If we delete paused GTM tags, will it improve the website performance ? Will it reduce the unused JS?

Question

I am trying to improve the performance of my website ... but i am not sure if i delete the paused GTM tags will it help me in any way or not ? If yes then how it will help, like by reducing the size of unused js ?

Answer 1

If there isn't any bad code like weird JS that is somehow slow down your website. The help will be very little

Here is a quick way about testing if GTM is affecting the performance.

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1. Open the Chrome devtool when browsing the website

2. Search gtm- in the network tab

3. Right click the GTM-xxxxx request , choose block request URL

Then compare the Dom Ready and Window Loaded Timing is different or not

=>

If yes, please find someone who knows about JS and help you to debug what is wrong within the GTM. Most of the case GTM would not cause issue on performance

If not, then need to find what is other reason that is slowing down the performance. Most of the time, it is the source code issue or server respond slowly. There will be a lot of potential reason and need to check one by one.

Maybe the Lighthouse in the Chrome Devtool will help you find more information.

Answer 2

Paused tags aren't included in the library. Deleting paused tags will achieve nothing.

It is expected that GTM would have unused code reported by lighhouse. To reduce it, you can go and delete unused active triggers and tags, especially when deleting then would lead to removing the whole class or type of triggers.

So again, less unique types of triggers and tags you use - less unused JS in lighthouse report. But that is pretty much a vanity metric when it comes to tag management systems.