Best Practices for Tealium iQ

Organization

Save As vs. Overwrite

There are two methods to save your changes:

• Save As – Saves the changes in a new version, preserving the previous version.
• Overwrite – Saves the changes to the current version, overwriting it. You cannot undo changes to the version.

Scenarios to use Save As:

• When the current version has been published to production, to preserve the option to revert back, use Save As.
• When beginning a new project, use Save As to create a new version to separate it from the previous work.
• When you unsure which option to choose, the Save As method is safest because it allows you to revert to the previous version.

Learn more about saving and publishing.

Example: Save As vs Overwrite to preserve the Prod version

In this example, there is a version published to Prod and we want to preserve that version that we can revert back it if necessary.

Correct

“Version A” is published to all three environments (Dev, QA, and Prod). After making changes, a Save As is performed to create a new version, “Version B”. It is then published to all environments again. This provides the option to rollback to the previous Prod version (Version A) if necessary.

Incorrect

“Version A” is published to Prod multiple times using an Overwrite. There is no way to roll back to the previous Prod version if needed.

Labels and titles

Use labels to categorize related tags, load rules, and extensions, especially those that require a sequential order.

Use descriptive titles, such as Step 1 of 3.

Data layer object

This content has been moved: Data layer best practices

Event tracking

Replace hard-coded vendor tags

When adding event tracking code to your site, we recommend replacing all existing hard-coded vendor tags with Universal Tag tracking code. The behavior of individual tags can be controlled within the Tealium iQ Tag Management console.

Event names

Tealium uses the variable tealium_event to uniquely identify each event type that is tracked on the site. Set this variable to a value identifying the event being tracked (Tealium naming convention applies).

Suggested values include, but are not limited to:

Standardized event names offer the following benefits:

• Implementation is clearer due to consistent variable names and values.
• Data mapping is easier because there is a single identifier for event types.
• Event are grouped into categories by the prefix of the name (product_, cart_, user_).

Sample event tracking script

utag.link({
    tealium_event    : "cart_add",
    product_id       : ["shrt123"],
    product_price    : ["12.50"],
    product_quantity : ["2"]
});

Event listeners versus utag.link()

Tealium has two options for tracking clicks and other events on a site:

• Configuring event listeners in the Tealium iQ interface.
• Coding utag.link() directly in the page.

Consider using event listeners in the following situations:

• The website, development team, or release cycles do not allow for hardcoded tracking calls.
• Scroll tracking and video tracking are much easier to implement with event listeners.
• Strong selectors and tracking data elements are available.

Consider using hardcoded utag.link() calls in the following situations:

• The event requires data not available in the DOM.
• Business-critical KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).
• When easier to integrate with site functionality, such as modals and form validation.

Performance

Load utag.js asynchronously

The best practice is to loading all tags and vendor code asynchronously. In this method, tags are loaded in parallel to the rest of the page content. This means that even if the tag is slow to respond or to load, it will not slow down the rest of the site.

Bundle tags

The Bundle Tags feature is set within the publish settings of the profile. Enabling this feature will cause the vendor tag code to be included in the main utag.js file. This reduces the number of HTTP requests that are sent from your page and improves performance.

Learn More: Tags: Advanced Settings (Bundle Flag)

Page code placement

We recommend that the Universal Tag (utag.js) be placed at the top of the body tag (as opposed to the head or footer), keeping in mind that the data layer object must be declared and populated prior to this. This placement provides the best compatibility with the greatest number of vendors.

Tag timing

The Tag Timing setting determines if a tag is fired immediately or at DOM Ready. When Tag Timing is set to Prioritized, the tag is executed as soon as it’s loaded into the page. When Tag Timing is set to DOM Ready, the tag waits until the DOM Ready event to execute. This setting is found in the Advanced Settings for each tag.

To prioritize the execution of important tags (such as analytics), set the Wait Flag to off.

Only load event listeners when necessary

If you do not set any event rules for an event listener, it will load on every page. Loading a levent listeners on every page will slow down delivery of pages on the site and collect unnecessary data. We recommend that you use rules to load event listeners only on pages where you expect the trigger’s actions to happen or where you require visitor action data.

For more information, see Event Rules.

Extensions

Use built-in extensions

Tealium is designed for both non-technical users with limited coding experience and for developers who are comfortable writing their own JavaScript. While many of the built-in extensions could easily be re-written as custom JavaScript Code extensions, we recommend using the built-in extensions whenever possible and only writing custom JavaScript when you require additional functionality not offered by the existing options.

Built-in extensions offer the following benefits:

• Managed Dependencies
  If the name of a data layer variable is changed, all built-in extensions that reference that variable are automatically updated because they contain a reference to the original variable.
  Data layer variables referenced in code, such as b['user_login_status'], must be updated manually if the name of the variable ever changes.
• Friendly Variable Names
  Built-in extensions will always display the user-friendly name of a variable (Alias) if it exists. This improves readability of the configuration.
  Variables referenced in code must use the actual name, which can be cryptic or unclear, making it more difficult to understand what the code does or to identify its dependencies.
• No Syntax Errors
  Built-in extensions are guaranteed to generate the same consistent code every time you publish, eliminating the risk of syntax errors.
  Custom JavaScript code always runs the risk of introducing unexpected syntax errors (although the publish engine will usually catch these) or runtime errors.

Global vs. local JavaScript variables

In JavaScript Code extensions, be sure to explicitly define global and local variables using var and window. This prevents naming conflicts with the variables declared in utag.js or globally in the page.

Incorrect:

variable_name = "some value";

Correct:

var variable_name = "local value";

window.variable_name = "global value";

Load rules

Check variables to ensure they exist

Tealium recommends that you verify that a variable exists before you check the value of that variable. The following example verifies if MyVariable is defined before checking if its value is equal to 1000:

If you do not verify that the variable exists and its value is null, the code throws an error and may cause the tag not to fire.