---
title: "How to add Google Tag Manager to WordPress (both snippets)"
description: "Add Google Tag Manager to WordPress the right way: which box each GTM snippet goes in, how to check it is live, and the no-plugin functions.php route."
pubDate: 2026-09-26
updated: 2026-09-26
source: https://adminkeep.com/guides/add-google-tag-manager-wordpress/
---
Google Tag Manager hands you two snippets and two instructions: paste the first "as high in the `` of the page as possible", and the second "immediately after the opening `` tag". WordPress has no box for either. The obvious move, pasting them into the theme's `header.php`, works until the next theme update overwrites the file and your tracking quietly stops.
This guide shows how to add Google Tag Manager to WordPress so it stays put: where each of the two snippets goes, how to add them with a plugin or without one, how to check the tags are live, and how Google Analytics 4 fits in.
## Before you start: your container ID
If you don't have a container yet, go to [tagmanager.google.com](https://tagmanager.google.com/), create an account, and add a container with **Web** as the target platform. Tag Manager then shows the install code. You can open it again any time from **Admin → Install Google Tag Manager**.
Every container has an ID in the form `GTM-` followed by letters and numbers. Both snippets contain it. In this guide it appears as `GTM-XXXXXXX`; yours will be different, so always copy the code from your own container rather than from a page like this one.
## The two GTM snippets, and where each one goes
The first snippet is a script. It loads Tag Manager, which then loads every tag you set up in the container:
```html
```
The second is a fallback for visitors whose browser runs no JavaScript. It is a hidden `
```
In WordPress terms, the two places Google asks for have names. The head is printed by the `wp_head` hook. The spot right after `` opens is the `wp_body_open` hook, which WordPress added in version 5.2 for exactly this kind of snippet.
| Snippet | Where Google asks for it | WordPress hook | Adminkeep box |
|---|---|---|---|
| The `
opens.
add_action( 'wp_body_open', function () {
?>
`, and once in the `