Floodlight & Google Tag Manager

Question

How is using Google Tag Manager (which is a pixel container) different from using Floodlight tags?

The Tag Manager is actually a container that can load custom tracking tags as needed, whereas Floodlight tags ARE tracking tags. But as far as I know, the load of custom tags can be accomplished natively by Floodlight, through the use of what they call "dynamic" tags.

Floodlight Dynamic tags
Google Tag Manager

Cheers!

Answer 1

Here's the answer from the Google Tag Manager FAQ:

Today, many DoubleClick customers use Floodlight as both a container tag and as a conversion-tracking and remarketing tag. Because Google Tag Manager offers more versatile tag-management technology, we encourage all Floodlight users to install Google Tag Manager and migrate their existing Floodlight tags into Google Tag Manager using the built-in Floodlight template. This will make adding future Floodlight tags easier, and it will make variable collection much faster and less error-prone.

It’s important to note that Google Tag Manager does not replace the conversion-tracking and remarketing functionality of the Floodlight tag. DoubleClick users should continue to use Floodlight for these capabilities. Because of the more sophisticated container features of Google Tag Manager, we also encourage Floodlight users to migrate the tags in the Default tag section into Google Tag Manager, but to keep tags in the Publisher tag section within Floodlight to take advantage of last-click and view-through tag firing.

Does that answer your question? If not, let me know and I'm happy to answer any follow ups.

Cheers, Laura

Answer 2

It’s easiest to think of GTM as the mechanism that your tags are delivered, but the tags themselves are the ‘content’.

Floodlight (FLC) tags, by default, are loaded on pageview. But over time you are likely to find this element of FLC limiting.

GTM will allow you to fire floodlight tags in the following situations:

• On pages where you may not be able to add the tag itself (perhaps on someone else’s CMS where you do not have edit rights to the HTML)
• On event rather than pageview – often needed when integrating with 3rd party systems where you can’t get tracking code on the other system
• At the same time as other tags – you might want to fire an Analytics event, FLC and Adwords remarketing tag all based on the same situation

GTM gives you the flexibility to plan, implement and manage your tagging without having to incrementally add extra code to your pages themselves.

I find it allows me to map the tracking out across a site, working out the points at which I would want tracking to be implemented (whether to track site performance or campaign performance), and then setting all the rules in GTM.

This often helps me find the simplest way to track what I need. Rather than going through page-by-page and manually implementing multiple individual pieces of code, I am able to define the rule and fire the tags with minimal changes to the HTML.

To me the distinction between GTM and FLCs is the same as HTML and content. One shapes the delivery of the other.

Phil