Server-Side Tracking: A Comprehensive Guide

Server side tracking is a method of implementing tags and tracking codes on a website or mobile app by sending data directly from the server instead of relying on client-side code. This approach offers several benefits for users and flexibility in tag management. Server side tracking platforms take tag management to the next level, offering a revolutionary way to seamlessly manage and deploy your tags. In this article, we will explore the What is server side tracking and provide best practices for implementing and managing it.

Key Takeaways

• Understanding on What is Server Side Tracking and How it works
• Understanding on Why Use Server Side Tracking?
• Why Use Server Side Tracking?
• Best Practices for Server Side Tracking
• Prominent Server Side Tracking Platforms
  • Google Tag Manager(GTM) SST
  • Google Analytics 4 (GA4) SST
  • Facebook Server Side Tracking (CAPI)
  • MixPanel Server Side Tracking
  • Shopify Server Side Tracking
  • LinkedIn Server Side Tracking
  • Matomo Server Side Tracking
  • SnowPlow Analytics Server Side Tracking

The fading light of third-party cookies is forcing marketers to adapt. Previously used for targeted ads, these cookies are on the way out due to privacy concerns.

To stay afloat, marketers need new strategies that respect user privacy and platform regulations. Enter server side tracking, a method that offers a more secure solution.

But what exactly is it? Let’s delve into server side tracking, how it works, and why it prioritizes user privacy.

What is Server Side Tracking?

Server side tracking is a method of collecting user data on your own server, instead of directly in the user’s browser like traditional tracking. It works by intercepting user actions on your website and sending the data to your server for processing and analysis before forwarding it to third-party platforms or your own analytics tools.

How Server Side Tracking work?

Server side tracking is a specific type of server side tracking that utilizes a platform like Google Tag Manager (GTM) to manage and deploy tracking tags on your server instead of directly in the user’s browser. Here’s how it works:

1. User action triggers a client-side signal:

• When a user interacts with your website or app, a small piece of code (trigger) on the client-side (browser/app) detects this action and sends a signal to your server.
• This signal typically contains basic information like user ID, timestamp, and event type (e.g., page view, button click).

2. Server receives and processes the signal:

• Your server receives the signal from the client-side and routes it to a container running Google Tag Manager Server (GTM Server).
• This container holds your server-side tags and variables.

3. Tags fire based on triggers and variables:

• GTM Server evaluates the received signal against defined triggers and variables (e.g., specific user behavior, page URL).
• Based on these conditions, relevant server-side tags are fired.

4. Tags process and enrich data:

• These tags can perform various actions on the data, such as:
  • Enriching data: Adding additional context like user location or device information.
  • Transforming data: Anonymizing sensitive data or modifying formats for specific platforms.
  • Sending data: Forwarding the processed data to various third-party platforms (analytics, marketing tools) or your own data warehouse.

5. Data reaches destinations:

• The processed and enriched data is sent to the intended destinations as configured in your GTM Server tags.

Benefits of Server Side Tracking

Server side tracking is here to revolutionize how you collect and analyze your website data, offering a raft of benefits:

Enhanced Privacy and Control:

• Data on your terms: Choose what data gets shared and where it goes, ensuring compliance with regulations like GDPR and CCPA.
• Bye-bye, third-party cookies: Reduce reliance on cookies that can be blocked or unreliable, ensuring consistent data collection.

Improved Data Quality and Accuracy:

• Say goodbye to data gaps: Ad blockers and privacy settings become a blip, not a roadblock, leading to a complete picture of user behavior.
• Validation and enrichment: Clean and validate your data before it reaches analytics platforms, eliminating inconsistencies and boosting accuracy.
• Granular control: Fine-tune how data is processed and filtered, ensuring it aligns perfectly with your analysis needs.

Faster Website Performance:

• Reduced page load times: Faster data processing translates to quicker pages, keeping users engaged and happy.
• Resource optimization: Efficiently manage server-side tracking to avoid burdening your website’s performance.

Why Use Server-Side Tracking?

Improved Data Quality and Privacy:

• Reduced impact of ad blockers and privacy settings: Unlike client-side tracking, which can be blocked by ad blockers and privacy-conscious users, server-side tracking captures data on your server before user-side restrictions come into play. This leads to more complete and accurate data collection.
• Enhanced data control and anonymization: With server-side processing, you have greater control over the data before it’s sent to third parties. You can anonymize sensitive information, filter unnecessary data, and ensure compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA.

Faster Website Performance:

• Reduced client-side load: By offloading tag execution and data processing to your server, you eliminate the need for bulky tracking scripts in the user’s browser. This translates to faster page load times and smoother user experiences.

Greater Flexibility and Control:

• Centralized tag management: Server-side tracking platforms like Google Tag Manager Server offer a single interface to manage all your tracking tags across different platforms and devices. This simplifies management and reduces maintenance overhead.
  • Data enrichment and manipulation: You can manipulate and enrich data before sending it to third parties. This allows you to add context, customize data formats, and ensure compatibility with different platforms.

Best Practices for Server-Side Tracking

Organization and Prioritization:

• Categorize and prioritize tags: Organize tags by function, platform, or importance for easier management and updates.
• Start small and scale gradually: Begin with essential tags and migrate others in phases to minimize disruption and ensure smooth implementation.
• Leverage tag templates: Utilize pre-built templates for common tags to save time and ensure consistency.

Data Management and Privacy:

• Limit and control third-party cookies: Reduce reliance on third-party cookies to improve user privacy and minimize data leakage.
• Cache server responses: Cache frequently accessed data to improve performance and reduce server load.
• Validate and sanitize input data: Implement data validation and sanitization to prevent security vulnerabilities and ensure data integrity.
• Implement consent management: Integrate with a consent management platform to comply with privacy regulations and give users control over data collection.

Performance and Reliability:

• Use request throttling and rate limiting: Prevent server overload by limiting API requests and data transfer rates.
• Monitor API quotas and limits: Stay informed about API usage limits and optimize tag configurations to avoid exceeding them.
• Implement server redundancy and failover: Ensure high availability and prevent data loss with redundant servers and failover mechanisms.

Security and Maintenance:

• Implement error handling and logging: Log errors and exceptions for troubleshooting and identify potential issues.
• Regularly update and patch your server environment: Keep software and libraries up-to-date to address security vulnerabilities.
• Restrict access and implement data encryption: Secure your server environment with access controls and data encryption to protect sensitive information.

Prominent Server-Side Tracking Platforms

Google Tag Manager (GTM) Server-Side Tracking

Think of Google Tag Manager (GTM) as a central hub for managing all the “tracking tags” on your website or app. These tags tell marketing tools and analytics platforms what users are doing, like clicking buttons or buying products.

Traditionally, these tags run directly on the user’s device (client-side). But with Google Tag Manager Server-Side Tracking (GTM Server), things get a bit more sophisticated.

Here’s how it works:

• Traditional GTM: Tags are placed directly on your website, collecting data and sending it to various platforms like Google Analytics.
• GTM Server-Side Tracking: Tags are still placed on your website, but instead of directly sending data, they send it to your server.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Server-Side Tracking

GA4 Server-Side Tracking is a way to send data about user behavior on your website or app to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) through your own server, rather than directly from the user’s device. It takes a different route:

• Server-side action: User interactions and events are first sent to your website’s server.
• Data processing: Your server can then process the data, anonymize sensitive information like IP addresses if needed, and enrich it with additional details before sending it to GA4.
• Enhanced insights: GA4 receives cleaner, more reliable data, allowing you to gain deeper insights into user behavior.

Google Ads Server-Side Tracking

Google Ads server-side tracking is a method of monitoring user conversions (actions like purchases or sign-ups) triggered by your Google Ads campaigns, but instead of relying on code placed directly on your website (client-side), it utilizes your server to send conversion data to Google Ads.

Google Ads server side tracking moves the conversion tracking process from your website (client-side) to your server. Here’s the gist:

• User clicks ad, GTM captures info.
• GTM sends info to your server.
• Server validates data and checks user consent.
• Conversion happens, server sends data to Google Ads.

This improves privacy and potentially boosts website speed, but requires technical expertise to set up.

What is Facebook Server-Side Tracking?

Measuring your Facebook ads accurately is crucial for optimizing your campaigns and maximizing results. However, traditional tracking methods face challenges due to privacy concerns and ad blockers. Enter Facebook Server-Side Tracking (CAPI), a solution offering improved privacy and data accuracy.

CAPI allows businesses to send web event data directly from their servers to Facebook, bypassing the need for user-side tracking methods like browser cookies and pixels.

Benefits:

• Better campaign insights: You gain a clearer understanding of how your ads perform, allowing for data-driven optimization.
• Future-proof approach: CAPI is likely to become the standard for ad tracking, ensuring your strategy stays relevant.

Who should use it?

• Businesses running Facebook ads: CAPI is crucial for accurate measurement and campaign optimization.
• Businesses valuing accurate data and insights: CAPI ensures reliable data for informed decision-making.

What is MixPanel Server-Side Tracking?

Understanding your users’ behavior is crucial for optimizing your product or service. However, traditional client-side tracking methods face limitations due to privacy concerns and ad blockers. MixPanel Server-Side Tracking offers a powerful alternative, providing valuable user insights while prioritizing privacy.

Here’s how it works:

1. User interacts: A user triggers an event within your app or website (like signing up or making a purchase).
2. Server-side communication: Instead of tracking on the user’s device, the event data is sent from your server to MixPanel’s servers.
3. Data processing: Your server can process the data before sending it, allowing you to anonymize sensitive information or enrich it with additional details.
4. Actionable insights: MixPanel cleans and analyzes the data, providing you with valuable insights into user behavior and trends.

What is Shopify Server-Side Tracking?

Shopify server-side tracking is an approach to collecting user data on your Shopify store that bypasses the user’s browser and instead utilizes your store’s server. This is different from the traditional client-side tracking, where data is collected directly from the user’s browser and sent to third-party platforms like Facebook or Google Analytics.

Benefits of Shopify Server-Side:

• Overcomes limitations: It bypasses restrictions imposed by browsers like Safari, which are increasingly limiting third-party cookies and tracking. This ensures more accurate data collection.
• Improved user experience: By not relying on browser scripts, server-side tracking can potentially improve website loading speed.
• Enhanced security: It reduces the risk of data breaches or vulnerabilities associated with client-side scripts.

What is LinkedIn Server-Side Tracking?

LinkedIn Server-Side Tracking is a method for gauging the effectiveness of your LinkedIn ad campaigns without relying on user data directly in their browsers. This approach addresses concerns about privacy and browser restrictions that might hinder traditional tracking methods.

Here’s a breakdown of how it works:

• Traditional tracking: In the past, websites used client-side tracking, which placed tracking pixels and cookies directly in a user’s browser. This method can be affected by factors like browser privacy settings and ad blockers, leading to inaccurate data.
• Server-side tracking: This method bypasses the user’s browser altogether. Instead of placing tracking elements directly on the user’s device, data is first sent to your own server. This server then anonymizes and processes the data before sending it to LinkedIn.

What is Matomo Server-Side Tracking?

Matomo Server-side tracking is an alternative method for collecting website analytics data without relying solely on JavaScript code in the user’s browser. It allows you to capture information about user interactions directly from your server environment and send it to Matomo for analysis.

How Does it Work?

• Using Server Logs: You can leverage Matomo’s Log Analytics tool to import your server access logs. This involves parsing and formatting your logs to be compatible with Matomo’s data format.
• Using the Matomo Tracking API: This approach involves integrating Matomo’s SDK (available in languages like PHP, Java, and C#) into your server-side code. This allows you to send specific tracking data points directly to Matomo’s API for analysis.

What is SnowPlow Analytics Server-Side Tracking?

SnowPlow Analytics previously known as “Piwik” Server-Side tracking allows you to capture user interaction data on your website or application directly within your server environment, similar to website analytics server-side tracking in general. However, SnowPlow offers additional features and specific functionalities:

Benefits of SnowPlow Server-Side Tracking:

• Richer data capture: Compared to basic server-side tracking, SnowPlow lets you define and capture structured data points (events and entities) beyond basic website interactions.
• Flexibility: SnowPlow offers pre-built trackers for various server-side languages (e.g., Python, Java, PHP) allowing easy integration into your backend code. Additionally, you can customize event structures to capture data specific to your needs.
• Centralized data collection: All collected data, whether from client-side or server-side, gets sent to a central SnowPlow collector for unified analysis. This enables a holistic view of user behavior across different touchpoints.

Conclusion

In conclusion, server-side tracking offers numerous benefits. By moving the tag management process to the server, businesses can improve website performance, enhance data accuracy, and ensure compliance with privacy regulations. Server-side tracking also enables advanced tracking capabilities, such as cross-domain tracking and event-level data collection. Implementing server-side tracking is a valuable strategy for maximizing the potential and driving business growth.

Ultimately, the decision to adopt server-side tracking should be based on individual needs, technical expertise, and the chosen platform’s capabilities to best address your business goals and user privacy considerations.