Get advanced level skills at Google Tag Manager

Turn your website into a tracking machine by mastering GTM

Online course: Advanced Google Tag Manager

By Simo Ahava,

Co-Founder @ Simmer Oy

Course length: 6h 19min

Sign up to All-Access: $289 / month Buy just this program for $299

English subtitles Certificate included

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Do you feel like you know Google Tag Manager, but there’s a lot more to know?

Here’s your chance to master Google Tag Manager’s complexities with Google Developer Expert Simo Ahava.

Once you’re ready to move past the basics, you need to realize that GTM is a javascript deployment machine. As an advanced level GTM user, you need to know how to work with APIs, data layer and event tracking.

This is what this course is about.

Course overview

In this 9-lesson training program, you’ll learn

  • GTM and the GTM data model, useful Javascript skills, and how to automate tasks using the GTM programmatic API
  • Customizing GTM event tracking to track interactions on a site
  • Customizing your Google Analytics setup using Tasks API, hitCallback, the Google Analytics Settings variable, and regular expressions
  • Ins and outs of the dataLayer
  • Turning GTM into a true force of power in your data organization

One of the best, most informative classes I have ever taken. Simo is a fantastic teacher and even more knowledgable than I knew based on his blog.

Kim Towne, Senior marketing analyst @ Mindstream Interactive

Get more confidence with the technology stack of the web

Google Tag Manager sits firmly in the fascinating interface between different parts of the organization: marketing, IT, HR, sales, and products & services.

To understand this interplay between the different departments of an organization and the systems they use to communicate data to and from the website, it’s important to understand the web browser and how GTM is firmly entrenched in the capabilities and limitations that the browser technology stack imposes.

This course will help you understand the dynamic nature of JavaScript, and how things like event tracking and DOM manipulation can both work for you and against you.

Skills you will master

Google Tag ManagerGTM variablesGTM data layerGTM measurementGTM tag sequencingGTM Custom Event ListenersGTM Tracker ObjectGTM APIGTM Enhanced EcommerceGTM Templates

Jesper Reinholdt, Digital Business Optimization Consultant @ Atcore

A lot of hands on examples of truly advanced GTM principles.

Fabricio Macias, Chief Business Development Officer @ Macfor Marketing

Deep content. Simo has a giant library in his blog, but it’s way different to take his course.

Learn ins and outs of Data Layer

It’s not hyperbole to say that the Data Layer is what makes GTM tick. To many, Data Layer is just a JavaScript Array that feeds data into Google Tag Manager. However, this is only a very small part of the whole picture.

In this course, you’ll learn about the multiple faces of the Data Layer. You’ll understand how the Array is actually just a message bus, feeding messages to Google Tag Manager’s internal data model. You’ll learn how Google Tag Manager introduces an imitation of “state” in the browser, and how you can use this to your advantage when passing data to and from the website.

Understanding the interplay between the website, the Data Layer, and Google Tag Manager is vital if you want to make the most of the tool.

Simo’s class is the most exciting, actionable, rich, detailed, class I have ever taken. This class alone is worth the price of admission for a year to the Institute.  OMG. Thanks for bringing this to the world!

Fred Pike COO @ Northwoods Software

Understand how Google Tag Manager works under the hood

Much of this course will be about how Google Tag Manager works under the hood. It’s not just a theoretical exercise, though, as the learning curve of GTM is very steep and necessarily involves understanding how things like GTM’s data model, event tracking, and end-to-end debugging work. These lessons can be easily translated to actual use cases, and you can use this knowledge to make the container more than just the sum of its parts.

JavaScript is ever-present when talking about “advanced” Google Tag Manager. The deeper you plunge into GTM, the fuzzier the line between Google Tag Manager and JavaScript become. At some point, you’ll find yourself coding more JavaScript than using the GTM UI in your daily work. The tips and tricks shared in this course will help you get a better grasp of the JavaScript paradigm you’ll need to subscribe to if you want to make the most of Google Tag Manager.

Fabio Vanden Broeck, Analytics & Tracking Specialist @ Mediagrif Interactive Technologies Inc.

What made me take this course was that Simo was the curator. I was able to understand the data model GTM has, and also customize information being sent thanks to the customTask, having real problems and applications.

Jurri Gerretsen, Web Analyst @ Roompot

The Advanced GTM course provides a deeper understanding about the fundamentals Google Tag Manager is built on. It is a challenging course but with this knowledge you can face any non-ordinary GTM implementation.

Thomas Scoggins, Freelance Web Analyst

The course lays out the landscape for anyone wanting to level up, expand their understanding, and really begin to unlock the full power of Google Tag Manager. The example code/mini assignments and powerpoint slides are great resources to refer back to.

This course is right for you if…

  • You want to learn how to best utilize GTM and how to use JavaScript for customizing web analytics tracking
  • You want to know how to make GTM management easier with the API
  • You need help with GTM or web tracking JavaScript issues

This course is probably not for you if…

  • JavaScript is alien to you, and you have no motivation to learn it
  • You are looking for a deep-dive into mobile GTM or the GTM programmatic API
  • You are only just starting with GTM and don’t like technical descriptions, live coding, or browser developer tools
  • Web analytics deployment and implementation is not important to you, or you think GTM replaces your IT department or developers

Skills you should have

  • Intermediate understanding of how GTM works, especially how tags, triggers, and variables interact
  • Basic scripting skills and understanding of JavaScript, especially DOM manipulation (you’ve taken Codecademy’s intro course or equivalent).
  • Basic understanding of how the web browser works, especially when it comes to event tracking, the Data Layer, and Chrome’s developer tools

Simo Ahava

Co-Founder @ Simmer Oy

Simo Ahava is a recognized expert on customizing web analytics and tag management solutions to improve the entire “life cycle” of data collection, processing, and reporting. His main areas of expertise lie with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager. Google has appointed him as a Google Developer Expert in these fields.

Simo holds the position of Co-Founder at Simmon Oy. He also writes a popular blog on all things Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager development at www.simoahava.com.

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Your full course curriculum:

Advanced Google Tag Manager

1 Welcome to the Course

Introduction to the course topics and content. Lesson 1 slide deck

2 Event Tracking Under The Hood

In the first lesson, we’ll start with Google Tag Manager’s event tracking model. You’ll learn about GTM’s data model, how the dataLayer interacts with GTM’s complex data structures, and how automatic event tracking makes use of these interactions to he

3 Custom Event Listeners

Using Google Tag Manager’s auto-event tracking is great when you want to measure clicks and form submissions. But what if you want to measure interactions with your form? Or when the user hovers over an image but doesn’t click it? Or how much time the

4 The Tracker Object

Google Analytics uses a tracker object data structure to make sure that interactions on the website are compiled into well-formed Google Analytics requests and hits. In this lesson, we’ll discuss how this tracker object works, and why it has some serio

5 customTask

customTask is the greatest tool at your disposal for customizing your Google Analytics implementations. In this lesson, we’ll discuss why this is so, and how you can do things like PII removal and hit multiplication with ease when using customTask. Thi

6 Enhanced Ecommerce

Enhanced Ecommerce is one of the most interesting reporting models in Google Analytics. However, implementation is not straight-forward, and many of the quirks with Enhanced Ecommerce are poorly documented. With this lesson, many of these features beco

7 API Outline And Resources

Google Tag Manager’s API can save your organization hundreds of hours of manual labor, as you learn how to write scripts that automate many of the menial tasks. If you’re struggling with dozens of containers that require constant upkeep, the API will s

8 Build Your Own API Tool

We’ll take the learnings from the previous lesson, and put them to practice in this one. You’ll learn how to build a simple but extendable Google Sheets extension, which pulls in data from the Google Tag Manager API. Set yourself up for success with: H

9 Templates Introduction

Custom Templates in Google Tag Manager allow you to build branded user interfaces for the custom scripts that would otherwise need to deployed with Custom HTML tags and Custom JavaScript variables. In this lesson, we’ll cover: Why you should get into t

10 Build Your Own Custom Template

You’ll put the learnings from the previous lesson to good use as you build your own Custom Tag Template. You’ll also learn the end-to-end process of building and distributing a template. In this last lesson, we’ll cover: How to build the fields, the co

11 Wrapping Up

Lesson 11 slide deck

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Learn Google Tag Manager: FAQ

Who is this course for?

  • You want to learn how to best utilize GTM and how to use JavaScript for customizing web analytics tracking
  • You want to know how to make GTM management easier with the API
  • You need help with GTM or web tracking JavaScript issues

Some careers that will especially benefit from this course are data analyst, digital analytics specialist, marketing analyst, web developer, SEO specialist and digital marketing manager.

What will you learn?

After taking this course, you will master:

  • GTM and the GTM data model, useful Javascript skills, and how to automate tasks using the GTM programmatic API
  • Customizing GTM event tracking to track interactions on a site
  • Customizing your Google Analytics setup using Tasks API, hitCallback, the Google Analytics Settings variable, and regular expressions
  • Ins and outs of the dataLayer
  • Turning GTM into a true force of power in your data organization

What does the course include?

Our Advanced Google Tag Manager training includes 12 lessons, 0 downloadable resources, 6h 19min of video material, several assignments, and a final exam.

Are subtitles available for the lessons?

Lessons have English subtitles and transcriptions available.

Will I receive a certificate of completion?

After taking this course, you will receive the Advanced Google Tag Manager Certification from CXL, with credentials that you can add to your LinkedIn profile.

What is the refund policy?

All plans come with a 7-day refund period .

How long will it take for me to finish it?

This is entirely up to you – it’s how many study hours per week you can put in. This course is 6h 19min long.