Discover how server-side tagging in Google Tag Manager enhances data protection, improves website performance, and ensures compliance with privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA in a cookieless future.
Until recently, advertisers relied heavily on cookies and similar tracking technologies to track users' behavior online before targeting them with tailored offerings. The rise of data protection legislation all around the world meant that advertisers now needed to collect consent for the use of cookies. Given that internet users rarely consent to tracking, advertisers had to devise alternative methods to collect the necessary data for marketing.
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That's where server-sided tagging comes into play. It can be very useful for you, so we prepared this article to let you learn what it is and how it can help you collect necessary data while complying with the data protection laws.
Server-side tagging is the practice of handling and processing tags (snippets of code used for tracking and analytics purposes) on a server rather than directly on a client's dbrowser.
Google ads, Google Analytics, and other tools from the Google Cloud Platform are the most common uses.
In terms of online privacy, its most important characteristic is not sending any cookies to the user's device.
Client-side tagging, which fires code snippets within the user's browser, is the foundation of traditional Google Tag Manager (GTM). That's strictly forbidden without the user's consent under the EU ePrivacy Directive as well as the GDPR.
Server-side tagging with Google Tag Manager flips this process around. It works as follows:
This method offers several advantages over traditional client-side tagging:
Server-side tagging helps ensure compliance with privacy laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in several key ways:
Secure Privacy can help you use Google Tag Manager server-side features in relation to the Google Consent Mode, which would allow you to track users online without violating the GDPR and other data protection laws.
You know that until recently, it was impossible to use Google Analytics 4 or Google Ads without consent. Now with the server-side tag management features, you have the best of both worlds: data that you could once get by tracking by third-party cookies and comply with data privacy laws worldwide.
