Some of our clients have asked us to explain the differences between Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager. At Digital Bridge, we use both of these tools when helping our clients manage their websites. Although the two work hand-in-hand, there are a lot of features that separate the two.
In short, Google Analytics is mainly used to generate website reports and analytics, whereas Google Tag Manager allows websites to easily manage tags. There’s a lot more to it, but the two tools work well together.
Key benefits of Google Tag Manager
Google Tag Manager is a type of tag management system. Tag management systems allow you to insert small pieces of JavaScript that allows you to capture data. Google Tag Manager is one of the leading tag management systems currently available worldwide because of its ability to seamlessly integrate with other Google products.
Without a tag management system, tags need to be updated by coders and developers. Google Tag Manager makes it easy for staff in any team or department to update tags. Some of the key benefits of Google Tag Manager include:
● Debugging features
● Ease of use for anyone in any department
● Making updates easy for the duration of your website’s life
Additionally, Google Tag Manager can provide important insights for marketers. Because Google Tag Manager allows the marketing team to take over tag management, it’s easy to monitor specific campaigns in order to understand what is and isn’t working in order to further optimise strategy. There is no middleman involved for capturing and analysing data.
Key benefits of Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free tool that allows you to track and analyse your website traffic. It is currently the most popular tool available for website analytics. It’s great for tracking how well digital marketing strategies are working, including paid social media campaigns.
Google Analytics works by putting code into your website. This code tracks who is visiting your site on four different levels: user level (actions performed by a user), session level (actions performed during a given session), pageview level (each page that is visited), and event level (which buttons were clicked, etc.). This information includes demographics as well.
Some of the key benefits of Google Analytics include the ability to:
● Easily target your online visitors
● Evaluate website traffic flow
● See what users are searching for on your site
● Easily generate and view data and reports
● Set up automated emails to yourself or anyone else on your team which contains data and analytics reports
So, what are the differences?
The main difference between Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics is that Google Tag Manager allows users to easily edit and update tags, whereas Google Analytics tracks these codes and provides the data.
Google Tag Manager can be used by just about anyone to make quick changes to website tags, JavaScript, and more. But Google Analytics isn’t used to create tags. Instead, it provides a platform to track and monitor these tags. Google created both of these tools in a way that allows them to work seamlessly together.
Learn more about Google Tag Manager
Want to learn more about Google Tag Manager and some of its best features? You can take a look at our recent blog post ‘What is Google Tag Manager and Do I Need It?’ to get a more in-depth understanding of this useful tool and how it can help your business.
Still have questions?
If you’re not sure how to set up Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics for your website, we would love to help. We are here to chat with you about any of your digital needs. Contact us today at hello@digitalbridge.com.au and or give us a ring at +613 8658 2434.
Digital Bridge is a web design and development agency based in Fitzroy, Melbourne. We specialise in custom-building web-based applications and software for Australian businesses.