Third-Party Scripts

Owned by Joy Brunetti
Last updated: Jun 24, 2021
2 min read

All Scripts

Requests to add third-party scripts to the USD website funnel through the USD web team. The web team evaluates requests for functionality and coding conflicts on the site. Additionally, the impact to the Google Page Speed Insights score is reviewed. If the script would negatively impact the website in any way and there are no alternative implementation methods identified, the web team will not add the script to the USD website and will notify the USD stakeholder(s) and/or vendor(s) accordingly.

Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager allows vendors and stakeholders to continually modify scripts on the USD website without needing to ask for code updates to the site itself. While convenient, any changes could impact the website adversely in terms of functionality and/or page speed score.

To help mitigate this, all stakeholders and vendors are required to work within a container in the Google Tag Manager account. This ensures that tags only affect the school or organizational site being tracked and not the USD website (home page). Each container will be set up by the USD web team (if it does not already exist) at the time that GTM access is requested.

Stakeholders and vendors are also given boilerplate information about best practices with Google Tag Manager:

  • Plan before the implementation: When you start working on a new project, don’t rush to blindly implement various tracking techniques. Instead, prepare a measurement plan and a tag implementation plan.

  • Use proper naming conventions:  The number of tags, triggers, and variables can grow very quickly into a hard to manage mess. Therefore, you should use clear naming guidelines which will help you to manage your GTM implementation far easier.

  • Pause tags not in use: If a tracking code is for a temporary campaign, or if there is an end date of any kind to what you are tracking, be sure to pause the tag when it is no longer needed. The script continues to fire on the website unnecessarily if this is not done.

  • Always test before publishing: self explanatory.