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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Ad Manager

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/AGoogle Ad Manager is a platform for publishers that combines the former DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange products.N/A

    Google Tag Manager

    Score9.5 out of 10
    N/AFrom Google, the Google Tag Manager is a tag management application that facilitates creating, embedding, and updating tags across websites and mobile apps. It is a free option, vs. the company's enterprise-tier Google Tag Manager 360.

    $0

    Pricing
    Google Ad ManagerGoogle Tag Manager
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google Ad ManagerGoogle Tag Manager
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google Ad ManagerGoogle Tag Manager
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    No answer on this topic
    Google
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    93%
    Would buy again
    14 Answers
    93%
    Would buy again
    14 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    14 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    14 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    93%
    Happy with the feature set
    14 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    15 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    83%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    10 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    11 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    75%
    Implementation went as expected
    9 Answers
    93%
    Implementation went as expected
    13 Answers
    Features
    Google Ad ManagerGoogle Tag Manager
    Ad Network Integration
    Comparison of Ad Network Integration features of Google Ad Manager and Google Tag Manager
    Feature
    Google Ad Manager
    7.8
    28 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Google Tag Manager
    -
    Ratings
    Data Transfer7.528 Ratings00 Ratings
    DSP integration8.122 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad Campaigns
    Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Google Ad Manager and Google Tag Manager
    Feature
    Google Ad Manager
    7.4
    40 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Google Tag Manager
    -
    Ratings
    Ad campaign creation7.640 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad deployment7.040 Ratings00 Ratings
    Display advertising7.639 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad display and retargeting segmentation7.238 Ratings00 Ratings
    Sequence targeting7.528 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Google Ad Manager and Google Tag Manager
    Feature
    Google Ad Manager
    6.7
    39 Ratings
    15% below category average
    Google Tag Manager
    -
    Ratings
    Ad dashboards6.537 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad performance reports7.439 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad conversion tracking6.738 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad attribution reporting6.834 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cross-channel ad management7.029 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad forecasting and optimization5.734 Ratings00 Ratings
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Google Ad Manager and Google Tag Manager
    Feature
    Google Ad Manager
    -
    Ratings
    Google Tag Manager
    8.9
    58 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Role-based user permissions00 Ratings8.958 Ratings
    Tag Management
    Comparison of Tag Management features of Google Ad Manager and Google Tag Manager
    Feature
    Google Ad Manager
    -
    Ratings
    Google Tag Manager
    8.8
    68 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Tag library00 Ratings9.263 Ratings
    Tag variable mapping00 Ratings8.955 Ratings
    Ease of writing custom tags00 Ratings7.367 Ratings
    Rules-driven tag execution00 Ratings8.162 Ratings
    Tag performance monitoring00 Ratings10.056 Ratings
    Page load times00 Ratings8.849 Ratings
    Mobile app tagging00 Ratings9.334 Ratings
    Library of JavaScript extensions00 Ratings8.838 Ratings
    Data Management & Integrity
    Comparison of Data Management & Integrity features of Google Ad Manager and Google Tag Manager
    Feature
    Google Ad Manager
    -
    Ratings
    Google Tag Manager
    7.6
    69 Ratings
    7% below category average
    Event tracking00 Ratings8.666 Ratings
    Mobile event tracking00 Ratings9.347 Ratings
    Data distribution management00 Ratings8.841 Ratings
    Universal data layer00 Ratings8.358 Ratings
    Automated error checking00 Ratings3.045 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google Ad ManagerGoogle Tag Manager
    Small Businesses
    AdRoll
    Score3.7 out of 10
    Adobe Experience Platform Launch
    Score8.4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Criteo Commerce Growth
    Score8 out of 10
    Adobe Experience Platform Launch
    Score8.4 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Criteo Commerce Growth
    Score8 out of 10
    Adobe Dynamic Tag Management (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google Ad ManagerGoogle Tag Manager
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.2
    (40 ratings)
    9.7
    (73 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.0
    (7 ratings)
    Usability
    6.8
    (8 ratings)
    7.1
    (18 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    2.0
    (12 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.8
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google Ad ManagerGoogle Tag Manager
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    I like that I can see several clients in one place, which can be convenient. However, the UX could be a lot better as outlined previously. In other words, the benefits of combining clients into the Ad Manager don't seem to be much more beneficial than logging into each client's ad account separately
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    I have found Google Tag Manager as the go to solution for managing all of your event and conversion tags for your website. Not only does it make it easy to manage all of your tags in the one place, it is fairly intuitive to use and there is plenty of videos and help documentation online to help set up what ever you need. No scenarios come to mind at the moment on where it is less appropriate to use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Google
    • The obvious is the data - Google Ads Manager gives me essential and even critical data about which jobs and industries are hot right now and what is driving the most response.
    • Google Ad Manager gives us more control over the search engine results page as we get more visibility and real estate on our branded search terms and job/industry-specific search terms.
    • Google Ad Manager gives us the chance to compete with major national players in job recruitment, Monster, Indeed, LinkedIn, etc.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    • Selecting elements on a site [object, class, cookie, etc] (to later fire an event, send some data, etc) is very easy with triggers. Want to add an event when someone clicks on a button? Super easy. It was many many DOM selectors and you can even add custom functions if you need to do something more specific
    • In general, firing events in different circumstances is very easy mixing triggers and tags. You can track almost any element of the DOM and do whatever you want with it.
    • Testing is a great functionality. Only you can see what's on the site and you can debug it easily by seeing which events or tags were triggered and all the DOM elements involved (and why they matched the trigger).
    • Working in environments (staging, production) and versioning is easy to do, deploying changes in 2 clicks.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Google
    • Support. Not that they don't call or offer help, it's that our account people are bullies. I tell them I don't have time, so I am insulted and told that I need to get in front of the laptop otherwise I have "failed the company." I have never had a situation where I wasn't bullied by our Ad reps. They don't respect or value our time, which can make their calls frustrating.
    • Too quick on support. They don't take the time to understand the product. We are a preschool which shares a name with a popular motorcycle. An Ad rep insisted he knew the company so well that he could help me within five minutes. After being interrupted frequently, I just let him continue to tell me how I "could increase awareness of our aerodynamic seat design by creating ads with those keywords..."
    • Better management of trademark keywords and program awareness. We switched over to a new site, the domain changed for about ten seconds. All of our ads were unapproved and put on pause. The email stated it would be fixed very quickly, but I had to go in for the last 3 days to reactivate each one individually.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    • There are several good integrations, but there can always be more. Native tracking for call tracking solutions, analytics providers, non-Google advertisers would be top of my list.
    • Documentation is just dreadful. Luckily there are some awesome folks out there doing crowdsourced tutorials (shout out to Simo Ahava) but by and large the Google Tag Manager instructions are worth what you pay for them.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Google
    I think it's useful for our team and we rely on it to improve our business. It is within our budget also. Although we still will need an approval from the upper-level management team, I don't see any problem with that
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    I haven't found another option for us to use especially one that is free. Down the road we may go a different route but for now GTM is a good option and does what we need it to do. It'd be nice to get more support or more integrations but with the free version there's only so much one can expect to get I suppose.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Google
    While most of Google Ad Manager is user-friendly, certain parts of the ad creation process could use some improvements. Specifically, the way you insert keywords can be clunky and time-consuming, and I would like to see better and more keyword suggestions when designing a campaign.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    No difficult obstacle to overcome but Google Tag Manager can still be difficult for many users to deploy. Sure the basic HTML script can be deployed quite easily, but when you start to require triggers, variables, etc, it can be a little daunting.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Google
    I could say a lot about this topic. As an agency, we get a new [representative] to talk to almost every quarter to go over select accounts and the campaigns within. Most of the time, these [educated representatives], don't provide any new feedback, or I just simply [disagree] with their approach. This is not all the time however. I have learned a lot from a rare few, [individuals] that have given me new strategies and access to betas early on. The other side of support, is the [overseas support platform]. [It] is usually not very helpful, but you can [emphasize] issues and they can research [them]. The Google Tag Implementation team is pristine though. When you need them, you need to set an appointment, which is usually 2 weeks out; they are so over-my-head intelligent, I've never had a bad experience with them and whenever I needed them for a fix, they solved it [within] the first call.
    Incentivized
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    Google
    GTM does not provide support. This is one of GTM's biggest issues but it's due to the level of customization for each website. If your team thinks they would heavily rely on the need for a support staff it is probably better to invest in a paid service with a team that can support your needs.
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Google
    I thought there was a little bit too much emphasis on AdWords stuff, not enough on the generic application of GTM.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Google
    Planning and communication will help greatly with an in-house implementation. If there are large teams, try to limit the number of people involved to 1-2 developers (back-end dev may be necessary depending on your platform), one analytics marketer and one project manager.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    As I've said in prior comments, I like how the Google Ad Manager makes better use of the Google data and results compared to the others. Yes, I've tried them - I used to evaluate software for a former company. They will all do the job I didn't like their usage as much as I preferred the Google information - and I said even that had flaws - so you have to realize that nothing is completely perfect so far.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    We moved to GTM from a standard Google Analytics implementation. GTM is much more flexible and easier to make changes, especially as the changes relate to multiple sites and environments. While there is a learning curve when figuring out how to use GTM, I believe the change has been worth it because it helps us understand at a more fundamental level how our tracking works and gives us a lot more control over what we track and how.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Google
    • I was able to work well with my budgets - mainly because of the reports.
    • I saw a great spike in the way my ad traffic increased.
    • It was a very easy way to work with Google Ad Manager than connecting other platforms with less compatibility - Less investment.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    • GTM is very useful to determine if a particular element on the site is useful (i.e. is it being watched, is it being clicked, does it help customers navigate through more pages). As an SEO person, I can use this information to decide what to optimize for but also to track progress and see improvements in engagement.
    • With the use of Google Tag Manager, I was able to easily inject an A/B testing tool which lead to several improvements in lead generation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots