In this blog post, we explain how to set up a Google Service Account and integrate it with TAGGRS. This integration lets you connect server Google Tag Manager(sGTM) containers to BigQuery and Firestore, allowing you to enrich server data, save data and easily work with Google Sheets and other Google services.
Table of Contents
What is a Google Service Account?
A Google Service Account is a special account used by applications to make authorized API calls. By linking a Google Service Account to an sGTM-container, you can achieve advanced integrations with Google services such as BigQuery and Firestore. This allows you to extract more value from your server-side data and use it for data processing and data segmentation.
Benefits of a Google Service Account
- Access to Google APIs: Provides automated access to various Google APIs, essential for performing automated tasks without human intervention.
- Increased Security: Better Administers and secures access to Google Cloud resources, preventing the sharing or misuse of personal login credentials.
- Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Associates specific roles and permissions with service accounts, enabling precise control over access to various cloud resources.
- Scalability: Enables applications and services to be administered at scale without the need to manage individual user accounts.
- Workflow automation: Sets up automated workflows and CI/CD pipelines, improving the efficiency and reliability of development and deployment processes.
Benefits of Integration with TAGGRS
- Data Enrichment with Firestore: Add additional user information to your data, such as by pulling additional data from Firestore.
- Profit Tracking with Firestore: Use Firestore to collect comprehensive profit and performance data, giving you a more accurate understanding of the profitability of your marketing campaigns.
- Data Storage in BigQuery: Save large amounts of data for comprehensive analysis and reporting.
- Google Sheets Integration: Easily read and write data to Google Sheets for Admin and overview.
How to Connect Your Google Service Account to TAGGRS.
With the steps below, learn how to link the Google Service Account to TAGGRS.
Create a Google Service Account
Navigate to IAM & Admin -> Service Accounts -> Select the Create Service Account option.
2. Name the Service Account.
Name the Service account and click create and continue.
3. Assign roles to the Service Account.
Now assign roles to the service account BigQuery Data Editor role for BigQuery access or the Cloud Datastore User role for Firestore. Then click done.
4. Create a Private Key
To the right of the service account, click Manage keys.
5. Create a new Key.
Click add key and then click Create new key.
6. Download the Key to your computer
Select Key type JSON and click Create. A JSON file will now be downloaded to your computer.
7. Go to Google Service Account in the TAGGRS dashboard.
In your TAGGRS Dashboard, go to Integrations and click on Google Service account.
8. Upload the JSON file into the TAGGRS dashboard.
Upload the JSON file uploaded to your computer to TAGGRS and click connect.
That was all you have now integrated your Google Service account with TAGGRS.
Use Case 1: Profit Tracking.
The Google Service Account integration allows you to use Profit Tracking. Profit Tracking goes beyond Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) by measuring not only revenue, but also profit that comes from ad spend. This provides a clearer picture of the actual contribution of ad spending to corporate profits and enables advertisers to make more informed decisions about their advertising strategy.
Calculation profit tracking = (Conversion value – Purchase & selling costs) / costs
Use Case 2: Data management with Google Sheets.
With the Google Service Account integration, you can easily read and write data to Google Sheets. This is useful for Administering marketing campaigns, tracking performance and sharing reports with your team. Use an sGTM tag to write data such as lead information, conversions and customer interactions directly to a Google Sheet. This makes it easy to analyze and report data, and provides a flexible and accessible platform for data management.
By following the steps above, you can improve your server-side data workflows and make your data management more efficient.
Ate Keurentjes is a Server Side Tracking specialist at TAGGRS. He has experience with various Google Tag Manager concepts. Keurentjes has been editing and writing about the latest developments and trends in data collection / Server side tracking since 2023.
