Google Tag Manager Tip #1: Clear naming conventions.

This tip is about the importance of clearly naming your tags in Google Tag Manager (GTM). After setting up and optimizing multiple GTM containers for various customers and industries, it turns out that misnaming often leads to confusion about the purpose of tags and unnecessary errors.

So what is the ideal course of action? Herewith our 3 suggestions:

  1. Product: Always clearly state which product the tag was created for (e.g., Google Analytics, Facebook Ads).
  2. Purpose: Clearly state the purpose of the tag (e.g., event, conversion).
  3. Interaction (optional): If relevant, indicate which interaction is involved (e.g., click, form submission).

Examples:

  • Google Analytics 4 Event Tags
    • GA4 – Event – CTA – Mail contact
    • GA4 – Event – Contact form
    • GA4 – Ecommerce – Event – Add_to_cart
    • GA4 – Ecommerce – Event – Purchase
  • Microsoft Ads
    • mAds – Conversion – Contact form
    • mAds – Conversion – Demo form
  • Facebook Ads
    • FB – Pixel
    • FB – Conversion – Contact form

By following this convention, it is immediately clear what product the tags are set for, what the purpose of the tag is, and possibly what interaction this tag relates to. This makes managing your GTM container a lot clearer and helps prevent errors.

Variables and triggers

For variables and triggers, we use the same methodology. We do not name specifically for which product, but rather the type of variable or trigger with the element or event involved clearly named.

Event triggers:

Event – Purchase
Event- Cookie_consent_update

Form submission triggers:
Form submission – gform_1
Form submission – Newsletter

Link click triggers:

LinkClick – mailto
LinkClick – count

Variables
cjs – getEmail -> custom javascript variable
dlv – user_id -> user_id variable from the dataLayer
url – utm_campaign -> url query of utm_campaign
AEV – document.title -> Auto Event Variable from the DOM.

Looking for help with Google Tag Manager setup, or want us to check your GTM container? Contact us.

Author: Paul Gudde

Function: Founder

Active since: 2007

Number of items: 24

LinkedIn profile

Specializations: Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Ads, Google bigquery, Server Side Tagging

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