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GTM & GA4 glossary

GTM glossary

Variable

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.

Also known as: User-defined variable, GTM variable

On this page
  1. In plain English
  2. Example
  3. Official documentation
  4. Related terms

In plain English

Variables are used in two places. In triggers, they help decide whether a tag should fire ("only when Page Path contains /thank-you"). In tags, they fill in details ("send the order value from the data layer").

GTM comes with built-in variables for common values, and you can create user-defined variables for anything else: data layer values, cookies, lookup tables, constants and more.

In GTM you reference a variable by wrapping its name in double curly braces, for example {{Page Path}}.

Example

Instead of typing your GA4 Measurement ID into ten different tags, you store it once in a Constant variable called {{GA4 – Measurement ID}}. If it ever changes, you update one variable instead of ten tags.

Official documentation

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