New Google Tag Enhances Ad Management and Privacy

 The all-encompassing tag that Google hinted about during Marketing Live 2022 in May is now available. The company's Ads & Commerce Blog has the formal announcement.

The upgrade aims to simplify site-wide labeling and future-proof privacy concerns. Google has frequently postponed the Chrome deadline for erasing third-party cookies, so it's still unclear what the situation is with them. However, website visitors anticipate cookie transparency. While enabling advertisers to get precise data, the new tag seeks to allay these worries.

Only Ads and Analytics are covered by the tag, but more Google products (known as "destinations") are on the way.

Advertisers that already have the new version of the global site tag placed do not need to change the old one.

The new tag offers two main advantages:

•It works with many locations, reducing the need for code updates from developers for advertisers and website owners. For instance, it is no longer necessary to install a code snippet when clicking a button to measure ad conversions.

•The tag is compatible with Google's additional privacy offerings. It also imitates Enhanced Conversions by returning data from users to Google.

Looking through the New Tag

In the Google Ads interface, the new tag can be found under "Tools & Settings.

You can view the locations that are linked to your tag there. The tag is integrated with the Google Ads account in the example below.

There are eight options, some of which are new:

Take control of automatic event detection.

•Set up your domains, add user-provided information from your website.

•"Collect events from Universal Analytics,"

•Define internal traffic

•"List unwelcome referrals.

•" Modify session timeout.

•"Override cookie settings."

The new tag includes features from the old Google Analytics setup, like data collecting and referral exclusions. Google is enforcing user privacy and measurement policies everywhere.

The updated tag has a useful change history report that shows who made the modification and when. A new domain-referral exclusion, for instance, can be displayed in the report and help to explain a traffic decline.

The following factors

The new Google tag has raised a lot of queries. Christophe Combette, head of Google's advertisements measurement tools, was questioned by Search Engine Land about the modifications, including if the tag syncs with Google Tag Manager. Combette retorted that it did, claiming that sites using GTM don't need any adjustments.

In the next months, keep an eye out for further Google integration information.

The preceding tag does not have a deprecation date specified by Google. Even though it no longer goes by the name "global site tag," that implementation will still function. The settings can still be changed by advertisers.

Also take note that the new tag collects the same kinds of information as the old one did. Users can now create events directly from the Ads interface thanks to the code's improved efficiency.

Next Steps

Once more, marketers who use the global site tag don't need to take any immediate action. It will update automatically. Nevertheless, double-check the settings on the updated version and think about include Analytics as a destination.