Hey everyone, I’m really stuck and need some advice!
I have a website where Google Analytics is working perfectly. The tracking pixel is collecting data properly and everything shows up correctly in my GA dashboard. Both my measurement IDs that start with G and GT are active and sending information.
But when I log into Google Tag Manager with the same email I use for Analytics, something weird is happening. The interface looks really limited and I only see GA orange logo options in the menus. When I click them, they just open new Analytics tabs instead of letting me work in GTM.
I noticed I wasn’t seeing the main navigation options like Workspace, Versions, and Admin that appear in tutorials. GTM kept asking me to create a new account, so I did using my same email address.
Now I’m really confused because it seems like GTM doesn’t recognize my existing Analytics setup at all. In the recent items dropdown, I see two separate things - the orange logo for my working Analytics account and a blue diamond for this new GTM container that isn’t connected to anything.
When I try to create a new GA4 event tag and enter my working measurement ID that starts with G, I get an error saying no Google tag exists in this container. The combine with existing tag option doesn’t work either because it says no tags are found.
I’ve been searching online but can’t find clear instructions for linking these accounts together even though they use the same email and I have proper permissions. I discovered this issue because my company wants to add a third party tracking pixel from Premion.
Can someone help me understand how to properly connect my working Analytics account with Tag Manager so I can actually manage the same tags in both platforms?
That confusion is totally normal. GTM and GA don’t talk to each other automatically, even though Google owns both.
I hit this exact issue when migrating at my last company. Your GA working fine doesn’t mean GTM knows about it.
Here’s the fix:
Create a GA4 Configuration tag in GTM first. Use your G- measurement ID from your working GA setup.
Set the trigger to All Pages and publish.
When you create event tags, reference that config tag instead of re-entering the measurement ID.
The “no Google tag exists” error pops up because GTM wants its own GA4 config tag, not your existing GA setup. Add that config tag and the error disappears.
For the Premion pixel, add it as a Custom HTML tag with the right trigger.
One gotcha - watch for double tracking after setup. You might need to remove the direct GA code from your site once GTM handles everything, or you’ll get duplicate data.
I’ve hit this same headache tons of times. GTM and GA4 don’t sync automatically - they’re totally separate platforms even with the same login.
First, create a GA4 Configuration tag in GTM. Go Tags > New > GA4 Configuration, drop in your G- measurement ID, set trigger to “All Pages” and publish.
Once that’s live, you can build your GA4 Event tags and reference the config tag. The “combine with existing tag” option only works after you’ve got that base config tag running.
But honestly? All this manual setup gets old fast, especially when you’re juggling third-party pixels like Premion. I started using Latenode to automate the whole thing and it’s a massive time saver.
Latenode automatically deploys tracking configs across containers, syncs measurement IDs, and handles Premion pixel deployment without all the clicking around. It hooks into both GTM and GA APIs and does the linking for you.
hey, looks like u might have set up a new GTM container instead of linking it to the GA account. gtg won’t auto link them, u gotta manually add the GA4 tag with your measurement ID. start with a GA4 config tag, then ur event tags should work fine!
This happens because GA and GTM don’t talk to each other automatically, even though they’re both Google products. I hit the same issue last year when setting up campaign tracking. GTM needs its own GA4 Configuration tag to work - it won’t just use your existing GA code. In GTM, create a new GA4 Configuration tag with your current G- measurement ID. Set it to fire on All Pages and publish. After that, GTM should recognize your analytics property and your event tags won’t throw errors anymore. For the Premion pixel, just add it as a Custom HTML tag once your GA4 config is running. You’ll have everything managed through GTM while keeping your current data flow intact.