What are tags, triggers and variables within Google Tag Manager?

Tags

Tags are the collections of established tracking rules that you set up. A tag consists of a tag configuration, a trigger and variables may be present. A tracking rule consists of two questions: what is triggered and at what site interaction is it triggered. What is triggered is answered by the tag configuration. At which interaction this is activated is determined by the trigger.

But what are tag configurations, triggers and variables? And how do these work together within tag to control your tracking? In the image below, you can see how a tag is made up of a tag configuration, trigger and variables.

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Tag configuration

So in the tag configuration, you set what you want activated when the tag is triggered. This can be an HTML script, this can be the creation of an event for a third platform or configuration with a third platform or server. In the image above, this is an event created for GA4 with the event name "purchase.

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Triggers

A tag configuration is only triggered based on the trigger. Triggers determine when to fire a tag based on a specific site interaction such as page views, clicks or form submissions. In the image above, this is a trigger that is activated the moment a "purchase" event takes place in the site's DataLayer.

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Variables

Variables are the dynamic elements that personalize your tags and triggers. They allow you to retrieve and use information such as page paths, user IDs or custom events from your DataLayer. For example, in the image above, the GA4 Measurement ID is a constant variable, the event parameters are also constant variables, and the variables under the values of the event parameters are retrieved from the DataLayer.

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Setting Tags with Server-Side Tagging

Through Google Tag Manager, you can set up tags on a Web container to track your site traffic through client-side tagging. But with client-side tagging, you won't be able to measure many of your conversions and events due to the interference of browsers, operating systems and AdBlockers. To get your tracking right you will need to implement server-side tagging. Your website data deserves the accuracy and flexibility offered by this advanced tracking method.

With this basic knowledge of tags, triggers and variables understood, you will be able to keep track of server-side tagging yourself after implementation. Let Adpage do the implementation for you, and with the knowledge above, you can then make that tracking setup all your own. Contact us to find out if AdPage can also set up server-side tagging for you.