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Having both hardcoded Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager on your site in and of themselves is not an issue. You'll ultimately need to make sure you're not duplicating your efforts and consequently duplicating your data. If you need to have both, then yes, you can. If you don't, then no you shouldn't.
Google Tag Manager (GTM) and Google Analytics (GA) are complimentary tools. GA collects data. GTM, on the other hand, is useful to implement and configure GA and customize event tracking of GA. You can use GA without GTM, but you may not be able to collect all the data you need.
GTAG supports only several Google's products. GTM supports much more. Gtag. js is used by tools like Google Analytics or Google Ads.
Google Analytics is the tracking tool, while Google Tag Manager is the mediator between your website and the tracking tool. In other words, Google Analytics collects, stores, and analyzes data. Google Tag Manager sends the data from your website to Google Analytics (or other tools) in the form of Tags.
But it looks like Google Tag Manager isn't going away anytime soon: it's very popular, and the number of free and paid GTM resources is also constantly increasing. Also, if you're stuck with GTM, you can always get help in various places, e.g. GTM subreddit, GTM community on Facebook.
GTM is a code-injection tool prone to security vulnerabilities. Since GTM is a code injection tool, it's not only blocked by ad blockers. It also opens up your site to exploitation because its ability to insert code could open the door to hackers.
You have to create separate GTM tags for each property. You cannot use a single tag to send data to multiple properties. If you want to send page views to two different properties, you will have to create two pageview tags. The same applies to events as well.
You might also set up different Analytics accounts for different groups or stakeholders. For example, if you administer Analytics tracking for two companies, you would set up a separate Analytics account for the websites owned by each company.
Google Tag Manager does not replace Google Analytics. Instead, it helps users easily add Google Analytics tracking code (tag) to a website, deploy GA event code snippets, and define rules when each code must fire. Before GTM, GA tracking codes had to be hard-coded, usually by a web developer, on each page.
You technically do need to put your Google Analytics code on every page. But, there are some easy ways to do this depending on how you are making your website. For example there is a plugin for WordPress, and you can use functions for hand coded websites.
You can run both GA3 and GA4 simultaneously on the same website. This is a very good idea for existing websites as you can get new AI-based insights from GA4 reports and get comparison reports with GA3 that include historical data. The sooner you add GA4 to your website, the better.
Drawbacks of Using Google Tag Manager
Since the turn-key tags for Google Tag Manager is quite limited, it would be difficult to implement web analytics if it's not Google Analytics. Likewise, in order to make your tags work you'll have to paste JavaScript code into a “custom HTML” tag in GTM.
There is no hard limit on the number of tags that you can deploy on a site using Google Tag Manager. However, the best practice is to keep the number of tags that you have as lean as possible. Note also that Google Tag Manager can only fire tags within the capabilities of the browser.
Google is not upgrading GTM at this time. However, the GA4 Migration does have implications on various tags deployed via GTM. Some tags that track Google Analytics events use Universal Analytics (the version of GA Google is sunsetting) as a Tag Type. Those tags will need to be converted to use GA4 instead.
Google Analytics 4 has replaced Universal Analytics
Starting July 1, 2023, Universal Analytics properties will stop processing data. They will stop measuring website traffic and reports will stop updating.
Privacy has been a big concern for consumers over the last few years and users' awareness of their privacy online has been increasing. The result of this has been changes in the law like GDPR in Europe and ITP. As we move into a cookieless world, Google has created GA4 with privacy front-of-mind.
In today's multi-device world, understanding user behavior across different platforms is crucial. Without GA4, you'll be limited in your ability to track user behavior across multiple devices and platforms, which could hinder your ability to create a seamless user experience and optimize your marketing efforts.
There is no need use GTM to set up Google Analytics 4 (GA4). For this type of installation, you should use GTAG. In this article, we will discuss how to set up GA4 without the use of GTM. We will cover the topics of creating an account, setting up the Analytics property, and adding the tracking code to your website.
Google Tag Manager is an essential tool for website owners, website managers and SEO professionals. It provides a simplified route to implement code onto a site without the need for a developer, or specialist coding knowledge.
Google Tag Manager (GTM) and Google Analytics (GA) are completely different tools that work together to get you the data you need to make smart marketing decisions. Google Tag Manager is used for storing and managing the code – it is literally a container.
As per Google Analytics' instructions, your tracking code should always be placed just after the website's opening <head> tag.