Enhance Your Data Security: How to Do Server-Side Tracking with GTM?

Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a powerful tool for your digital marketing campaigns. However, when data needs to be collected accurately and securely, server-side tracking offers an important solution. Traditional client-side tracking collects data directly from users’ browsers and shares it with third-party platforms. In server-side tracking, however, data is collected, processed, and transmitted to target platforms from the server instead of users’ browsers.

Advantages of Server-Side Tracking

1. Data Security and Privacy: Since data is transmitted through the server, there is no direct data transfer to users’ browsers. This increases data security and ensures privacy.
2. Reducing the Impact of Adblockers: Even if users use ad-blocking software, server-side tracking is not affected by these tools. Thus, data can be collected without interruption.
3. Data Accuracy: Data processed on the server becomes more accurate and reliable. Compared to client-side tracking, server-side data is generally more consistent.
4. Faster Page Loading: Since the web page loads less data, it opens faster. This improves the user experience.

How to Set Up Server-Side Tracking?

1.Server Setup

The first step is to set up a server for server-side tracking. You can install the GTM Server Container through a platform like Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This provides an intermediate server for processing data and transmitting it to platforms.

2. Web Container Setup

Create a web container in GTM and define the tags, triggers, and variables that will direct your data to the server. Here, you can initiate server-side tracking by setting up triggers to monitor user interactions.

3. Data Transfer and Tag Configuration

After transferring data from the web container to the server-side container, you can forward this data to platforms like Google Analytics, Google Ads, or Facebook Pixel. Tags handle this transmission.

4. Testing and Monitoring

Once the setup is complete, use GTM’s preview mode to conduct tests and ensure that data is being transmitted correctly. These tests allow you to verify that data transfer is happening accurately.

Server-side tracking provides more security, accuracy, and speed for your digital marketing strategies. By setting up this tracking system with GTM, you can collect and analyze your data more securely, enabling you to make more informed decisions in your marketing campaigns.

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