Google Tag Manager & GA4, in plain English.

Ready-made variables in GTM for common values such as Page URL, Click Text and Form ID. You switch them on rather than build them.

A Google feature that tells your Google tags whether a visitor has agreed to cookies, so the tags adjust what they collect and store.

The box that holds all the tags, triggers and variables for one website or app in Google Tag Manager. Each container has its own ID, such as GTM-ABC1234.

A saved snapshot of everything in a GTM container at a point in time. Publishing creates a new version, and you can roll back to an earlier one.

A GTM tag that saves ad click details (like the gclid in a Google Ads URL) in first-party cookies, so conversions that happen later can be matched to the ad click.

A pattern that picks out elements on a web page, such as #signup-button or .cta. GTM uses CSS selectors to target clicks and visibility on specific elements.

A GA4 setting that turns one of your own event parameters or user properties into something you can see and filter by in reports.

A GTM trigger that fires when a specific event name is pushed to the data layer, such as generate_lead or purchase.

A GTM tag that runs any HTML or JavaScript you paste into it. Useful when no template exists, but riskier than built-in tags.

A JavaScript object on your website that holds information for Google Tag Manager to read, such as form submissions, user details or purchase data.

A GTM variable that reads a specific value from the data layer, such as a form name, order total or user type.

The connection that sends data from a website or app into a GA4 property. Each web data stream has its own Measurement ID.

A real-time GA4 report that shows events from your own test sessions as they arrive, so you can check tracking is working.

The set of recommended GA4 events for online stores, from viewing a product to making a purchase, each carrying product details in an items array.

A GA4 setting that automatically tracks common interactions such as scrolls, outbound clicks, site search, video plays and file downloads, with no extra tags.

In GA4, an event is any interaction or occurrence that gets recorded, such as a page view, a click, a form submission or a purchase.

An extra piece of information sent with a GA4 event, such as the form name, the link clicked or the value of a purchase.

A unique ID that Google Ads adds to your landing page URL when someone clicks an ad. It lets a later conversion be traced back to that exact click, campaign and keyword.

Google's current analytics platform. It measures what people do on your website or app using events, and reports on where they came from and what they did.

A single Google tag, also called gtag.js, that connects a website to Google products like GA4 and Google Ads. In GTM, it is the tag that sets up GA4.

A free Google tool for adding and managing tracking code on a website or app from one web interface, without editing the site's code for every change.

A GA4 event you have marked as important to your business, such as a lead or a purchase. Key events were called "conversions" in GA4 until 2024.

A GTM variable that turns one value into another using a simple table, like "if the hostname is staging.example.com, use the test GA4 ID".

The ID that tells your Google tag which GA4 web data stream to send data to. It starts with G- followed by letters and numbers, for example G-AB12CD34EF.

GTM's testing mode. It connects Tag Assistant to your website so you can see which tags fired, which didn't and why, before you publish anything.

In GA4, a property is where data for a website or app is collected, processed and reported. Settings like time zone, currency and data retention live here.

A setup where tracking data goes from the browser to your own tagging server first, which then forwards it to tools like GA4 and Google Ads.

A piece of code that sends information to another tool, such as GA4, Google Ads or Meta. In GTM, a tag does nothing until a trigger tells it to fire.

The rule that decides when a tag fires, such as "on every page view" or "when someone clicks a link to a PDF".

A named placeholder in GTM that fills in a value when the page runs, such as the page URL, the text of a clicked button or an order total.

A separate draft area inside a GTM container where you can make changes without affecting anyone else's unpublished work.