"taster slides" for most advanced gtm implementation
TRANSCRIPT
#emetrics @PHILPEARCE
New York 26th Oct 2016
Learnings from the most Advanced GTM Deployment I have ever done!
(On a site with 1 billion hits a month) By Phil Pearce
I`m an Analytics Adventurer & Explorer!
I recently did 8 countries in 12 weeks = 4.6 days per country
Agenda 1. Set the scene
– Size – Complexity – Timelines
2. How we got there – Tools – Strategy
3. Conclusion & take always – Checklist – Solution Library
4. Questions
Last week I did a twitter survey….
“How many Google Tag Manager installations have
YOU done?” 1. Newbie: 1-3 installation 2. Experienced: 4-10
installation 3. Advanced: 10+ installation
Survey results https://plus.google.com/117298997433687198127/posts/dW5TjdS7XEV https://twitter.com/philpearce/status/779678727861104640
Super Experienced people
AdWords …I have done alot more than 10 GTM & GA Implementations
This is the story of
one such implementation…
So, a beautiful but HUGE new client just signed!
• 400 man-hours GTM project • 600 GA classic events • GA classic to Universal pageview migration • Inhouse TMS.js migration to GTM • 6 CMS platforms • Only 3 months to complete! • Fine per task, if not completed within the timeline!
Project Complexity
Source: builtwith.com/detailed/behemothclient.com
Over 6+ CMS platforms & multiple analytics solutions!
Project Size
Huge site!
Number of pages indexed on Google
2,680,000 results
350,000 results
Switch from GA classic to GA universal
Migrate existing 200 GA events in GTM
Add 400 GA events (auto-events)
Move pageview from TMS.js (inhouse TMS) into GTM
Preliminary GTM account audit
Behemoth
Project Timeline to climb the mountain
3 month Deadline…
If missed = financial penalties per task!
In Reality…
Inhouse IT dept slow to respond, thus impossible to enforce the task based fines.
How did we get to the Summit?
And more importantly...
• What went right?
• What went wrong?
The Win was deliver by Technical & Tactical working together!
Business Technical
Plus lots of Tools & Techniques!
Technical (Phil) • Testing Tools • Strawman Test environment • Separate DEV & LIVE environments • Auto-QA • Failsafe deadman switch • Security • Governance of Logins & access levels • Controlling Risk factors
Tactical (Agency) • Task prioritisation
• Split based on “required client dependencies”
• Sorted based on cost vs benefit • Weighted based on strategically
important items
Wins Mistakes Wins Mistakes
Tools
Technical
GA classic >> GA universal
migration comparison +/-2%
Download Link removed in Taster slides
Auto-QA for lots of GA events
Download Link removed in Taster slides
GTM auto-event config file
Reminder: open the import files in notepad, then find & replace “yourdomain” and “yourdomain\\.com” with YOURDOMAIN before import.
Download Link removed in Taster slides
Separate GTM-live & GTM-Dev
1. Server-side switch example
Code hidden in taster
slides
2. Client-side switch example <!– Client Side Switch: Google Tag Manager: Output myGTMID -->
<script>
var myHostname = window.location.hostname;
var myGTMID = 'GTM-xxx1'; // LIVE
if(myHostname === 'staging.behemothclient.com' || myHostname === 'localhost'){
myGTMID = 'GTM-xxx2'; // DEV
}
</script>
<!-- Google Tag Manager --> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-xxx1"
height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>
<script>(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':
new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],
j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src=
'//www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);
})(window,document,'script','dataLayer', myGTMID);</script>
<!-- End Google Tag Manager -->
Working example… saintsandstrangers.behemothclient.com
Code hidden in taster slides
PII prevention filters PP01a: TidyURL - Replace email with [email protected] (start of string) URL (.*?)(=|%3D)([a-zA-Z0-9_.+\-]+(@|%40)[a-zA-Z0-9\-]+\.[a-zA-Z0-9\-.]+)($|&.+)
Output URL [email protected]$A5
PP01b: TidyURL - Replace email with [email protected] (end of string) URL (.*)(=|%3D)([a-zA-Z0-9_.+-]+(@|%40)[a-zA-Z0-9-]+\.[a-zA-Z0-9-.]+)($|&.+)
Output URL [email protected]$A5
PP02a: Tidy EventLabel - Replace email with [email protected] (start of string) EventLabel (.*?)(=|%3D)([a-zA-Z0-9_.+-]+(@|%40)[a-zA-Z0-9-]+\.[a-zA-Z0-9-.]+)($|&.+)
Output EventLabel [email protected]$A5
PP02b: Tidy EventLabel - Replace email with [email protected] (end of string) EventLabel (.*)(=|%3D)([a-zA-Z0-9_.+-]+(@|%40)[a-zA-Z0-9-]+\.[a-zA-Z0-9-.]+)($|&.+)
Output EventLabel [email protected]$A5
RegEx filter hidden in taster slides
Local Test Environment "Strawman unit tests"
Local Test Environment
Click to switch versions
Demo Link removed in Taster slides
Tactical (Business)
Business
Resource Planning Gantt (The "Who")
Download Link removed in Taster slides
Milestones & Deadline planning (The "When")
Download Link removed in Taster slides
Preliminary assessment of Scale of Task…
GTM audit Download Link removed in Taster slides
Governance: Controlling multiple-user changes...
...whilst plane is in mid-flight!
Multiple users: Check-in/Check-out
Solution1: Check-in/Check-out processes and enforce View | Edit access.
Email Role Account Permissions
01. LIVE
02 DEV
[email protected] Administrator manage users edit publish
[email protected] Tester view
[email protected] Administrator manage users view view
[email protected] Administrator manage users view view
[email protected] Tester view view
[email protected] Tester view
When Check-out set to read-only
Solution2: Create User sandboxes User1 | User2 >> DEV >> LIVE
Multiple users: sandboxes
Email Role Job title Account Permissions
01. LIVE
02 DEV
Marys Sandbox
Mathews Sandbox
[email protected] Administrator Implementation Specialist manage users edit publish view view
[email protected] Tester Project Manager view
[email protected] Administrator Systems Admin manage users view view view view
[email protected] Administrator Analyst manage users view view publish view
[email protected] Publisher Marketing Manager view view publish
[email protected] Tester Robot Unit Tester view
GTM-xxx1 GTM-xxx2 GTM-zzzz GTM-xxxx
GTM user access audit bit.ly/gtm-access-sheet2
<< Example Tools
Summary of safety features
1. 2 stage authentication
2. PII protection - via GA filter on URI & eventLabel
3. JS error tracking profile
4. Inline switch for GTM-DEV / GTM-LIVE (can be client-side or serverside method)
5. Failsafe/deadmans switch (dataLayer whitelist)
Info hidden on Demo slides
Unexpected avalanches...
Exceeded monthly hit limit!
Note: Hit Tiers above has changed after this project was completed, so there`s now more granular tiers.
$$$
Solution: renaming universal object “ga” to “ga2”
A/B testing tool was sending GA event hits to all trackers on every page = 3x hits
Answer Hidden
Set utmz cookie - so that inline gaq.push events still work, but don’t effect hitlimit
Solution: _initData var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push( ['_setAccount', 'UA-1-1'], ['_addIgnoredRef', {{Page Hostname}} ],
['_addIgnoredRef', {{Page Hostname - www removed}} ], ['_setDomainName', {{jsm_setTopLevelDomain}} ], ['_setAllowLinker', true], ['_initData'] );
plus.google.com/117298997433687198127/posts/McER3buexek
Code hidden in taster slides
https://plus.google.com/117298997433687198127/posts/R5r3Bp88ir7
Creative solution: Enable cross-domain tracking in the Cart funnel without IT dept involvement
Automatic Process Summary
Project Learnings/Improvements
1. Remove "human factor" (e.g. manual export from DEV to LIV)
2. Auto-QA change to use TagID and auto-detect if new GA event added in GTM.
3. Enforce GTM audit at the beginning (not optional task) 4. Enforce a Project summary and feedback session at the end of every
phase (not optional task) 5. Move onto insight, dashboards, A/B testing or BigQuery sooner.
Hidden in taster slides
Checklist of Tools
Removed from taster slides
Thankyou & Questions Phil Pearce Senior Web Analyst and GTM specialist
linkedin.com/in/philpearce
Web
Analytics
Exchange
mentor
750 GA
questions answered Tracking
protection
group
Free Prize for the best question(s).
bit.ly/gtmdevguide2 (free) Prize: GTM developer guide
free!! bit.ly/gtmdevguide2
GTM benefits Slides: bit.ly/gtmbenefits
SEO dataLayer Slides: bit.ly/supercharge-ctr
working example: bit.ly/seo-jsonld GTM import file: bit.ly/json-v2
CheatSheet: bit.ly/jsonld-cheatsheet
Templates for Agencies (SEO, PPC, Analytics, GTM)
bit.ly/analyticstemplates
Free tools & Tips (YandexMetrica, Quill, Google Surveys)
Slides: bit.ly/toolsandtips
Top 10 GA reports to save you money
Slides: bit.ly/top10gareports Report links: bit.ly/ga-report-list