GTM Trigger Configuration

GTM Trigger Configuration

Sources:

• https://support.google.com/tagmanager/topic/7679108
• https://developers.google.com/tag-platform/tag-manager/web

Last Updated: 2025-01-09

Overview

Triggers define when and how tags fire in Google Tag Manager. Understanding trigger types, configurations, and conditions is essential for accurate tracking. This guide covers all trigger types and their use cases.

Trigger Fundamentals

How Triggers Work

1. User performs action on website
2. GTM detects the action via built-in listeners
3. Trigger conditions are evaluated
4. If conditions match, associated tags fire

Trigger Components

Trigger Type: The event category (click, pageview, etc.) Filter Conditions: When within that type to fire Built-in Variables: Data available for conditions

Page View Triggers

Page View

Fires as soon as the GTM snippet loads on the page.

Trigger Type: Page View
Fires on: All Page Views

Use Cases:

• GA4 Configuration tag
• Essential tracking pixels
• Data layer initialisation tags

DOM Ready

Fires when the DOM is fully parsed (but images/resources may still be loading).

Trigger Type: Page View - DOM Ready
Fires on: All DOM Ready Events

Use Cases:

• Tags that need to access DOM elements
• Click listeners that need elements to exist
• Form tracking initialisation

Window Loaded

Fires when the page and all resources (images, scripts, etc.) have fully loaded.

Trigger Type: Page View - Window Loaded
Fires on: All Window Loaded Events

Use Cases:

• Performance measurement
• Tags that depend on all content being loaded
• Scroll depth initialisation

Conditional Page View

Fire on specific pages only:

Trigger Type: Page View
Fires on: Some Page Views
Conditions:
  Page Path contains /products/

Common Conditions:

• Page Path equals /checkout/
• Page URL contains utm_source=
• Page Hostname equals www.example.com
• Referrer contains google.com

Click Triggers

All Elements Click

Fires on any click, regardless of element type.

Trigger Type: Click - All Elements
Fires on: Some Clicks
Conditions:
  Click Classes contains cta-button

Available Variables:

• Click Element (DOM element)
• Click Classes
• Click ID
• Click Target
• Click URL (for links)
• Click Text

Just Links Click

Fires only on link (<a>) element clicks.

Trigger Type: Click - Just Links
Fires on: Some Link Clicks
Conditions:
  Click URL contains /external/

Additional Options:

• Wait for Tags: Pause navigation until tags fire (max 2000ms)
• Check Validation: Only fire if link click would navigate

Use Cases:

• Outbound link tracking
• File download tracking
• Internal navigation tracking

Click Trigger Patterns

Button Clicks by ID:

Click - All Elements
Click ID equals submit-button

Navigation Menu Clicks:

Click - Just Links
Click Element matches CSS selector nav a

CTA Button Clicks:

Click - All Elements
Click Classes contains cta-button
OR Click Text equals Get Started

Form Triggers

Form Submission

Fires when a form is submitted.

Trigger Type: Form Submission
Fires on: Some Forms
Conditions:
  Form ID equals contact-form

Available Variables:

• Form Element
• Form Classes
• Form ID
• Form Target
• Form URL
• Form Text

Options:

• Wait for Tags: Pause submission until tags fire
• Check Validation: Only fire if form passes HTML5 validation

Form Trigger Patterns

All Form Submissions:

Form Submission
Fires on: All Forms

Specific Form by ID:

Form Submission
Form ID equals newsletter-signup

Forms with Specific Class:

Form Submission
Form Classes contains tracking-form

Custom Event Triggers

Custom Event

Fires when a specific event is pushed to the data layer.

Trigger Type: Custom Event
Event Name: purchase

Data Layer Push:

dataLayer.push({
  'event': 'purchase',
  'transactionId': 'T12345',
  'transactionTotal': 99.99
});

Custom Event with Conditions

Trigger Type: Custom Event
Event Name: form_submit
Conditions:
  DL - Form Name equals Contact Form

Regex Event Matching

Match multiple events with one trigger:

Event Name: ^(add_to_cart|remove_from_cart|view_cart)$
Use regex matching: Yes

History Change Triggers

History Change

Fires when the URL fragment or History API state changes (essential for SPAs).

Trigger Type: History Change
Fires on: All History Changes

Available Variables:

• New History Fragment
• Old History Fragment
• New History State
• Old History State
• History Source (pushState, replaceState, popstate, hashchange)

SPA Virtual Pageviews

Trigger Type: History Change
Fires on: All History Changes

Use with GA4 Event tag:

Event Name: page_view
Parameters:
  page_location: {{Page URL}}
  page_title: {{Page Title}}

Timer Triggers

Timer

Fires at specified intervals.

Trigger Type: Timer
Event Name: timer_30sec
Interval: 30000 (milliseconds)
Limit: 1 (fire once)
Conditions:
  Page Path equals /article/

Use Cases:

• Time on page tracking
• Engaged user detection
• Periodic data collection

Timer Configuration

Interval: Milliseconds between fires Limit: Maximum number of times to fire (blank = unlimited) Conditions: When the timer should be active

Scroll Depth Triggers

Scroll Depth

Fires when user scrolls to specified depths.

Trigger Type: Scroll Depth
Vertical Scroll Depths:
  Percentages: 25, 50, 75, 90
Fires on: Some Scroll Depths
Conditions:
  Page Path matches RegEx ^/blog/

Available Variables:

• Scroll Depth Threshold (percentage or pixels)
• Scroll Depth Units (percent or pixels)
• Scroll Direction (vertical or horizontal)

Scroll Tracking Patterns

Article Engagement:

Scroll Depth
Vertical: 25, 50, 75, 100 percent
Page Path contains /blog/

Product Page Scroll:

Scroll Depth
Vertical: 50, 100 percent
Page Path matches RegEx ^/products/

YouTube Video Triggers

YouTube Video

Fires based on YouTube embed interactions.

Trigger Type: YouTube Video
Capture: Start, Complete, Pause, Seeking, Progress
Progress: 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 90%

Available Variables:

• Video Title
• Video URL
• Video Provider (youtube)
• Video Status (start, complete, pause, etc.)
• Video Percent (for progress events)
• Video Duration
• Video Current Time
• Video Visible (boolean)

YouTube Tracking Patterns

All YouTube Interactions:

YouTube Video
Capture: Start, Complete, Pause, Progress
Progress: 25%, 50%, 75%

Completion Only:

YouTube Video
Capture: Complete

Element Visibility Triggers

Element Visibility

Fires when specific elements become visible in the viewport.

Trigger Type: Element Visibility
Selection Method: CSS Selector
Element Selector: #product-reviews
When to fire: Once per page
Minimum Percent Visible: 50

Options:

• Once per page: Fire once when element first becomes visible
• Once per element: Fire once per matching element
• Every time: Fire every time element enters viewport

Use Cases:

• Lazy-loaded content tracking
• Ad viewability
• Section engagement tracking

Trigger Groups

Combining Triggers

Trigger groups allow "AND" logic between multiple triggers.

Trigger Group Name: Engaged User on Product Page
Triggers:
  - Timer - 30 seconds
  - Scroll Depth - 50%

Use Cases:

• Engaged user definition
• Complex conversion criteria
• Multi-step funnel tracking

Trigger Conditions

Condition Operators

• equals: Exact match
• contains: Substring match
• starts with: Prefix match
• ends with: Suffix match
• matches RegEx: Regular expression match
• does not equal: Negative exact match
• does not contain: Negative substring match
• less than / greater than: Numeric comparison

Multiple Conditions

AND Logic: All conditions in a trigger must match OR Logic: Use multiple triggers on the same tag

Common Condition Patterns

Exclude Internal Traffic:

Page URL does not contain ?internal=true

Specific Page Types:

DL - Page Type equals product

URL Parameter Present:

Page URL matches RegEx [?&]utm_source=

Blocking Triggers (Exceptions)

How Exception Triggers Work

Exception triggers prevent a tag from firing even when firing triggers match.

Tag: GA4 - Pageview
Firing Triggers: All Pages
Exception Triggers: Internal Traffic

Common Exception Patterns

Block Internal Traffic:

Exception Trigger: Internal Traffic
Condition: Page URL contains ?internal=true

Block During Testing:

Exception Trigger: Preview Mode
Condition: Debug Mode equals true

Trigger Naming Conventions

Recommended Format

[Event Type] - [Description]

Examples

• Pageview - All Pages
• Pageview - Product Pages
• Click - CTA Buttons
• Click - Outbound Links
• Form - Contact Form
• Custom Event - Purchase
• Scroll - 50% Blog Posts
• Timer - 30 Seconds

Debugging Triggers

Preview Mode Analysis

1. Enable Preview mode
2. Perform the action
3. Check Summary panel for event
4. Click event to see fired/not fired triggers
5. Review Variables panel for condition values

Common Issues

Trigger Not Firing:

• Variable values don't match conditions
• Element not present when listener initialised
• Event not being pushed to data layer

Trigger Fires Too Often:

• Conditions too broad
• Missing exception trigger
• History Change firing on initial page load

Resources

• GTM Trigger Types
• Built-in Variables
• Regular Expressions in GTM