[HN Gopher] One Tag to Rule Them All: Introducing the New Google...
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       One Tag to Rule Them All: Introducing the New Google Tag
        
       Author : sdoering
       Score  : 33 points
       Date   : 2022-08-16 18:50 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.simoahava.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.simoahava.com)
        
       | Animats wrote:
       | Is it hard to block? Or randomize?
        
       | digdugdirk wrote:
       | Articles like this do a great job showing me just how little I
       | know about the modern web. The level of detail/effort/ubiquity
       | that goes into the modern advertising behemoth is truly
       | impressive.
        
       | anm89 wrote:
       | Can anyone really get excited about google doing something new
       | these days?
        
       | miscaccount wrote:
       | i thought google tags was like apple tags :P and opened the page
       | to read about this new hardware .
        
         | layer8 wrote:
         | I was half-expecting                 <google>
         | 
         | to be introduced into HTML, and was curious what exactly it
         | would do. :)
         | 
         | In a parallel universe, HTML would have transitioned to GAML --
         | Google Analytics/Ads Markup Language.
        
           | tannhaeuser wrote:
           | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19866584
        
           | daxelrod wrote:
           | I suspected that was the long term vision for AMP.
        
         | doctor_eval wrote:
         | Right? I thought it was a way for Google to track real-world
         | stuff. But I guess the internet IS real-world now.
        
       | thedanbob wrote:
       | Google seems to be obsessed with new analytics products almost as
       | much as new chat apps. Google Analytics, Universal Analytics,
       | Google Tag Manager, Global Site Tag, Google Analytics 4, Google
       | Tag... they keep forcing me to add/swap out tracking scripts on
       | the websites I maintain when I don't even want them there in the
       | first place.
        
         | colpabar wrote:
         | It's almost like google is full of ex-spooks who saw the value
         | of a surveillance system of the entire internet.
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | sure. you can go that route. or the more believable version
           | is their analytics systems helps them justify their pricing
           | to their customers. the fact that their customers accept
           | first party analytics is an absolute god send to G.
           | 
           | G: We price our ads based on the number of visitors to a
           | site.
           | 
           | Buyer: How do you know how many visitors a site gets?
           | 
           | G: Through the analytics we gather from each site
           | 
           | Buyer: How do I verify that your numbers are accurate?
           | 
           | G: ...
        
         | sgc wrote:
         | The web works without them. What specific benefit does having
         | them provide that you could not do without? I have always
         | thought that having slightly less precise user metrics should
         | not matter a ton for a site focused on providing quality
         | content and services. I could be wrong, and I would love to
         | hear peoples stories of a _tangible, overwhelming_ benefit they
         | had where they started without such tracking, and then turned
         | it on. Because a bit more useful doesn 't cut it for me.
        
           | kyleee wrote:
           | i hate all the google trackers too but google has a big name
           | and brand awareness, lots of clients and teams expect to be
           | using google's analytics tools especially when they're
           | running google ads and are using many other google services
           | 
           | i try to steer people away when possible but unfortunately
           | it's not always a possibility / worth the fight
        
             | sgc wrote:
             | The expected answer :)
        
           | teknolog wrote:
           | You pretty much need it for Google Ads. And many businesses
           | need Google Ads to make money.
        
           | closewith wrote:
           | Google Analytics is outclassed by many other tools, but it
           | has two features that make it essential (along with its
           | brethren, Google Ads tracking) for most enterprises.
           | 
           | One is the Search Console integration, which is the only way
           | to see what Google search queries led people to your site.
           | 
           | The second is Google Ads conversion tracking and remarketing,
           | which is de facto required to advertise with Google because
           | it can _easily_ 10x your Return On Advertising Spend, which
           | is a key metric for digital marketing teams.
           | 
           | Without those two features, Google Analytics would be easy to
           | drop. Many big companies already have other first- or third-
           | party analytics tools they prefer. Many simply don't trust
           | Google enough to send any commercially sensitive data, except
           | where necessary to optimise ad spending.
        
         | dylan604 wrote:
         | Isn't that kind of like, "duh"?
         | 
         | They sale ads. The buyers of those ads want their ads on sites
         | that have eyeballs on them. How do you prove how many eyeballs
         | are looking? Analytics. If you write your own tool to generate
         | those analytics, then even better!
        
           | sgc wrote:
           | Right, but I don't care about google or what they need. I
           | care about it from the site owner's perspective.
        
       | lxe wrote:
       | I wonder what the performance penalty is like, when trackers like
       | this one inject themselves into every event generated by a
       | browser.
        
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       (page generated 2022-08-16 23:01 UTC)