What is a tag?
A tag is a fundamental component in measuring customer engagement with your website after they click on an ad. It consists of a small snippet of code that is placed on every page of your website. When a customer interacts with your site by clicking on an ad, this tag’s code gathers valuable information about their actions and behaviours. It then transmits this data back to your Google Ads account for analysis and tracking purposes.
This enables you to understand how users navigate and engage with your website, providing insights into their preferences and behaviour. Additionally, tags can be customized to specify which actions are considered important conversions, allowing you to focus on specific metrics that align with your business goals. By implementing tags effectively, you gain the ability to tailor your data analysis and optimize your advertising strategy for improved performance and results.
Understanding Google Site-wide Tagging
The Google tag, previously known as the global site tag (gtag.js), offers a range of features to enhance your data quality and make the adoption of new features seamless. When using Google Ads, a “sitewide” tag is crucial for accurate campaign measurement. These tags enable first-party cookies that store the GCLID (Google click identifier) and AUID (Advertiser user ID) parameters. With the user’s ad click, a unique identifier is stored and utilized for accurate conversion measurement when the same tags fire on the conversion page.
Ensuring Accurate Conversion Measurement
If you’ve implemented one of Google’s sitewide tag solutions (like Google tag or Google Tag Manager) and your account is still being flagged, take the following steps to ensure accurate conversion measurement:
Enable Auto-tagging
Auto-tagging in your Google Ads account is essential. It automatically adds the GCLID and AUID parameters to your landing page when an ad click occurs. This information is then stored in a first-party cookie deployed by the sitewide tagging solution. Auto-tagging is compatible with ValueTrack parameters if you need to add additional parameters to your URL.
Ensure All Pages Fire a Sitewide Tag
All pages require a sitewide tracking solution to collect the GCLID and store it in a first-party cookie. Without this, clicks leading to some landing pages cannot be tracked. To check the landing pages used in your ads, click “Landing pages” from the page menu on the left.
Understand Conversion Tracking Compatibility Rate
The “conversion tracking compatibility rate” offers insights into the percentage of clicks where conversions can be tracked with a first-party cookie. A rate below 100% indicates that some conversions aren’t being tracked on certain browsers.
Deploy a Conversion Linker if Using Google Tag Manager
The conversion linker tag is useful for storing click data in first-party cookies linked to your domain, which is essential for effective conversion measurement. Ideally, the conversion linker tag should fire on all pages.
Understanding and implementing these steps can significantly enhance your website’s performance and conversion tracking capabilities. It’s essential to stay up-to-date with Google’s updates to ensure that you’re utilizing all available tools and features to optimize your online presence and advertising efforts.
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