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When's the Last Time You Audited Your Website Tags?

  • Writer: George Nenni
    George Nenni
  • Mar 24
  • 2 min read

Updated: 1 day ago


When's the last time your dealership's website had its tags audited?


By "tags," we mean tracking tags for Google Analytics, tags that help Facebook build retargeting audiences, or entire packages of tags bundled into a Google Tag Manager container.


We use TagHound, a free Chrome extension, to check what's currently running on dealership websites.

We ran this check on a Chevy dealer's site recently, and the results were shocking, though far from unusual.


Here's what turned up:

  • Seven Facebook pixels

  • Thirteen Google Analytics tags, including an old Universal Analytics (UA-) tag that should have been removed years ago


This kind of tag buildup is more common than most dealers realize, and here's why it happens: dealers switch vendors regularly, but rarely does anyone go back and clean up the digital clutter the previous vendor left behind. Old Google Tag Manager containers, Facebook pixels, GA4 properties, and more just pile up over time.


Why does excessive tagging actually matter?


  • Site speed — every tag fires on page load. The more tags stacked up, the slower your site runs. Cleaning them up speeds things up.

  • GA4 conflicts — running multiple GA4 properties is a known cause of events firing erratically, a conflict issue that didn't exist back in the Universal Analytics days.

  • A more concerning scenario — a former vendor's Facebook pixel could technically still be live on your site, retargeting your shoppers on behalf of their other clients. This is unlikely, since most automotive vendors operate with far more integrity than that, but there's no reason to leave that door open.


The fix isn't complicated, though it does take some persistence, and possibly a nudge to your website provider.


Ask them to run a full tag audit. Have them identify every tag currently live on the site, and remove anything that's unrecognized or no longer in use. TagHound can help you grade what you find.


Then wait and see if anyone calls asking why their tag disappeared. If no one does, it wasn't being used in the first place.


Get started today, and reach out if Generations Digital can help.

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