What is Google Tag Manager?

For copywriters, truly knowing your audience is the first commandment. Crafting compelling content that converts requires a thorough understanding of who prospective customers are, what they care about, and how they interact with your brand. Historically, these behavioral insights remained opaque without robust analytics. Enter Google Tag Manager - an invaluable toolkit providing the rich user data copywriters need to resonate.

Google Tag Manager makes deploying the tracking snippets that feed systems like Google Analytics a drag-and-drop affair. Writers gain effortless access to how visitors navigate websites, where they drop off, what drives conversions, and more. Unprecedented visibility into the customer journey through tags managed in one intuitive platform. The result? Copy that resonates at each touchpoint informed by actionable behavioral and technical intelligence.

Website interactions like scroll depth, button clicks, and page abandonment transform into a dynamic profile of reader priorities and preferences. Ultimately, leveraging analytics instrumentation through GTM allows copywriters to align words with what an audience responds to rather than relying on assumptions alone. Your GTM data aquires the missing context to guide copy perspective. Stop guessing what customers want to hear - let their digital body language speak for itself.

I use this along with SERanking to build higher-level content for my business. It is the kind of thing a copywriter needs to be using.

When I develop copy, I dig deep into understanding who your audience is, and what frustrates them. I use this insights-driven approach to write benefit-focused copy that captures attention and a dab of storytelling copy.

An effective copywriting strategy also requires continually tracking and optimizing performance. I use analytics to see which parts of my copy content are most effective at driving conversions and engagement. These insights allow me to iteratively refine copy and improve results over time through A/B testing different approaches. My goal is copy that performs and captures attention.

Google Tag Manager simplifies marketing tag management system control and collaboration. Users create accounts, author tracking tags for tools like Google Analytics using variables, control publishing through preview mode, and leverage version control for a non-technical platform exhibiting key functionality letting teams manage website tags collectively, and with accountability.

Google Tag Manager works with Rest API and Javascript Tags

It all works with a Rest API system. The GTM API exposes several methods like 'gtm.start' and 'gtm.getEvent' which custom JS tags can utilize behind the scenes to more deeply integrate with other GTM functionality for complex use cases.

Any JavaScript tag created within Google Tag Manager can access values that are pushed to the Google Tag Manager data layer from other tags and triggers using the 'dataLayer' variable. This allows JS tags to incorporate dynamic data and react intelligently. Custom JavaScript tags also have access to a range of built-in GTM JavaScript functions like 'gtm.getElement' to select page elements or 'gtm.log' to output debug statements. This expands what’s possible directly in JS tags themselves.

Third Party Tags

Google Tag Manager provides a powerful solution for easily managing third party tags alongside your own internal website tracking tags - all within one intuitive interface after simply creating an account. Instead of relying on IT tickets, marketers can independently control the deployment of 3rd party ad tags, social media pixels, analytics scripts, and beyond through GTM's workflow containing the tags on your website.

For conversion tracking, tags from analytics tools like Segment, Heap and Hotjar integrate directly with your in-house data layer via GTM for consolidated yet still unique data streams feeding cross-channel insights. Marketers can also deploy third party advertising tags from networks like DoubleClick and Bing then optimize based on performance - no lengthy QA testing required thanks to GTM.

Syncing databases or matching customer identities gets easier as well by consistent handling in Google Tag Manager of identifiers like cookies and local browser storage when triggers match. Platforms such as CRMs, email services and attribution providers unite more cleanly with your first party data through GTM's simplified tagging interface.

Google Tag Manager and Google Ads

Google Tag Manager streamlines integrating Google Ads tracking through its powerful single tag methodology and handy browser-based Tag Assistant tool. Rather than pasting dozens of separate script tags all over the site code to enable Google Ads conversion tracking and remarketing, GTM provides a centralized and simplified approach.

Within Google Tag Manager, marketers can configure a single Google Ads tag containing all the required tracking parameters and conversion pixels for their campaigns. This single tag holds campaign IDs, remarketing audiences, and other identifiers needed for analytics and optimization. The GTM container snippet deployed across web pages automatically fires this tag as triggers are activated, eliminating engineering requirements.

With Google Tag Manager serving as the dedicated tag management engine, adding or customizing Google Ads tracking becomes completely self-serve. No more hassling developers to update dozens of tags. User-friendly GTM workflows also enable non-technical teams to take full ownership of implementing conversion pixels, adjusting remarketing criteria based on on-site behaviors, configuring UTM auto-tagging, and more.

Setting up a tag manager in your SEO strategy can significantly enhance your marketing efforts. This powerful tool allows you to manage and deploy marketing tags on your website without having to modify the code. By integrating Google Tag Manager into your copywriting strategy, you can track specific user interactions with Google Analytics. This includes clicks or form submissions, and gain valuable insights into your audience behavior while on your mobile. This data can help you tailor your content, optimize your conversion rates, and boost your success. The setup process is simple, making Google Tag Manager a necessary tool for any effective copywriting strategy.

Group of women around a table working on Google Manager analytics

How to Use Tag Manager to Track Performance

Google Tag Manager provides a powerful way to track and analyze your website or app performance with just a few clicks. Here are some of the key ways GTM can be utilized for performance tracking:

Event Tracking - Easily add event tags in Google Tag Manager to monitor user interactions like button clicks, link taps, form submissions, video plays, file downloads, and much more. Detailed event data reveals where users are most engaged.
Custom Metrics - Configure Google Analytics tags to collect key business data like revenue, lead counts, user registrations, checkout abandonment, and other KPIs. Gain insights into what's driving outcomes.
Page Speed Tracking - Page load speed has significant SEO and UX implications. Install page speed tags to monitor real user load times across devices and locations. Identify optimization opportunities.
Goal Tracking - Establish goal completions like sales conversions, newsletter signups, service requests, etc. Goal tracking spotlights your channels and campaigns’ ROI.
E-commerce Tracking - Understand true conversion value with enhanced e-commerce tags that expose granular user purchasing data, abandonment insights, and product performance analytics.

With tag management taken care of, GTM grants marketing and analytics teams the autonomy to rapidly deploy and iterate the tags that expose the site and app metrics that matter most. No dev resources are required. This agility results in improved insights and faster optimization towards KPIs.

Server-side Tagging with Google Tag Manager(GTM)

Google Tag Manager streamlines tag management through its intuitive web-based interface and user-friendly preview mode. To get started, simply create an account and set up a container for your site. Then leverage the UI to configure tags, triggers and variables completely through GTM's graphical, drag-and-drop workflow. This eliminates the traditional reliance on developers to manually deploy every tag change.

Out of the box, GTM employs easy browser-side or client-side tagging. This involves pasting a JavaScript snippet across your site pages so the GTM container can fire tags from the browser itself based on configured triggers. However, GTM also supports advanced server-side tagging for more complex use cases.

Server-side tagging refers to dispatching analytics tags from a website's API endpoints, running on the server before page content loads. This offers performance benefits and increased accuracy. But server-side tagging involves more initial development lift to integrate GTM into the backend infrastructure. Hand-coded server dispatching replaces browser-side tag loading.

Businesses can achieve sufficient flexibility through client-side tagging which simplifies setup. But for sites dealing with tech blockers, cross-domain data needs, or page speed optimization, GTM's server-side options unlock potential not viable via browser tags alone.

The best practice is actually combining both browser and server-side tagging for a hybrid approach. Rely on the client side for core website tracking while utilizing the server side selectively for expanded governance and resilience. GTM empowers configuring it all through one web interface.

Case Studies: Successful Copywriting Strategies

Spring Meadow Veterinary Clinic wanted to better understand how clients and potential new customers interacted with its website in order to improve the user experience and maximize conversion rates. By implementing Google Tag Manager (GTM), the clinic gained insights impossible to access before.

GTM enabled the clinic to track key website interactions. Event tags were deployed to capture form submissions like appointment requests or email newsletter sign-ups. Custom conversion tags helped analyze critical goals like call requests and online exam bookings. The clinic also monitored traffic sources, top-performing pages, and campaigns with GTM’s out-of-the-box templates.

Access to this data led the clinic to uncover website pain points. For example, analysis showed appointment requests spiked on Mondays so online booking forms were made more prominent that day of the week. Additionally, exit intent tags revealed time-stamped abandoning behavior which informed targeted exit offers.

With Google Tag Manager providing easy and customizable analytics, Spring Meadow Veterinary Clinic unlocked essential insights into client web activity. The clinic continues to use GTM data to tailor the site experience and maximize lead generation from all channels. Understanding the customer with GTM led to a 32% increase in website conversions over the past year.

Advanced Techniques: Further Optimizing Your Copywriting

Here are some advanced Google Tag Manager techniques to take your implementations to the next level:

Custom JavaScript - Write custom JS tags to collect data and implement complex functionality that standard tags don't offer out-of-the-box. Expand data layer, integrate third-party scripts, fire tags sequenced over time, and more.

Tag Sequencing - Use triggers, variables, and tag priority to chain the firing of multiple tags in a predetermined order to capture complex user flows.

calculated metrics - Pull in multiple values via variables to perform operations on tag data for new calculated metrics like revenue per user, lead quality score, etc.

Custom Dimensions & Metrics - Push tag data into custom dimensions and metrics in Google Analytics to better segment users and uncover insights.
A/B Testing - Run A/B tests directly in GTM to experiment with tag setup variations that improve KPIs using built-in tools like Google Optimize.
Audiences - Build audiences to create dynamic user segments based on behavior, location, technology, and other parameters to fire tags selectively.
Data Import - Import offline data like CRM email lists into GTM to sync online and offline data for unified profiles. Enrich profiles with increased context.

Google Tag Manager power users can implement sophisticated tracking functionality while maintaining simplicity through an intuitive interface - no IT or Dev resources required.

Future Trends in Copywriting

Google Tag Manager is set to have an increasingly significant influence on copywriting strategy and optimization in the coming years. Here are a few future trends to keep top of mind:

Personalization Powered by Analytics - With GTM, writers will gain unprecedented access to audience insights around interests, behaviors, and attributes. This data will fuel dynamic copy personalization down to the individual level at scale.

Automated Testing & Optimization - Copywriters will leverage GTM's robust A/B and multivariate testing abilities to effortlessly produce and validate multiple content variations aimed at different user segments. Top-performing copy will surface automatically over time.

Enhanced Collaboration - New feedback loops between writers, analysts and insights teams enabled by GTM data will facilitate increased collaboration to improve ongoing copy relevance tied to metrics like lead quality, conversion funnel progress and lifetime value.

So, copywriters who skillfully apply insights from tag management tools like Google Tag Manager to continually optimize their writing for hyper-targeted outcomes will become indispensable. Personalized, high-converting copy takes center stage, dynamically evolving based on the ever-expanding analytics capabilities platforms like GTM unlock.

Optimizing Your Copywriting Strategy with Google Tag Manager