Marketing Engineers

Below you’ll find our step-by-step implementation and configuration workflow for server-side tagging using Google Tag Manager.

Under the PDF, you will find a short description per phase.

Analysis

In some cases, it makes perfect sense to directly start with the implementation of a server-side tagging set-up. But many organizations jump to the implementation of new technologies, before quantifying the need and evaluating potential solutions. In the case of server-side tagging for Google Tag Manager, we can help you to quantify the gap between your traditional (third-party) data collection and the potential of server-side (first-party) data collection. In other words, we can help you to discover how many visitors are actually visiting your website vs. what your analytics platform is reporting. There can be many reasons why data discrepancies occur and some of these can be solved using server-side tagging.

Implementation

There are various ways to implement server-side tagging and tracking. We support Google’s default Cloud Run and App Engine deployments in Google Cloud Platform, as well as tailored set-ups within your own cloud environment. For smaller organizations, we can arrange the implementation and hosting process. For most larger organizations, we work together with your IT department and provide clear instructions for and the reasoning behind the chosen implementation.

Configuration

This is the phase where we can ultimately create value for marketers. Owning a server-side set-up is just the start. After the implementation of the server, the default GA4 tag can be easily implemented and this is often where we start. This will make sure that your default GA4 events (pageviews, form submits, downloads, etc.) will be collected server-side. Some tailored tags and the scripts of other analytics platforms, can be migrated in phases or keep collecting data in parallel.

Once the server-side data collection is implemented and configured, we recommend pro-active monitoring and regular maintenance. This can be automated, doesn’t require great investments of time and money and should not be neglected. We can help your IT department to adopt this in their regular monitoring and maintenance processes, or take care of this for you.

Questions?

Don’t hestitate to contact us if you have any questions or remarks. You can use the contact form below to get in touch with our engineers: