Cross domain tracking in Google Tag Manager
This article is the 4th in the series of cross domain tracking.
The first article was: Google & Universal Analytics Cookies where I explained cookies in great detail. Knowledge of cookies help a lot in understanding and troubleshooting cross domain tracking issues.
The second article was: Cross domain tracking in Google Analytics where I explained implementing cross domain tracking when the websites (source domain and destination domains) are using ga.js JavaScript library (aka the old Google Analytics).
The third article was: Cross domain tracking in Universal Analytics where I explained implementing cross domain tracking when the websites are using the analytics.js JavaScript library (aka Universal Analytics).
In the present article I am going to explain implementing cross domain tracking via GTM.
I won’t be able to explain the very basics of cross domain tracking here and assume that you understand linker parameter, allowLinker, ‘auto’ and other cross domain tracking jargon (explained in great detail in the articles above).
Like any other GTM implementation, basic understanding of corresponding standard GA implementation is expected and that is why I never introduce any concept/topic via GTM.
There are two methods you can use to implement cross domain tracking in GTM:
1) Decorate Link and Decorate Form tags (esp. used in case of ga.js)
2) Auto Link Domains (analytics.js only).
I am going to explain implementing cross domain tracking in GTM via ‘Auto Link Domains’.
I won’t cover cross domain tracking via ‘decorate link’ and ‘decorate form’ tags as they are required only when you are using old Google Analytics and if you are still using old Google Analytics then I would strongly urge you to upgrade to Universal Analytics instead of trying to implement cross domain tracking for the old GA.
For the purpose of explaining the cross domain tracking concept in GTM, let us suppose we want to implement cross domain tracking between two primary domains: abc.com (the source domain) and xyz.com (the destination domain) via ‘Auto Link Domains’.
Both of these domains contain different Universal Analytics Tracking code and are treated as completely different websites.
Get the E-Book (62 Pages)
Google Analytics configuration for abc.com
Step-1: Create a copy of the main GA view of abc.com by going to Admin > View > View Settings > Copy View:
We are creating a copy here in order to maintain one unfiltered view.
Step-2: Name the new view ‘ABC Cross Domain Tracking View’
Step-3: Apply following custom advanced filter to the new view:
This view adds host name (domain name) to the request URI.
Step-4: Go to Admin > Property > Tracking Info > Referral exclusion list in ‘ABC Cross Domain Tracking View’ and add ‘abc.com’ in the ‘referral exclusion’ list:
Google Tag Manager Configuration for abc.com
Step-1: Login to the GTM account of abc.com website and edit the tag you used to deploy Universal Analytics tracking code on your website:
Step-2: Find the field ‘More Settings’ > ‘Fields to Set’ and set ‘allowLinker’ to ‘true’ and ‘cookieDomain’ to ‘auto’
Note: I am using Google Tag Manager V2 (the latest version of GTM).
Step-3: Scroll down further to find Cross Domain Tracking > Auto Link Domains (under ‘More Settings) and enter ‘xyz.com:
If you want to implement cross domain tracking across multiple domains then enter comma separated list of domains in the ‘AutoLink Domains’ text box:
If your source domain link to destination domain via form and you want to share cookie information on form submission then set ‘Decorate Forms’ setting to ‘True’ as shown below:
Step-4: Your Universal Analytics tag configuration should look like the one below:
Step-5: Click on the ‘Save Tag’ button.
Step-6: Create a new version of the container, test it and then publish it.
Google Analytics configuration for xyz.com
GA configuration for xyz.com is similar to abc.com configuration:
Step-1: Create a copy of the main GA view of xyz.com
Step-2: Name the new view ‘XYZ Cross Domain Tracking View’
Step-3: Apply the custom advanced filter to the new view which append domain name to the request URI.
Step-4: Add ‘xyz.com’ in the ‘referral exclusion’ list:
Google Tag Manager Configuration for xyz.com
GTM configuration for xyz.com is similar to the GTM configuration for abc.com. Make sure that your Universal Analytics tag configuration look like the one below:
Implementing tracking across Primary domain and its sub-domain(s)
By default Universal Analytics can track traffic across all sub-domains of your website. However you still need to configure your GA and GTM to make sure that you can distinguish the traffic from different domains in analytics reports.
Follow the steps below to track across primary domain (say abc.com) and its sub-domain (say music.abc.com):
Google Tag Manager Configuration for abc.com and music.abc.com
Step-1: Use the GTM container code of abc.com on all of the pages of music.abc.com. So you will have one GTM account for managing tags on both primary domain and its sub-domain(s).
Step-2: Edit the tag you used to deploy Universal Analytics tracking code on the websites abc.com and music.abc.com:
Step-3: Find the field ‘More Settings’ > ‘Fields to Set’ and set ‘cookieDomain’ to ‘auto’:
Here we are using ‘auto’ configuration parameter while creating a tracking object so that Google Analytics automatically set its cookie to the highest level domain possible.
Note: Without using the ‘auto’ configuration parameter, you cross domain tracking will not work whether you implement cross domain tracking between primary domain and its sub-domains or between two or more different primary domains.
Google Analytics Configuration for abc.com
Step-1: Create a copy of the main GA view of abc.com
Step-2: Name the new view ‘ABC Cross Domain Tracking View’
Step-3: Apply the custom advanced filter to the new view which append domain name to the request URI.
Step-4: Add ‘www.abc.com’ in the ‘referral exclusion’ list.
Google Analytics Configuration for music.abc.com
Step-1: Create a copy of the main GA view of music.abc.com
Step-2: Name the new view ‘ABC Music Cross Domain Tracking View’
Step-3: Apply the custom advanced filter to the new view which append domain name to the request URI.
Step-4: Add ‘music.abc.com’ in the ‘referral exclusion’ list.
Do you know the difference between Web Analytics and Google Analytics?
99.99% of course creators themselves don’t know the difference between Web analytics, Google Analytics (GA) and Google Tag Manager (GTM).
So they are teaching GA and GTM in the name of teaching Web analytics.
They just copy each other. Monkey see, monkey do.
But Web analytics is not about GA, GTM.
It is about analyzing and interpreting data, setting up goals, strategies and KPIs.
It’s about creating strategic roadmap for your business.
Web Analytics is the core skill. Google Analytics is just a tool used to implement ‘Web Analytics’.
You can also implement ‘Web analytics’ via other tools like ‘adobe analytics’, ‘kissmetrics’ etc.
Using Google Analytics without the good understanding of ‘Web analytics’ is like driving around in a car, in a big city without understanding the traffic rules and road signs.
You are either likely to end up somewhere other than your destination or you get involved in an accident.
You learn data analysis and interpretation from Web analytics and not from Google Analytics.
The direction in which your analysis will move, will determine the direction in which your marketing campaigns and eventually your company will move to get the highest possible return on investment.
You get that direction from ‘Web analytics’ and not from ‘Google Analytics’.
You learn to set up KPIs, strategies and measurement framework for your business from ‘Web analytics’ and not from ‘Google Analytics’.
So if you are taking a course only on 'Google Analytics’, you are learning to use one of the tools of ‘Web analytics’. You are not learning the ‘Web analytics’ itself.
Since any person can learn to use Google Analytics in couple of weeks, you do no get any competitive advantage in the marketplace just by knowing GA.
You need to know lot more than GA in order to work in Web analytics and marketing field.
So what I have done, if you are interested, is I have put together a completely free training that will teach you exactly how I have been able to leverage web/digital analytics to generate floods of news sales and customers and how you can literally copy what I have done to get similar results.
Here what You'll Learn On This FREE Web Class!
1) Why digital analytics is the key to online business success
2) The number 1 reason why most marketers are not able to scale their advertising and maximize sales.
3) Why Google and Facebook ads don’t work for most businesses & how to make them work.
4) Why you won’t get any competitive advantage in the marketplace just by knowing Google Analytics.
5) The number 1 reason why conversion optimization is not working for your business.
6) How to advertise on any marketing platform for FREE with an unlimited budget.
7) How to learn and master digital analytics and conversion optimization in record time.
My best selling books on Digital Analytics and Conversion Optimization
Maths and Stats for Web Analytics and Conversion Optimization
This expert guide will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of maths and statistics in order to accurately interpret data and take actions, which can quickly improve the bottom-line of your online business.
Master the Essentials of Email Marketing Analytics
This book focuses solely on the ‘analytics’ that power your email marketing optimization program and will help you dramatically reduce your cost per acquisition and increase marketing ROI by tracking the performance of the various KPIs and metrics used for email marketing.
Attribution Modelling in Google Analytics and Beyond
Attribution modelling is the process of determining the most effective marketing channels for investment. This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling. It will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to allocate marketing budget and understand buying behaviour.
Attribution Modelling in Google Ads and Facebook
This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling in Google Ads (Google AdWords) and Facebook. It will teach you, how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to understand the customer purchasing journey and determine the most effective marketing channels for investment.
Himanshu Sharma
Digital Marketing Consultant and Founder of Optimizesmart.com
This article is the 4th in the series of cross domain tracking.
The first article was: Google & Universal Analytics Cookies where I explained cookies in great detail. Knowledge of cookies help a lot in understanding and troubleshooting cross domain tracking issues.
The second article was: Cross domain tracking in Google Analytics where I explained implementing cross domain tracking when the websites (source domain and destination domains) are using ga.js JavaScript library (aka the old Google Analytics).
The third article was: Cross domain tracking in Universal Analytics where I explained implementing cross domain tracking when the websites are using the analytics.js JavaScript library (aka Universal Analytics).
In the present article I am going to explain implementing cross domain tracking via GTM.
I won’t be able to explain the very basics of cross domain tracking here and assume that you understand linker parameter, allowLinker, ‘auto’ and other cross domain tracking jargon (explained in great detail in the articles above).
Like any other GTM implementation, basic understanding of corresponding standard GA implementation is expected and that is why I never introduce any concept/topic via GTM.
There are two methods you can use to implement cross domain tracking in GTM:
1) Decorate Link and Decorate Form tags (esp. used in case of ga.js)
2) Auto Link Domains (analytics.js only).
I am going to explain implementing cross domain tracking in GTM via ‘Auto Link Domains’.
I won’t cover cross domain tracking via ‘decorate link’ and ‘decorate form’ tags as they are required only when you are using old Google Analytics and if you are still using old Google Analytics then I would strongly urge you to upgrade to Universal Analytics instead of trying to implement cross domain tracking for the old GA.
For the purpose of explaining the cross domain tracking concept in GTM, let us suppose we want to implement cross domain tracking between two primary domains: abc.com (the source domain) and xyz.com (the destination domain) via ‘Auto Link Domains’.
Both of these domains contain different Universal Analytics Tracking code and are treated as completely different websites.
Get the E-Book (62 Pages)
Google Analytics configuration for abc.com
Step-1: Create a copy of the main GA view of abc.com by going to Admin > View > View Settings > Copy View:
We are creating a copy here in order to maintain one unfiltered view.
Step-2: Name the new view ‘ABC Cross Domain Tracking View’
Step-3: Apply following custom advanced filter to the new view:
This view adds host name (domain name) to the request URI.
Step-4: Go to Admin > Property > Tracking Info > Referral exclusion list in ‘ABC Cross Domain Tracking View’ and add ‘abc.com’ in the ‘referral exclusion’ list:
Google Tag Manager Configuration for abc.com
Step-1: Login to the GTM account of abc.com website and edit the tag you used to deploy Universal Analytics tracking code on your website:
Step-2: Find the field ‘More Settings’ > ‘Fields to Set’ and set ‘allowLinker’ to ‘true’ and ‘cookieDomain’ to ‘auto’
Note: I am using Google Tag Manager V2 (the latest version of GTM).
Step-3: Scroll down further to find Cross Domain Tracking > Auto Link Domains (under ‘More Settings) and enter ‘xyz.com:
If you want to implement cross domain tracking across multiple domains then enter comma separated list of domains in the ‘AutoLink Domains’ text box:
If your source domain link to destination domain via form and you want to share cookie information on form submission then set ‘Decorate Forms’ setting to ‘True’ as shown below:
Step-4: Your Universal Analytics tag configuration should look like the one below:
Step-5: Click on the ‘Save Tag’ button.
Step-6: Create a new version of the container, test it and then publish it.
Google Analytics configuration for xyz.com
GA configuration for xyz.com is similar to abc.com configuration:
Step-1: Create a copy of the main GA view of xyz.com
Step-2: Name the new view ‘XYZ Cross Domain Tracking View’
Step-3: Apply the custom advanced filter to the new view which append domain name to the request URI.
Step-4: Add ‘xyz.com’ in the ‘referral exclusion’ list:
Google Tag Manager Configuration for xyz.com
GTM configuration for xyz.com is similar to the GTM configuration for abc.com. Make sure that your Universal Analytics tag configuration look like the one below:
Implementing tracking across Primary domain and its sub-domain(s)
By default Universal Analytics can track traffic across all sub-domains of your website. However you still need to configure your GA and GTM to make sure that you can distinguish the traffic from different domains in analytics reports.
Follow the steps below to track across primary domain (say abc.com) and its sub-domain (say music.abc.com):
Google Tag Manager Configuration for abc.com and music.abc.com
Step-1: Use the GTM container code of abc.com on all of the pages of music.abc.com. So you will have one GTM account for managing tags on both primary domain and its sub-domain(s).
Step-2: Edit the tag you used to deploy Universal Analytics tracking code on the websites abc.com and music.abc.com:
Step-3: Find the field ‘More Settings’ > ‘Fields to Set’ and set ‘cookieDomain’ to ‘auto’:
Here we are using ‘auto’ configuration parameter while creating a tracking object so that Google Analytics automatically set its cookie to the highest level domain possible.
Note: Without using the ‘auto’ configuration parameter, you cross domain tracking will not work whether you implement cross domain tracking between primary domain and its sub-domains or between two or more different primary domains.
Google Analytics Configuration for abc.com
Step-1: Create a copy of the main GA view of abc.com
Step-2: Name the new view ‘ABC Cross Domain Tracking View’
Step-3: Apply the custom advanced filter to the new view which append domain name to the request URI.
Step-4: Add ‘www.abc.com’ in the ‘referral exclusion’ list.
Google Analytics Configuration for music.abc.com
Step-1: Create a copy of the main GA view of music.abc.com
Step-2: Name the new view ‘ABC Music Cross Domain Tracking View’
Step-3: Apply the custom advanced filter to the new view which append domain name to the request URI.
Step-4: Add ‘music.abc.com’ in the ‘referral exclusion’ list.
Do you know the difference between Web Analytics and Google Analytics?
99.99% of course creators themselves don’t know the difference between Web analytics, Google Analytics (GA) and Google Tag Manager (GTM).So they are teaching GA and GTM in the name of teaching Web analytics.
They just copy each other. Monkey see, monkey do.
But Web analytics is not about GA, GTM.
It is about analyzing and interpreting data, setting up goals, strategies and KPIs.
It’s about creating strategic roadmap for your business.
Web Analytics is the core skill. Google Analytics is just a tool used to implement ‘Web Analytics’.You can also implement ‘Web analytics’ via other tools like ‘adobe analytics’, ‘kissmetrics’ etc.
Using Google Analytics without the good understanding of ‘Web analytics’ is like driving around in a car, in a big city without understanding the traffic rules and road signs.
You are either likely to end up somewhere other than your destination or you get involved in an accident.
You learn data analysis and interpretation from Web analytics and not from Google Analytics.The direction in which your analysis will move, will determine the direction in which your marketing campaigns and eventually your company will move to get the highest possible return on investment.
You get that direction from ‘Web analytics’ and not from ‘Google Analytics’.
You learn to set up KPIs, strategies and measurement framework for your business from ‘Web analytics’ and not from ‘Google Analytics’.So if you are taking a course only on 'Google Analytics’, you are learning to use one of the tools of ‘Web analytics’. You are not learning the ‘Web analytics’ itself.
Since any person can learn to use Google Analytics in couple of weeks, you do no get any competitive advantage in the marketplace just by knowing GA.
You need to know lot more than GA in order to work in Web analytics and marketing field.
So what I have done, if you are interested, is I have put together a completely free training that will teach you exactly how I have been able to leverage web/digital analytics to generate floods of news sales and customers and how you can literally copy what I have done to get similar results.
Here what You'll Learn On This FREE Web Class!
1) Why digital analytics is the key to online business success
2) The number 1 reason why most marketers are not able to scale their advertising and maximize sales.
3) Why Google and Facebook ads don’t work for most businesses & how to make them work.
4) Why you won’t get any competitive advantage in the marketplace just by knowing Google Analytics.
5) The number 1 reason why conversion optimization is not working for your business.
6) How to advertise on any marketing platform for FREE with an unlimited budget.
7) How to learn and master digital analytics and conversion optimization in record time.
My best selling books on Digital Analytics and Conversion Optimization
Maths and Stats for Web Analytics and Conversion Optimization
This expert guide will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of maths and statistics in order to accurately interpret data and take actions, which can quickly improve the bottom-line of your online business.
Master the Essentials of Email Marketing Analytics
This book focuses solely on the ‘analytics’ that power your email marketing optimization program and will help you dramatically reduce your cost per acquisition and increase marketing ROI by tracking the performance of the various KPIs and metrics used for email marketing.
Attribution Modelling in Google Analytics and Beyond
Attribution modelling is the process of determining the most effective marketing channels for investment. This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling. It will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to allocate marketing budget and understand buying behaviour.
Attribution Modelling in Google Ads and Facebook
This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling in Google Ads (Google AdWords) and Facebook. It will teach you, how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to understand the customer purchasing journey and determine the most effective marketing channels for investment.
Himanshu Sharma
Digital Marketing Consultant and Founder of Optimizesmart.com