Google tag management

Manage your Google tag	Combine tags	Install your Google tag

Once you’ve set up your Google tag and configured your Google tag settings, you have the option to manage and adjust your Google tag. From the “Google tag management” section in the “Admin” tab, you can:

• Manage your Google tag
  • Edit your Google tag name
  • Combine your Google tags
  • Add/remove destinations
• Combine tags to
  • Share configurations
  • Expand website coverage
  • Share Google tag users
• Install your Google tag
  • Find your website builder (or “CMS platform”) hosted site instructions.
  • If you don’t see your website builder, you can install your Google tag manually.
• Set up consent mode
  • Select the type of consent banner you have or use a custom consent banner. 

Access your Google tag

Google Ads instructions

Open the Google tag settings.

Google Analytics instructions

1. In Admin, under Data collection and modification, select Data Streams.
   Note: The previous link opens to the last Analytics property you accessed. You can change the property using the property selector. You must be an Editor or above at the property level to open Google tag settings.
2.  Click on a stream to see details.
3. Result: Your screen should show you the Google Analytics settings and the Google tag settings.

Campaign Manager 360 instructions

1. Open Campaign Manager 360.
2. Under “Floodlight”, click Google Tag to edit the Google tag settings.

Google Tag Manager instructions

Note: To see Google tag IDs in Google Tag Manager, you need to manage a Google Ads, Analytics or Google tag in a container.

1. Open Google Tag Manager.
2. Click on the tab Google tags to see Google tags you have previously set up.
   
3. Click on the tag name to edit the Google tag settings.

Manage your Google tag

Edit your Google tag name, combine your Google tags, or add or remove destinations

Instructions

1. Access your Google tag screen.
2. Go to the “Admin” tab.
3. Under “Manage your Google tag”, you can choose to:
   1. Edit your Google tag name.
      1. Name your tag, and click Save changes.
   2. Combine your Google tags
      1. Click Combine with another tag. You can follow the instructions to Combine your Google tag. You must have tag level admin access to combine tags.
   3. Add/Remove destinations
      1. Click +Destination. You can follow the instructions to add a destination to your Google tag below.
      2. To remove a destination, follow the instructions below. 
   4. Set up consent mode.
      1. Select the type of consent banner you have. Follow the instructions to set up consent mode below.

Combine Google tags or assign tag IDs to a new Google tag

Streamline configuration of your tag settings, send data to multiple destinations from the same tag, and expand your tag coverage.

You can combine two or more tags to share tagging configuration, website coverage, and tag users. If you combine tags, the changes will impact all destinations connected to the tags.

The Google tag lets you:

• Combine tags
• Assign tag IDs to a new Google tag
• Install your Google tag

Note: You must have the Administrator role for this Google tag to combine it with another tag.

Benefits

• If your tags are currently installed on different parts of your site, combining them can help you get better data by increasing tag coverage.
• When you combine two or more tags, you can manage tag settings centrally to avoid extra effort and errors.
• If you haven’t yet installed one of the tags on your site, you can combine them to avoid installing additional code.

Note: If two tags have significantly distinct configurations and you want to keep tag settings distinct, we recommend that you not combine those tags.

Combine tags

1. Access your Google tag screen.
2. Go to the “Admin” tab.
3. Under “Google tag settings”, click Combine tags.
4. Click Choose a Google tag to combine.
5. On the “Choose a tag” page, you'll see a list of all the Google tags for which you have access.

Note: If you don't see the tag you're looking for, make sure:

• You have administrator access to the tag
• The tag is actually a Google tag (i.e., gtag.js). You can't combine a Google tag with a GTM container or legacy tags; e.g., keyevent.js
• The tag is for a Google Ads or Google Analytics account. You currently can’t combine tags from other Google products; e.g., Floodlight tag (DC-)

6. Give your tag a name.
7. Under “Tag configuration”, select which tag's configuration you want to use.
8. Click Review choices.

Note: Make sure you’ve reviewed and understand the impact that combining Google tags will have on the data your destinations will receive. Combining can be difficult to undo, so please review your choices thoroughly. Use of this Google tag by a Google service is subject to the terms governing your use of that service.

9. Click Save changes.

You'll see a confirmation message at the bottom of the screen that says, “The Google tag was successfully combined.“

For Campaign Manager 360, you can optionally allow Google support representatives to configure your tag settings.

Assign tag IDs to a new Google tag

Once you combine a tag, you won’t be able to undo that. You will be able to assign a tag ID to a new Google tag -- which means you can create a new tag using one of the tag ID(s) from the existing tag. You can choose which destinations to connect to the new tag, whether to copy over the settings or use default tag settings, and whether or not to copy tag users.

1. Access your Google tag screen.
2. Go to the “Admin” tab.
3. Under “Google tag settings”, select Manage Google tag.
4. Choose the tag ID you’d like to move to a new tag and click the split icon .
5. Name your new tag.
6. Under “Tag configuration”, choose to Copy configuration from this tag or Use default tag configuration.
7. Under “Tag users”, choose Copy users from this tag or Only I have access to this tag.
8. Review your tag edits, and click Save. 

Add a destination to a Google tag

If you have the Administrator role, you have the ability to add or remove destinations on your tag. Add destinations to your Google tag to avoid additional retagging on your site and reuse your existing tag’s configuration. Adding a destination involves removing it from any other Google tag that has it as a destination.

This can be useful when you want to send data to another product account without combining Google tags. For example, if you are working with an agency that has previously had their own Google tag sending data to one of your product accounts, you may choose to add the destination to your Google tag instead.

A destination must always have an associated tag. If you decide to remove a destination, you need to choose an existing tag or create a new tag to connect to. A tag can be standalone with no destinations, in which case it is not sending data to any Google destinations.

Note: If you set up more than one destination to your tag, your tag will send data to multiple destinations. Make sure you’ve reviewed and understand the impact that adding a destination to your Google tag will have on the data your destinations will receive. Adding a destination can be difficult to undo, so please review your choices thoroughly. Use of this Google tag by a Google service is subject to the terms governing your use of that service.

1. Access your Google tag screen.
2. At the top of the page, click the “Admin” tab.
3. In the “Google tag management” section, click Manage Google tag.
4. In the “Destinations” section, click +Destination.
5. Click Choose a destination.
6. Select a destination to add to your Google tag.

Note: You will only see the destinations for which you have administrator access.

7. Click the destination you'd like to add.
8. Review your updates, and click Save.

Remove a destination from your tag

1. Access your Google tag screen.
2. Go to the “Admin“ page.
3. In the “Google tag management” section, click Manage Google tag.
4. Under “Destinations“, click the “Remove destination” icon  on the right side of the destination you want to remove.
5. On the “Remove a destination” screen, click Choose an existing tag or Create a new tag.

Note: If you deleted a tag or destination more than 30 days ago, your tag will no longer have a destination attached to it and you will see a “No tag ID” error message. When you open the Google tag section, you’ll be prompted to connect a destination to a new Google tag or an existing one. You can restore your destination by adding it to an existing Google tag or creating a new one.

View your tag destination

1. Access your Google tag screen.
2. Go to the “Admin” tab.
3. Under “Google tag management” in the “Manage your Google tag” section, you can see your Google tag’s destinations listed below.

Conflicting on-page code

In addition to the destinations and settings you configure in the Google tag screens, your Google tag also processes on-page gtag() commands to load and configure settings for your Google tags.

If the same Google tag is configured two or more times on the same page, it may cause duplicate data or mixed settings. This scenario can occur if you accidentally implement the same tag twice or if you combine two Google tags that were previously both installed on the same page. To ignore duplicate instances of on-page config commands, you can enable the corresponding option in the “Manage Google tag” section of the Admin tab: “Ignore duplicate instances of on-page configuration”. To prevent issues, this option will be enabled automatically when you combine two Google tags.

Note: Some webpages are tagged with two Google tags that have different on-page configuration settings. If you combine those two tags into a single Google tag, only the first config command will be processed, and subsequent config commands and settings for that Google tag will be ignored. As a result, combining tags may cause a change in tagging behavior on those pages. As a best practice, you should review tags with conflicting on-page configurations before combining them.

Set up consent mode

To capture valuable insights while protecting user privacy, you need to collect consent from your website users. We recommend you use a Consent Management Platform (CMP) or work with your Content Management System (CMS) to collect consent and send it to Google.

Learn more about how to Set up your consent banner with a consent management platform or a content management system.

1. Access your Google tag screen.
2. Go to the “Admin” tab.
3. Under “Google tag management”, open the  “Set up consent mode” section, select one of the following options if you don’t already have consent mode set up:
   • I use a consent banner created by a third party.
     • If your banner is powered by a content management system (CMS), website builder, or a consent management platform (CMP), you’ll get step by step instructions on how to set up consent mode for that platform. Click Next then, Select platform. Select a platform and follow the instructions. 
   • I use a custom consent banner.
     • If you built  your own consent banner, you need to set up consent mode via Google’s consent API.
   • I don’t have a consent banner.
     • If you do not have a consent banner today, you can use a content management system (CMS), website builder, or a consent management platform (CMP), you’ll get step by step instructions on how to set up a banner and consent mode for that platform. Click Next then, Select platform. Select a platform and follow the instructions. 
4. Once you've set up your consent banner and consent mode, click Done. Your consent signals are active.

Test with Tag Assistant

You can use Tag Assistant to check the implementation of your tag. For additional troubleshooting, visit Troubleshoot your sitewide tagging or Use Tag Assistant to troubleshoot your unverified or inactive key events.

Security and privacy for website tracking

Google's security standards are strict. Google products only collect data on pages where you have deployed the associated tags.

Please ensure you're providing users with clear and comprehensive information about the data you collect on your websites, and getting consent for that collection where legally required.

Related links

• About the Google tag
• Set up the Google tag
• Configure your Google tag settings
• Manage Google tag user