The Role of Conversion Linker Tags with Google Tag Manager

Ever wondered how to ensure your Google Ads accurately track conversions across devices and user journeys? Look no further than the Conversion Linker Tag with Google Tag Manager (GTM)! This powerful tool bridges the gap between your website and Google Ads, ensuring you get a clear picture of your ad performance. In this article, we’ll delve into the world of Conversion Linker Tag with GTM, exploring what they are, your linker options, and the step-by-step process of setting them up. We’ll also explore how to maximize your conversion tracking with GTM, empowering you to make data-driven decisions for your online advertising campaigns.

Key Takeaways

• Understanding Conversion Linker Tag
• What are the Linker Options
• Setting Up Conversion Linker in Google Tag Manager
• Maximizing Conversion Tracking with Google Tag Manager

Understanding Conversion Linker Tag

What is Conversion Linker?

Conversion Linker is a tag in Google Tag Manager that helps accurately track conversions originating from ad clicks. It store click data in first-party cookies associated with your domain. This functionality helps ensure that conversions are measured effectively. Deploy a Conversion Linker tag on any page where visitors may land after they click an ad or promotion.

Importance of Conversion Linker

This tag plays a vital role in accurately measuring conversions generated by your online ads, particularly in the face of evolving privacy regulations and cookie limitations. Here’s why it’s important:

Improved Accuracy:

• Tracks conversions across sessions: It captures click information (GCLID and UTM parameters) from ad clicks and stores them in your own domain’s cookies. This ensures conversions are attributed to the correct ad, even if a user visits and converts later, across browser sessions.
• Works with privacy restrictions: As third-party cookies are phased out, this tag utilizes first-party cookies for more reliable tracking, ensuring you don’t miss valuable conversion data.

Enhanced Insights:

• Better ad performance analysis: By accurately linking conversions to specific ads, you gain deeper insights into which campaigns and keywords are driving results. This allows for data-driven decisions on budget allocation and campaign optimization.

Future-proof Measurement:

• Adapts to cookie limitations: The reliance on first-party cookies makes this tag less susceptible to future changes in cookie regulations, helping you future-proof your conversion tracking.
• Compatibility with Google marketing products: It seamlessly integrates with other Google marketing tools like Google Ads and Google Analytics, providing a unified view of your performance data.

How Conversion Linker Works

It acts like a bridge between your ad clicks and conversions, ensuring they’re accurately attributed and measured. Here’s how it works:

1. Click Happens:

• A user clicks on your ad, and the landing page URL typically contains information about the click (GCLID and UTM parameters).

2. Conversion Linker Tag Activates:

• You have a Conversion Linker tag installed on your website, usually on all pages where conversions might happen.
• When a user with click information in their URL lands on your site, the tag detects it.

3. Click Information Storage:

• The Conversion Linker tag extracts the click information from the URL and stores it in a first-party cookie on your domain.
• This cookie is associated with the user’s browsing session, not third-party cookies that are more prone to restrictions.

4. Conversion Occurs:

• Later on, if the user performs an action you’ve defined as a conversion (e.g., purchase, form submission), another tag (like Google Ads conversion tag) fires.

5. Attribution Made:

• The conversion tag retrieves the click information stored in the cookie.
• It uses this information to attribute the conversion to the original ad click, even if it happened in a different session.

Linking on All Page URLs: This option captures click data even before users accept cookies, ensuring broader attribution.

What are the Linker Options

In google tag manager the Conversion Linker tag has three Linker options. So let’s dive into what are they Linker Options:

Enable linking on all page URLs:

By default, the Conversion Linker tag only tracks ad clicks on landing pages. But what if users land without accepting cookies, then consent later? Enabling “Linking on All Page URLs” preserves the click ID in the URL, ensuring you capture conversions even before cookie consent.

This is especially useful if:

• You fire the Conversion Linker tag after consent is given.
• You want accurate conversion tracking even with evolving privacy regulations.

Enable linking across domains:

Managing a website with landing pages on one domain and conversions on another? “Enable Linking Across Domains” in your Conversion Linker tag is your secret weapon! This feature seamlessly tracks user journeys across different domains, ensuring you capture every valuable conversion.

Here’s how it works:

• Tick the CheckBox Button: Activate “Enable Linking Across Domains” in your tag settings.
• List Your Domains: Tell the tag which domains are involved in the user journey. Just separate them with commas (e.g., abc1.com, abc2.com).
• Tag Adds the Touch: The tag automatically adds a special parameter to links and forms connecting your domains. This acts like a bridge, ensuring the cookie (storing the click ID) travels smoothly across different subdomains.

Override cookie settings (advanced):

The Conversion Linker tag usually does a great job with its default cookie settings, but for power users, there’s an “Override cookie settings” option for specific situations. Here’s when it might be useful:

• Conflicting Cookie Names: Already have cookies named _gcl_au and _gcl_dc? Override to avoid conflicts.
• Multiple Cookie Sets: Need different sets of cookies for different purposes? Override to manage them separately.
• Subdomain Isolation: Don’t want ad click info from one subdomain affecting another? Override to isolate cookie data.

Here’s what you can adjust:

• Name Prefix: Change the default _gcl prefix to something unique (e.g., _gcl2). Remember to update related tags to use the new prefix.
• Domain: By default, cookies are set on your main domain. Override to restrict them to a specific subdomain (e.g., shop.yourdomain.com).
• Path: Cookies are usually set at the root level (/). Override to limit them to a specific subdirectory (e.g., yourdomain.com/clothing).

Setting Up Conversion Linker in Google Tag Manager

Setting Up Conversion Linker Tags

Setting up Conversion Linker Tags in Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a straightforward process that can significantly enhance your conversion tracking capabilities. The first step is to ensure that your GTM container is properly installed on your website. Once verified, follow these steps to implement Conversion Linker Tags:

Step 1: Open your google tag manager container

Navigate to your GTM dashboard and select your website’s container.

Step 2: Set up Tag

Click on ‘Tags’ and then the ‘New’ button to create a new tag.

Step 3: Conversion Linker Tag

Choose ‘Conversion Linker’ as the tag type from the list of available tag types.

Step 4: Configure the Tag and Trigger

Configure the tag settings according to your specific needs, such as selecting which pages the tag should fire on.

Step 5: Setup the Trigger

Add any necessary triggers to determine when the tag should be activated.

Step 6: Save the tag and publish the changes to your website.

Remember, the Conversion Linker Tag works by capturing and storing click information in cookies, which can then be used by conversion tags to attribute conversions accurately. Proper setup is crucial for reliable data collection and analysis.

Troubleshooting Conversion Linker Tag Issues

When implementing Conversion Linker Tags in Google Tag Manager (GTM), it’s not uncommon to encounter issues that can hinder accurate tracking. Identifying and resolving these issues promptly is crucial for maintaining data integrity.

• Ensure that the Conversion Linker Tag is triggered on all relevant pages, particularly on the thank-you or confirmation pages after a conversion.
• Verify that the tag fires before any related conversion tags to capture the necessary cookies.
• Check for any errors in the GTM debug mode and resolve them according to the error messages provided.

Maximizing Conversion Tracking with Google Tag Manager

Integration of Conversion Linker Tags with Other Tags

Integrating Conversion Linker Tags with other tags in Google Tag Manager (GTM) is important for a cohesive tracking strategy. The synergy between Conversion Linker Tags and other tracking tags enhances the accuracy and reliability of conversion data.

When setting up Conversion Linker Tags, it’s important to consider their interaction with:

• Google Analytics tags for comprehensive user journey analysis.
• Remarketing tags to refine audience targeting.
• E-commerce tracking tags for detailed transaction data.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Conversion Linker Tags play a crucial role in enhancing the effectiveness of marketing platforms when used in conjunction with Google Tag Manager. By implementing Conversion Linker Tags, businesses can accurately track conversions and optimize their marketing strategies for better results. Understanding the significance of Conversion Linker Tags is essential for maximizing the potential of conversion tracking and improving overall marketing performance.