Blog Post
Web Analytics
Thorsten
Abrahamczik
published on:
12.02.2015
Conversion Tracking for AdWords and Bing with Google Tag Manager
Table of Contents
The now well-known and established Google Tag Manager offers a variety of options to manage your own tags (formerly known as pixels) on your website. Remember: The code of the Google Tag Manager only needs to be integrated into the source code of the website once. Subsequently, many tags can be managed via the Tag Manager's interface. Therefore, no separate code, e.g. for AdWords conversion tracking or third-party remarketing, needs to be integrated into the source code of the page. All tags are executed through the Tag Manager code.
You should also take advantage of these opportunities and centralize the management of your online marketing tags. This also provides you with the ability to implement your pixels on a graphical interface by yourself, without needing to involve the IT department. You can also easily decide on which pages the individual tags are executed, allowing for very precise and fine control of the tags.
Don't be afraid of complicated settings. Typically, installing a standard tag only takes a few minutes. Only with special tags might the implementation take a bit longer. Including the review of the tag's integration, you can easily complete the entire process in less than 30 minutes. This applies even to employees who are inexperienced with using the Google Tag Manager. The more you work with the Tag Manager, the quicker it becomes.
This is partly due to specific templates, e.g. for AdWords, that Google has integrated into the Tag Manager, which are quick and easy to use. Therefore, in this article, two different approaches for conversion tracking with Google Tag Manager will be highlighted: Conversion tracking for AdWords and conversion tracking for BING.
Conversion Tracking for Google AdWords
First, conversion tracking for Google AdWords is discussed. Since this is a Google-owned service, the company has naturally created a template for AdWords conversion tracking, which is very easy to use. The integration process is as follows:
Create a new tag on the overview page.
Promptly give it a name, e.g. "Conversion Tag AdWords."
Select "AdWords Conversion Tracking" as the tag type. As of 02/03/2015, this is the second option in the selection menu.
In the subsequently opened area, enter the normal AdWords details:
Conversion ID (provided by the AdWords account)
Conversion Label (provided by the AdWords account)
Conversion Value (here you can optionally set a fixed value or dynamically transfer the respective conversion value from the website. Additionally, the field can be left blank.)
Currency Code (here you can set the currency to be used, e.g., "EUR" for Euro, or have the dynamic currency transferred from the website. Additionally, the field can be left blank.)
The conversion value and currency code are optional fields that can be used but are not required.
Finally, a trigger rule for the tag must be defined, specifying when the tag is triggered, e.g., on the order confirmation page.
Once this process is completed, the tag must be published on the Tag Manager overview page. Once this happens, AdWords conversions will be tracked on the website. Through a test order or similar, you can now use the Google Tag Manager debug mode to verify whether you have correctly integrated your tag.
If you want to achieve greater flexibility with the AdWords tag, you can pass the conversion value and currency code dynamically from the website. This allows you to accurately track the monetary value your AdWords conversions have actually achieved and how much revenue/loss you have made with AdWords.
To do this, you must push two additional variables into the data layer, from which the information is handed over to the Tag Manager. In this example, the variables are named as follows:
For the conversion value: google_conversion_value
For the currency code: google_conversion_currency
However, you can also choose your own designations. Please note that, as shown in the screenshot, you must not enter "2.99" and "EUR" as values. Instead, you must use the system variables of your CMS that automatically enter these details there after each conversion.
So that the Tag Manager can receive the data, you must create two macros in the Tag Manager in the next step. These receive the data from the data layer variables "google_conversion_value" and "google_conversion_currency" and make them available to the Tag Manager for further processing.
In the newly created AdWords conversion tag, you then enter the macros in the conversion value and currency code fields. To do this, select the respective macro via the plus button next to the field. Note that you are working with the macro name here and not with the name of the data layer variable.
Once the tag is republished in the next step, the dynamic conversion values will automatically be passed from the website through the Tag Manager to your Google AdWords account. In this case, you do need to touch the source code but, in return, achieve significantly more accurate data and maximum flexibility. Nevertheless, you can also collect the pure number of your AdWords conversions without adjusting the source code.
Conversion Tracking for BING
Conversion tracking for BING works a bit differently. Google does not provide a template here, so the tag must be manually integrated into the Tag Manager. Fortunately, this can be implemented relatively easily.
At this point, it should be noted that there are currently many different tips on the Internet for implementing BING conversion tracking. It goes so far as to suggest adapting the script provided by Microsoft. We strongly advise against this!
Typically, the instructions are outdated and no longer refer to the current BING conversion script. Please only proceed as follows to integrate the BING conversion tag into your page through the Tag Manager:
Log in to your BING Ads account.
Set a goal for your ads.
Then have the code for your BING tag generated.
Create a new tag in the Google Tag Manager.
Promptly give it a name, e.g. "Conversion Tag BING."
Select "Custom HTML Tag" as the tag type.
Copy the code for your BING tag (which you received after setting the goal in the BING Ads account) into the text field.
Finally, a trigger rule for the tag must be defined to determine when the tag is triggered, e.g., on the order confirmation page.
Very important: Activate the checkbox for "support document.write". Your script will only work correctly if this checkbox is checked.
Once you have made these settings, the number of your BING conversions will be tracked. Please note that only the number of conversions is recorded by default. A conversion value is not measured.
If you also want to transfer the conversion value in this case, you must modify the source code of the page again. However, only a small adjustment is necessary here as well. Therefore, push the data into the data layer in this case as well, but to the BING data layer. The code is as follows.
In this case as well, it is necessary that you do not enter the value "2.99" behind "‘gv‘:" but instead use the system variable of your CMS. This must automatically and dynamically enter the conversion value there after each conversion.
What can we do for you?
If you want to examine your campaigns more closely and use your media spendings even more precisely, we would be happy to advise you. If you want to examine your customers' journey through the internet, we are also happy to conduct customer journey analyses for you that depict the different touchpoints of your customers with your company. In this way, you can easily find out whether AdWords or BING is worthwhile for you. Of course, we can also check your tracking implementation, optimize it if necessary, and additionally migrate all your tags into the Google Tag Manager. Contact us today.
