About GTM Utility
I built GTM Utility because I kept opening client containers and not understanding them. I’ve worked on a few dozen tracking setups, from small lead-gen sites to large ecommerce shops. They almost always start in Google Tag Manager. And they almost always end up the same way: a tag fires because of a trigger, which depends on a variable, which reads another variable that someone set up three years ago and nobody remembers why.
What it takes to fire Google Ads conversion tag sometimes 😆
GTM’s interface is fine for editing one tag at a time. It’s not great for seeing how everything fits together. So I started building a small add-on for myself. I used it to explain problems to clients and to untangle strange logic before touching anything. Over time it turned into this.
It works with the latest version or an active workspace of any container you have access to.
Your data and permissions
I know you’re giving a tool access to client containers, so here’s exactly what happens:
- Permissions. Signing in with Google gives GTM Utility your basic profile and read-only access to Tag Manager, so it can draw your containers, versions and workspaces as a flowchart. Publish and edit access to Tag Manager, and read and edit access to Google Analytics, is requested only if you use scheduled publishing. If you prefer, you can add the shared service account to your container and property instead of granting those.
- Storage. Whether you open a container with your Google account or load a JSON file on the sign-in page, I don’t store or cache its contents. I have no use for them, and I’d rather not hold sensitive client data. I store your account details and the Google access token (encrypted), plus your schedules and their results if you use scheduled publishing.
- Publishing. Nothing is published unless you schedule it. You choose the container, the workspace or version, and the time.
- Your data stays yours. Your Tag Manager and Analytics data is never sold and never used for advertising.
- Revoking. You can withdraw access any time in the app menu or in your Google account permissions, and you can ask me to delete your account and the data stored with it.
Full details are in the Privacy Notice.
Who’s behind it
I’m Igor Smirnov. I have software engineering background beyond ad-tech field and currently work as a solutions architect. I built GTM Utility and other SaaS on the side. The visualizer is free to use. Scheduled publishing is the paid part, and you get a small free quota of scheduled publishes to try it. You can find me on LinkedIn.
Ideas and requests
I like Google’s tools a lot, but they can’t do everything. If something in GTM or GA4 annoys you regularly,
tell me. Several features started as someone’s email.
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Let me know.