are here already :)
04
Considerations

12. More info
How To Fix
Bounce Rate
SetupBehaviour
Scroll Depth for accurate content
Engagement

13. Data Sources
“The goal is to turn data into
information and information into
insight.”
Utilising
External Data Sources
Passing through additional information that your
site has through to Google Analytics
Utilisation of first party GA cookies

14. More info
Extra Goodness Through
Web APIs
SetupBehaviourDimensions
Using Tag Manager gives you
access to plenty of Web APIs
Data Sources

15. Persisting Data
Example
User navigates to
contact page and fills
a form
GA records the form,
but has no record of
the product
information
User views a
product page
Data Sources

16. Persisting Data
Output
User navigates to
contact page and fills
a form
GA records the form,
but has no record of
the product
information
User views a
product page
Data Sources
Value and product
name are saved in
storage
Data is saved and sent
through to Google
Analytics
Find what products
aren’t converting on the
page and fix it

17. A value set in the session storage will
remain until the browser is closed
Set session storage as a custom
javascript dimension through:
sessionStorage.setItem('key', 'value');
You can return your value through your
JavaScript variable as a label, value or
action in your GA tag.
Session Storage
DimensionsData Sources
Persisting
Data

18. More info
Cross Device.
Lifetime Value
SetupBehaviourDimensions
Utilise Google’s Cookies to
connect users to people through
CRM Integrations
Data Sources

19. More infoSetupBehaviourDimensionsData Sources
Sends event - cookie is
already in GA
Send Cookie through
Hidden Field
Using.
GA Cookies
Utilise Google’s Cookies to
connect users to people through
CRM Integrations

20. Set your cookie in a Custom
JavaScript Variable.
Save this to your
session.storage API
Setting First Party
Cookies
Plan your Cookie
- Are you using GA’s Cookie?
- Did you want to set your own?
Write it to a hidden form field
- do this through a custom
HTML Tag
Writing the cookie to a form
will update and send through
the CRM to connect Cookie
to user
DimensionsData Sources

21. Conversions
“With data collection, ‘the sooner
the better’ isn’t always the best
answer.”
Conversion Points
APIs & False Positives
Using Web APIs to stop false positives and get a
true understanding of your marketing ROI
How to track conversions between sites

22. More info
False Positives
Repeat Rates
SetupBehaviourConversions
Make sure you’ve set a condition on your
trigger to avoid duplications
01
Make sure your conversion path is clearly
laid out and your triggers are set up
02
If you have a ‘Thank You’ page, always
apply a referral path
03
Test it, sometimes you’ll be surprised what
your referral path is. It might go to an external
tracker
04
How To:

23. Tracking Conversions
Cross Site (Iframe)
More infoSetupConversions
Can’t be done without
access to the other
site

24. More infoSetupConversions
Tracking Conversions
Iframe (Iframe code)
Add a custom HTML tag using
the post message API,
Make a 2nd Container
1) Mainsite
2) Iframe Tracker
Use variables on your Iframe
to send more information.
Being respectful of PII
Configure an event to fire the
HTML Tag. When that action is
done it goes to your new site
(not GA)
Measure School Blog

25. More infoSetupConversions
Tracking Conversions
Iframe (Site Code)
Make dataLayer Variables to
read the messages you
send.
Add a Listener through
Custom HTML to listen to
your event. Fire on all pages
Use your dataLayer variables
to restrict the tag and fire
only when a specific form is
completed
Create a GA tag that fires
when your site receives the
message!
Measure School Blog

26. What you can
take away
Accurate Bounce Rate
Know just how your content and landing pages are
performing in reality.
Use Session API or Cookies
Be able to bring in content or values from other pages
than your converting landing page
Avoid False Positives and deal
with Iframes
Be sure you’re not double dipping and be more accurate
with the conversion data you are showing to clients or
stakeholders

27. All the memes
I didn’t use
Wrap Up

28. Dan Wild
Dan.wild@webfirm.com
@Danwildj
Thank you.
Questions, Coffee?
Wrap Up