Consultants and analysts do not have to request access to Google Tag Manager accounts before starting to debug and verify Google Tag Manager implementations any longer. All we need is our browser and a nifty browser extension built by David Vallejo.
Debug any Google Tag Manager implementation
After installing the Chrome browser add-on we’re ready to debug and verify implementations. Visit the site you want to review, open up the Developer tools interface, the GTM debug tab and refresh the site to populate the view with Current push, APP state, and all Google Analytics hits.
Each time the tracking code is triggered by a user’s behavior (for example, user loads a page on a website or a screen in a mobile app), Analytics records that activity. Each interaction is packaged into a hit and sent to Google’s servers.
The debug interface records and saves all data within your session in a sorted list for easy access to review sent hits prior to a new page load or interaction.
Every hit will be listed with the Google Analytics property ID intended to receive the data from the site. We have the possibility if debugging a large website with a lot of tracking, to filter by hit type and property ID in order to get a clear overview without extracting the data to a spreadsheet to apply filters.
Next to each hit we can see some details, such as the path sent with a pageview and how events have been structured when sent to the Google Analytics account.
Add the Chrome browser extension and start to work when you want to, not when you get access to your client account. And if you find the GTM debug solution as helpful as I do, head on over to David on Twitter and share your thoughts.
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