In this detailed guide, we outline ZappyPeople’s approach to conducting a Google Tag Manager (GTM) setup audit. Whether you’re conducting an audit yourself, managing outsourced resources, or considering hiring us, this guide will help ensure a robust and compliant GTM setup.
Google Tag Manager is an essential tool many organizations have deployed to manage digital data distribution, and to support optimization of marketing efforts with accurate, consented data collection. Our audit process is designed to maximize the efficiency, accuracy, and performance of your GTM setup.
Google Tag Manager Setup Checklist (Excel / Sheets)
To assist you in keeping track of your GTM audit, we offer a free project management dashboard and task list.
This tool will help you organize and track each step of your audit efficiently over time.
Download the Google Tag Manager audit checklist for free.
Here’s a breakdown of the audit process our consulting team goes through for Google Tag Manager:
GTM tags audit: Initial Assessment
The initial assessment of a GTM audit focuses on evaluating the current setup and structure of your Google Tag Manager account. This foundational step is crucial for identifying any immediate issues and setting the stage for a more detailed analysis.
Account Structure Review
We begin by assessing the overall structure of your GTM account. This ensures logical organization and manageability, with attention to:
- Logical Structure & Manageability: Verifying that the setup supports efficient management.
- Environment Separation: Ensuring appropriate separation for different environments (e.g., development, staging, production).
- Naming Conventions: Reviewing the use of consistent and clear naming conventions across the account.
- Folders for Organization: Evaluating whether folders are used to organize tags, triggers, and variables properly.
Detailed Analysis
Performance and Additional Considerations
We focus on performance and reporting mechanisms, including:
- Page Load Impact: Checking the effects of the GTM setup on page load performance and minimizing delays.
- Reporting on Issues/Errors: Ensuring clear reporting methods for troubleshooting and monitoring errors.
- Documentation: Reviewing documentation to ensure future maintainability and smooth handoffs.
Consent Management
Compliance with data privacy regulations is critical. We review your integration with a consent management platform and ensure:
- Integration with Consent Management Platforms: Verifying that user consent is respected, including opt-out abilities and data access requests.
- Consent Mode Configuration: Ensuring the GTM setup respects user preferences.
- Consent Flows: Auditing tag behavior to ensure it aligns with user consent choices.
Container Snippet Validation
We confirm that the GTM container snippet is correctly installed and optimized for performance:
- Snippet Installation: Ensuring the container snippet is installed on all website pages, including subdomains and web apps.
- Asynchronous Loading: Verifying that snippets load asynchronously to improve page speed.
- Duplicate Snippets: Checking for duplicate snippets to avoid tracking issues.
Functional Testing during GTM tracking audit
Cross-Domain Tracking
If your website spans multiple domains, we review the cross-domain tracking setup to ensure proper functionality:
- Linker Parameters: Verifying that linker parameters are configured to track users across domains.
- Testing: Conducting tests to ensure cross-domain tracking is working as expected.
Data Layer Assessment
The data layer is crucial for passing information to tags. We ensure:
- Data Layer Implementation: Confirming the data layer is correctly implemented on relevant pages.
- Event Pushing: Verifying that important interactions push relevant events to the data layer.
- Consistent Structure: Ensuring the data layer has a consistent and understandable structure.
- Validation: Checking the accuracy of the data passed through the data layer.
- No Redundancies: Identifying and removing conflicting or redundant data pushes.
Marketing Integrations
Integration with external platforms like Google Analytics and Facebook is essential for effective tracking.
We check:
- Platform Integration: Ensuring the correct setup for integrations with external platforms.
- Ongoing Monitoring: Reviewing the process for ongoing monitoring and alerting of tag health and data flow.
Server-Side Tagging
For advanced setups, we assess server-side tagging to ensure better privacy compliance and performance:
- Server-Side Container Setup: Validating the setup of the server-side container and its connection to client-side tags.
- Configuration: Checking the configuration of server-side tags for accuracy.
- Performance Optimization: Ensuring the server-side tagging is optimized for privacy and page performance.
Tag & Trigger Validation
Audit Tags
We conduct a full inventory and check for:
- Correct Tag Types: Ensuring the correct types of tags are used for tracking purposes.
- Configuration: Verifying tracking IDs, conversion values, and other key parameters.
- Firing Conditions: Ensuring tags fire on the correct triggers.
- Tag Efficiency: Identifying and removing duplicate or unused tags.
- Tag Sequencing: Checking the tag firing sequence to minimize impact on page load performance.
Triggers
Triggers control when tags fire, and we validate:
- Trigger Conditions: Ensuring trigger conditions are specific and correct for the intended actions.
- Trigger Exceptions: Checking the appropriate use of exceptions to prevent unwanted tag firing.
- Efficiency: Removing unused or redundant triggers.
Variables
Variables simplify tag management. We review:
- Built-In Variables: Verifying the appropriate use of built-in variables.
- Custom Variables: Ensuring custom variables are configured correctly and used effectively.
- Data Layer Variables: Checking the use of variables that interact with the data layer.
- Removing Duplicates: Identifying and removing duplicate or unused variables.
Final Steps of GTM Tracking Audit
User Permissions & Security
Protecting your GTM account from unauthorized changes is crucial. We review:
- Permissions: Checking user permissions to ensure only authorized users have access.
- Data Integrity: Ensuring permissions are set up to maintain data security and integrity.
Version Control & Workspaces
Version control is key to maintaining a stable GTM setup. We assess:
- Version Testing: Ensuring proper testing of new versions before publishing.
- Clear Descriptions: Checking for detailed version descriptions to maintain clarity.
- Workspace Management: Reviewing the use of workspaces to manage concurrent development and prevent disruption to live environments.
- Workspace Cleanup: Identifying and cleaning up unused workspaces.
Recommendations and Implementation
Reporting & Recommendations
At the end of our audit, we provide a detailed report that includes:
- Audit Summary: An overview of key findings and performance issues.
- Actionable Recommendations: A prioritized list of steps to improve your GTM setup.
Implementation Support
Our team is available to help implement these recommendations, ensuring that your GTM setup is optimized for accuracy, performance, and compliance.
GTM Tracking Audit from ZappyPeople
Our GTM Tracking Audit dives deep into your Google Tag Manager setup to ensure it’s running at peak performance. Whether you’re looking to fine-tune your existing setup or address specific issues, our audit provides a clear, actionable roadmap to improve and maintain your GTM configuration.
In addition to our in-depth Google Tag Manager Audit, ZappyPeople offers Speed Audits with Action Plan across 20+ categories, giving you quick, actionable insights into key areas of your Martech stack.
Each Speed Audit is priced at $195 and can be combined for more comprehensive coverage, ensuring your systems run smoothly and efficiently.
Contact us today to schedule your GTM Tracking Audit or book a free alignment call to discuss your challenges and get valuable insights on optimizing your Martech stack.
