GTM update: Automate Google Tag & User-Provided Data Collection

We’re in a hurry to inform you! Starting April 10, 2025, Google Tag Manager will automatically check for the presence of a Google Tag before firing any Ads or Floodlight event tags. User-provided Data collection will be enabled by default if you’ve accepted Google’s Customer Data Terms. More info below.

Starting April 10, 2025, Google Tag Manager will automatically add the required Google Tag before firing any Ads or Floodlight event tags. 

This update ensures that a Google Tag is always present if you are running conversion tracking or sales events on Google Ads platforms. This is something many advertisers overlook when setting up their tracking. Since a Google Tag is a prerequisite to event tracing, this should improve data accuracy and reliability, removing the need for manual interventions. 

If your GTM container already includes an adequately configured Google Tag, nothing will change for you. If a Google Tag is missing or incorrectly implemented, GTM will automatically load the corresponding gtag.js library before processing Ads or Floodlight events. 

In a nutshell, this is a built-in safety net for tracking consistency. 

Note: if you’ve agreed to Google’s Customer Data Terms of Service, user-provided Data collection will be enabled by default across your events.

Things to do: If you collect first-party data, do it manually via code instead of relying on automatic detection or CSS selectors.

Double-check your settings to prevent unintended data collection. 

If you already have a Google Tag in place before your Ads or floodlight events fire, you will not experience any changes. 

If your implementation is incomplete or incorrect, GTM will step up for you to ensure proper tracking. 

Overall, Google has confirmed that this change is simply a safeguard guarantee to ensure the Google Tag is in place before event tags execute.