GTM Page Path vs. Page URL vs. Page Hostname

Google Tag Manager (GTM) includes a number of built-in variables you can use to identify the pages people are viewing on your website. These page-based variables can be especially helpful when configuring triggers to fire your tags. Here’s a cheat sheet for the page path, page URL, and page hostname variables in GTM.

Here are the values that the page-based variables will provide if we’re viewing https://www.example.com/page?query=true

So that’s the difference between ‘Page Path’, ‘Page URL’, and ‘Page Hostname’ in Google Tag Manager. And here’s a brief description of each variable:

What is Page URL in GTM?

Provides the full URL of the page someone is viewing. For example; https://www.example.com/page?query=true

What is Page Hostname in GTM?

Provides the domain name of the page someone is viewing. For example; www.example.com

What is Page Path in GTM?

Provides the page someone is viewing. For example; /page

Note: Page path does not include query parameters (e.g. ?query=true) or fragments (e.g. #anchor-link).

What is Referrer in GTM?

Provides the full URL of the page someone viewed before the current page. For example; https://www.example.com/about

For more important terms you’ll encounter, take a moment to check out our Google Tag Manager Glossary.