Engineering and marketing operations
Deploying lead source tracking through Google Tag Manager, without a developer
By the MarqIQ operations team · Updated
The short answer
MarqIQ deploys its tracking as a single Custom HTML tag in your own Google Tag Manager container. The tag is created in your GTM workspace unpublished, so you can read it, preview it and publish it on your own release schedule. It captures UTM parameters and the referrer on the first visit, holds them in first-party cookies, fills hidden form fields and sends first touch to the server so it survives cookie expiry.
What the security review will ask
Any third-party script gets the same questions, and they are fair ones. Here are the answers up front.
- Where does it run? In your GTM container, under your account, on the All Pages trigger. You can pause or remove it without contacting us.
- What does it read? URL parameters, document.referrer, the landing URL and its own first-party cookies. On a form submission it reads the email and name fields, so the conversion can be tied to a person.
- What does it write? First-party cookies on your domain for first-touch and most-recent values, and the hidden fields you chose to add.
- What does it send? One beacon per form submission to the MarqIQ ingest endpoint: the email and name, the first-touch and most-recent source values, the page URL, the form ID and an anonymous visitor ID, authenticated by your workspace key. Nothing is sent for page views.
Two sets of cookies, on purpose
The script keeps most-recent values, which change on every tagged visit, and a separate first-touch snapshot that is written once and then locked. The separation is what lets the CRM carry both "how they found us" and "what brought them back" without one eating the other.
Browser storage alone is not durable. Safari caps script-written cookies at seven days, so the server keeps the canonical first touch keyed to the visitor and, once known, the email address. The earliest record wins.
Recognising sources that carry no UTM
Most traffic is untagged. The script classifies referrers against a maintained list: search engines, social networks, and more than 230 analyst firms and press outlets that ordinary tools file under Referral. Tagged links still take precedence when present.
Before you press publish
- Open GTM Preview and load a URL with test UTMs. Confirm the first-touch cookies appear and do not change on a second tagged visit.
- Submit a test form and check the hidden fields arrived on the contact.
- If you need consent first, switch on the script’s consent mode. With it on, no cookie is written and nothing is sent until your consent platform signals a yes. Set the tag’s consent requirements in GTM to match.
- Publish in your normal container release, with a version note.
Quick answers
Can I set up UTM tracking without a developer?
Yes. MarqIQ creates a single Custom HTML tag in your Google Tag Manager workspace. It arrives unpublished so you can preview it, and you publish it yourself. No site code changes are needed.
Does UTM tracking survive Safari’s cookie limits?
Cookies alone do not, since Safari caps script-written cookies at seven days. MarqIQ stores the first touch on the server against the visitor and email, and the earliest known value wins on later visits.
Does the MarqIQ tag work with WordPress, Webflow and plain HTML forms?
Yes. It runs anywhere Google Tag Manager runs, and fills hidden fields on embedded HubSpot forms, Marketo forms and standard HTML forms.
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