These are 3 free and easy plugins for installing Google Tag Manager on a WordPress website:
1) Google Tag Manager for WordPress by Thomas Geiger
2) Head, Footer and Post Injections by Stefano Lissa
3) Header, Footer, Code Manager by 99robots
It’s important to make sure that only one method is used to install Google Tag Manager on your site.
If Google Tag Manager is installed multiple times on your site, then it’s possible that conversion tracking may become misconfigured.
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Video Transcription
0:05
Hey everybody this is Kelly I’m one of
0:07
the analysts here at Main Street ROI we
0:10
really enjoy helping small businesses
0:12
with their digital marketing uh one of
0:14
the ways that we do that is through our
0:16
marketing tip videos and today’s
0:19
marketing tip is about how to install
0:22
Google tag manager three different ways
0:25
uh if you’re using WordPress um so
0:28
there’s a lot of free tools available
0:30
that you can use um as far as plugins go
0:33
on
0:34
WordPress um honestly it depends on the
0:36
functionality of each of those plugins
0:38
based on your your current setup so if
0:41
it’s just basic imple implementation
0:44
then this video is going to be perfect
0:46
for you um we’re not going into too many
0:48
advanced settings right you know on this
0:50
on this particular video today so for
0:53
the first plug-in option um now I’m
0:56
going to show you on our main website
0:58
that we uh that we work with but on our
1:01
own website I mean uh but for the the
1:05
plugins here um there’s several ways you
1:08
could install it you can actually
1:10
download um the plug-in directly from
1:14
the developer of the plugin and upload a
1:17
zip file uh if you if you want to do
1:20
that you can go to plugins go to add new
1:24
uh and then there’s a little link here
1:26
that you can choose to upload your
1:28
plugin if if you were to go that route
1:31
then you would basically visit the page
1:35
for that particular plug-in um for
1:38
today’s video we’re going to be going
1:39
over Google tag manager for WordPress uh
1:42
by Thomas I think it’s guer Giger I’m
1:46
not
1:47
sure um but we’re also going to be
1:49
reviewing the head footer and post
1:52
injections plugin by uh Stefano Lisa
1:57
which this was at sat.net
2:00
um that’s where the actual parent page
2:02
is for this plugin so sat.net
2:06
um you can get their zip file by going
2:08
to the download button here and then the
2:11
last plugin we’ll be reviewing today is
2:13
the header footer code manager by 99
2:17
robots um again you can download the zip
2:20
file directly from the plug-in landing
2:22
page here on uh the wordpress.org site
2:26
or you can go back to your main
2:28
WordPress board and you can just search
2:32
for that particular plugin um in this
2:35
case I have already installed the the
2:38
plugins we’ll be reviewing today but
2:40
just for demonstration purposes you can
2:42
go in here and type in
2:46
GTM for WordPress as far as those that
2:50
uh abbreviation and you’ll find it right
2:53
here the GTM for WordPress by Thomas
2:57
gger I believe is how it’s pronounced
2:59
now it it does say it’s active here so
3:01
if you already installed it there’s not
3:03
going to be a button for install now but
3:05
if you have not installed it then you
3:07
can see that little button show up here
3:09
um to install it through this dashboard
3:12
um so that’s another option for you um
3:15
so with all without with all Ado here
3:17
let me go and open up our first plugin
3:22
um so you can actually visit the list of
3:26
plugins that are
3:28
installed by going to to installed
3:31
plugins and you can edit the settings
3:35
for that particular plugin directly
3:37
through this dashboard um so if you
3:40
scroll down you can see the Google tag
3:42
manager for WordPress oh and they’re
3:45
conveniently right next to each other
3:46
here in this list so we have the head
3:48
footer and post injections plug-in and
3:51
the header footer code manager all uh
3:54
within this within this dashboard so the
3:57
Google tag manager for WordPress plugin
3:59
has a settings button and so does the
4:01
header footer code
4:03
manager so you can click on those
4:05
settings buttons to get into those um to
4:08
those dashboards for those plugins now
4:10
with the head footer and post injections
4:14
plugin uh I believe you you go down to
4:18
settings and let me move my webcam
4:23
around here so I can actually see um so
4:26
you can go to settings here and
4:29
[Music]
4:31
then if you go up to Let’s see we have a
4:35
Google tag
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manager uh option showing right here
4:40
which that one is for the Google tag
4:43
manager for WordPress plugin and then we
4:45
have head and footer and that is the
4:49
plugin that does not have the option for
4:52
the settings directly from that plugin
4:54
dashboard so we can click on that and
4:56
we’ll start
4:58
there
5:00
um so this this
5:01
plug-in we are currently using on the
5:04
site um it has the Google tag manager
5:09
snippet in the header section here you
5:12
can see this tab it has head head and
5:15
footer and then you also have the
5:17
options of injecting code into other
5:20
areas of the site um for the purpose of
5:23
this video today we’re only focusing on
5:25
Google tag manager Snippets uh so you
5:28
can see we have the header portion of
5:33
that up here installed in Google tag
5:35
manager or for Google tag manager excuse
5:38
me we have the after the body tag
5:42
installed already here and then that’s
5:44
not uh that’s not Google tag manager so
5:48
you can find this code by going into
5:50
your Google tag manager container so you
5:53
would log in to tag manager.
5:56
google.com and visit the main container
5:59
for your website here this is assuming
6:02
that you’ve already created one um we
6:04
can do the creation and all of that in a
6:06
separate video um so if you go down to
6:10
install Google tag manager you can get
6:13
there by clicking on the admin tab uh I
6:17
believe when you Lo when you first log
6:18
in it’s going to send you directly to
6:20
your workspace so in order to get to
6:22
where you install the snippet of code
6:26
you go over to
6:27
admin and then it has install Google tag
6:30
manager right here so you’ll click on
6:32
that and this is where you will find
6:34
your snippet of code um they have pretty
6:37
straightforward instructions here so you
6:40
can copy this snippet of code there and
6:43
then you would go back to your plugin
6:46
and you would paste it here I’m not
6:48
going to do that since it’s already
6:50
there and then you would do the same for
6:52
the body tag so you would copy this code
6:55
there and then go to the after the body
6:59
tag area of this code and paste
7:04
it now you have a save button down here
7:08
so go ahead and select that once you
7:11
have entered in your snippet of code
7:13
there and you should be all set uh that
7:16
one’s super straightforward and and most
7:19
of these plugins are so one thing to be
7:22
weary of though is to only have this
7:25
code installed in one Plugin or one
7:29
method on your site uh if you have
7:32
duplicate Google tag manager code
7:34
Snippets then it’s not going to function
7:37
normally uh and you may you may actually
7:39
see some inflated conversion numbers
7:41
rolling in from that if you do have it
7:44
on uh multiple different plugins and
7:48
settings uh installed within the site so
7:50
just be be careful of that um so that is
7:55
it on the head and footer code
7:58
injections
8:00
plugin again uh this is the one that you
8:03
will find in the settings menu and you
8:05
can go to the head and footer option
8:08
here um so that’s good to go um now the
8:12
next one that we’ll cover is the Google
8:16
tag manager for WordPress plugin um it’s
8:20
also found within the settings menu or
8:23
you can actually pull up those settings
8:25
directly from the pl installed plugins
8:28
list
8:30
just scroll down to the Google tag
8:31
manager for WordPress option and click
8:34
on settings directly through there like
8:36
I showed you just a second ago um so
8:39
this one is also very straightforward um
8:42
there are additional settings that you
8:44
can that you can provision um in this
8:46
dashboard for the purpose of the video
8:48
today we’re just strictly focused on
8:50
getting the Google tag manager snippet
8:52
installed so on this
8:55
plugin um you actually have a Google tag
8:59
manager ID section here and you would
9:03
paste what your Google tag manager ID is
9:05
and you can find that by going back to
9:08
your Google tag manager account and if
9:11
you are signed into the Container for
9:14
your Google tag manager um code then you
9:18
can actually see the container ID right
9:23
here and so you would just copy that and
9:27
go back here
9:30
and it will tell you if the formatting
9:32
is incorrect so that was a good demo
9:34
there um but you paste that into the
9:38
Google tag manager ID field here is
9:41
where you can select for the container
9:43
to be on or off um so when you turn it
9:48
on it’s going to add the head and body
9:52
the header and the and the body snippet
9:54
of code to your site on on the back end
9:58
so it takes care of it for you and you
10:01
know for the purpose of this
10:03
demonstration I’m going to turn it off
10:04
because we already have this snippet of
10:06
code installed via another method so um
10:09
we’re not too concerned with putting
10:11
this one on and uh if you if you’re only
10:15
using this method then you would of
10:16
course leave that to to select uh or
10:19
selected to uh leave on selected sorry I
10:24
can’t talk today um so the container
10:28
code comp ability mode that one that one
10:31
is a little bit more advanced I I don’t
10:34
think this is necessary in most cases uh
10:37
of course you would need to investigate
10:39
this a little bit further depending on
10:40
your current setup so we’re not going to
10:42
cover that today uh but yes if you get
10:45
this pasted in there and you select that
10:47
to on go ahead and select save
10:53
changes and you should be good to go now
10:58
I am going to cover
10:59
the third and final plugin option uh
11:02
that we’re that we’re reviewing today
11:04
which is the header footer code manager
11:07
plugin and you can find that one by
11:10
going down into your menu options
11:13
here it’s a little bit further down the
11:15
page generally um so on this left hand
11:18
side menu you can see hfcm for the
11:21
header footer code manager let me move
11:24
my webcam out of the way
11:27
again and then you can actually add new
11:30
directly from the sidebar menu but for
11:32
the purpose of the video we’ll just go
11:34
ahead and select the hfcm plugin and
11:38
pull up the full dashboard
11:41
here my camera again so right now as you
11:45
can see we do actively use this plugin
11:47
as well um currently we only have a
11:50
Facebook pixel code installed with this
11:53
plugin and if you want to add a Google
11:57
tag manager code SN snippet here then
12:00
you can go up to uh add new snippet at
12:04
the very top of this plugin dashboard or
12:08
as I showed you just a moment ago you
12:11
can actually select add new snippet
12:13
directly from your side
12:16
menu uh so we’ll go up here and we’ll
12:18
select add new
12:26
snippet and then for your snippet name
12:30
this is of course up to you um I always
12:32
like to keep my naming conventions
12:34
simple though so that you know exactly
12:36
what’s in there so you can put Google
12:38
tag manager header and then this is just
12:41
going to be a demo we’re not going to
12:43
actually go live with this snippet of
12:45
code um but it’s technically JavaScript
12:49
you can actually select HTML or
12:51
JavaScript here it’s still going to
12:53
function similarly um I don’t I don’t
12:55
believe it affects it in any way and
12:58
then we are going to want this sitewide
13:01
we’re not excluding any Pages this one’s
13:04
going to be for the header we’re going
13:06
to show it on all
13:07
devices and for the purpose of this
13:10
demonstration we’re going to inactive uh
13:12
if you were to be installing this for
13:14
the first time and it’s the only way
13:16
you’re installing the code then you
13:17
would leave that as active but we’ll
13:20
we’ll select inactive for now um so yep
13:23
just go back to your Google tag
13:26
manager and then click on install Google
13:28
tag tag manager and it’s the same method
13:31
as before you would paste your header
13:32
code that’s required into this field
13:35
here and go down to click on
13:39
Save and then you’ll find it in your
13:42
list
13:43
here when you go back um so it’ll be
13:47
there now we’ll also click on the new
13:51
snippet option again because we need to
13:53
add the additional required snippet from
13:56
uh from Google we’ll copy this this one
13:59
that goes after the body tag um now I’m
14:03
sure you notice this actually does not
14:05
give us um the option to put it after a
14:09
closing body tag however we have noticed
14:13
in the past not just with um our website
14:16
but also across other client uh
14:18
WordPress sites that if we select footer
14:22
that the Google tag manager snippet
14:23
still performs the same um so we’ll go
14:27
to Google tag manager
14:29
and then we’ll just say body and then
14:31
this is our
14:32
demo and we can select JavaScript
14:36
here we’re not excluding any Pages we’re
14:40
going to put that in the
14:42
footer and I believe I already copied
14:44
that snippet and we go to paste it here
14:48
and for just remember if if you need
14:51
this code on your website and this is
14:53
the only one keep it as active we’re
14:55
going to go inactive for this video
14:56
though um and then click on and
15:03
save and to see the installed um codes
15:08
that you have with this plug-in you can
15:11
just press uh the back button after
15:13
you’ve installed one but we’ll just
15:14
click on the
15:16
hfcm uh abbreviation for it down there
15:19
and then you’ll
15:21
find the Google tag manager header and
15:24
Google tag manager body uh Snippets that
15:28
we installed here now you also have the
15:30
option of of course you can select
15:33
active whenever you’re when you’re first
15:34
installing it but you do have the option
15:36
of turning this on or off uh directly
15:40
from the plug-in dashboard as well um so
15:44
we’ll just leave those off for now and
15:47
then one one way that we will check to
15:51
make sure those Snippets are installed
15:53
correctly is to go uh through the Google
15:56
tag assistant browser
15:59
extension and it’s pretty simple
16:01
straightforward to download that um you
16:03
can just do a search when you’re
16:05
installing any browser extensions for
16:07
Google tag assistant and it will show
16:11
you it will show you what is installed
16:15
on the site as far as the the various uh
16:17
code Snippets that you have um and we
16:21
won’t we won’t really go over that in
16:23
this video but I I do hope you found
16:25
this helpful those three plugins are
16:27
free tools
16:29
that uh you you don’t have to pay out of
16:31
pocket for um you can get those
16:33
installed on your WordPress website
16:35
today and start tracking with Google tag
16:38
manager instantaneously so uh you know
16:41
of course once you get all your
16:42
conversions set up in Google tag manager
16:44
which is for another video um but uh I I
16:47
do hope you found this helpful uh we do
16:50
enjoy helping all of the small
16:52
businesses with their digital marketing
16:54
efforts as I mentioned before uh we also
16:57
enjoy partnering with other agencies to
16:59
help with their clients so um if you did
17:03
find it useful there’s a free checklist
17:05
that you can download here at the end of
17:07
the video um in the description below
17:09
and until next time uh thank you for
17:15
watching
