As a marketer/webshop owner, you probably live for good tracking. Knowing exactly where conversions are coming from, what clients are doing on your webshop, where people drop off in the sales funnel, optimizing campaigns, and proving ROI it’s what keeps the engine running, right? But there’s a catch.
Google Tag Manager (GTM), the very tool that helps you get the insights you need, is also the one slowing down your website, and therefore, disrupting the user experience. And we all know what that means: bad performance scores, fewer conversions, and a potential drop in rankings. It’s like having a high-performance sports car with a trailer full of bricks attached to it.
So, do you sacrifice tracking for speed? Or do you accept lower loading times for the sake of data?
Thankfully, you don’t have to choose.
How to keep tracking without killing performance
The secret? It’s not just about what tags you use, but how you load them. And also about the infrastructure of your website. At Baldwin we use some tricks:
- Our favourite combo, Magento paired with Hyvä’s fast frontend
- A GTM module for Magento, which gives us more control over script execution – specifically, Yireo Google Tag Manager, which we don’t just use, but actively contribute to as well.
- We delay non-critical actions: thanks to Yireo Google Tag Manager, the entire GTM container is loaded upon user’s interaction with the shop, ensuring tracking runs only when relevant and thus without slowing down the website
- We minimize redundant tags: more isn’t always better. You should regularly audit and clean up old, unused, or duplicate tags. The leaner the setup, the faster the page.
How this approach worked for us?
Google Tag Manager doesn’t have to be the enemy of page speed. With the right setup, you can get the best of both worlds: solid tracking and a high-performing site.
- We get the data we need to make smart decisions.
- Our websites remains fast and user-friendly.
- Core Web Vitals stay healthy, keeping SEO and conversions in check.
Now, excuse us while we check our analytics dashboards.
Are you interested in optimizing Google Tag Manager to also improve your pagespeed scores? Let’s see how we can help.
