javascriptgoogle-analyticsgoogle-tag-managergoogle-datalayer

dataLayer.push not working after GTM script


I want to implement the Enhanced Ecommerce with Google Tag Manager and I want to push some data for the tag Universal Analytics.

I have always created the dataLayer before the GTM script, but now I need to send more data with dataLayer.push

And it doesn't work, datalaLayer.push only works if it happens just before the GTM script starts.

Example. This works:

   <script>
    <head>
     dataLayer = [{   
                 
            'google_tag_params': {
               'ecomm_pagetype': 'category',
               'ecomm_category': '{{ $resource->seo->h1 }}',
             }
         }];
    
    dataLayer.push({
              'ecommerce': {
                'currencyCode': 'EUR',    
                'impressions': [
                     {
                        'id':       '12312',
                        'price':    24,
                        'category': 'wfwefwerwerwer',
                        'position': 2,
                        'name':     'wfwefwerwerwer',  
                        'brand':   'My Brand',
                        'list':    'Product List',
    
                    }
                ]
              }
            });
    
    (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':
    new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],
    j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src=
    'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);
    })(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-XXXXXX');
    
    </script>
    </head>

But if I use dataLayer.push after the GTM script does not work, no data is sent and no errors are reported.

This isn't working for me:

<head>
    <script>
         dataLayer = [{   
                     
                'google_tag_params': {
                   'ecomm_pagetype': 'category',
                   'ecomm_category': '{{ $resource->seo->h1 }}',
                 }
             }];
        
        
        (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':
        new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],
        j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src=
        'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);
        })(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-XXXXXX');

    </script>
</head>

<body>

    //something content html here

    <footer></footer>

    <script>
        dataLayer.push({
          'ecommerce': {
            'currencyCode': 'EUR',    
            'impressions': [
                 {
                    'id':       '12312',
                    'price':    24,
                    'category': 'wfwefwerwerwer',
                    'position': 2,
                    'name':     'wfwefwerwerwer',  
                    'brand':   'My Brand',
                    'list':    'Product List',

                }
            ]
          }
        });
    </script>
</body>

Solution

  • You're not following best practices, so you'll run into issues, sooner or later.

    Your calls should be:

    window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];  
    dataLayer.push({...});
    

    For instance:

    dataLayer.push({
      'event': 'ecommerce', // naming is up to you, should match your GTM triggers 
      'ecommerce': {
      ...
    

    In your particular case, since the event key is missing, it works as long as GTM loads after the push, because the data is already there when GTM kicks in. When the push call is moved after GTM, because there is no event property, there is just no way for GTM to know when data becomes available. So you should:

    Here is some more reading on those topics: