Recover conversions through server side tagging

A lot has changed in the last 2 years in the world of online marketing. More and more Internet browsers are blocking third-party cookies, making it increasingly difficult to make measurements. No doubt you have already seen this in your Meta or Google Ads campaigns. Where previously conversions were measured well, now nothing or hardly anything is coming in. Very frustrating, because this information is crucial to properly scale up or optimize your campaigns.

In addition, privacy laws are becoming stricter, which in turn creates new challenges.

As online marketing experts, we stay on top of the news and look for solutions. Recently, we have been busy with the development of a new product which enables us to ensure that your measurements are 100% transparent again: AdPage Tagging.

What exactly is Server Side Tagging and what is the impact of all the upcoming changes? In this article, we'll tell you more about it.

What is Server Side Tagging?

All your online behavior is recorded, whether you want it to or not. When you visit a website, a piece of code in the background measures your behavior. This allows the owner of the website to follow the visitor's journey. Among other things, it measures on which pages you as a visitor have been and where you have dropped out.

Now this data is measured mainly through the browser (client-side). Your behavior is measured by an external party, for example using the Meta Pixel. Because these pixels are increasingly being blocked in the browsers (e.g. by AdBlockers and privacy updates like Apple), there is a new way to still be able to measure the valuable data of your website visitors.

With Server-side Tagging, you are going to store the data on your own domain and your server. In this way, all data will end up in a safe place to which only you have access. You then decide with which parties you want to share this data (encrypted).

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What will change?

We are moving from Third Party Cookies to First Party Cookies.

Cookies! What was that again? A cookie is a piece of code added to the background of your website. This code can measure which pages you visit, which products you view, what you click on, etc.

In the current situation, Third Party cookies are mainly used. The term actually says it all. An external party retrieves data from your website. These are for example the pixels of Meta, TikTok Etc. These pixels are used to track your online behavior and determine your interests. Based on that, personalized ads can then be shown.

With Third Party cookies, you as the website owner have no control over what data is or is not retrieved. This is completely determined by the third party.

In order to continue to comply with European legislation and to be able to measure your online campaigns 100%, it is necessary to switch to First Party Cookies. You are the first and only party to control the data of the traffic on your website. This data is stored on your own server and you determine which data is sent to other parties, such as Google or Meta.

What are the benefits of Server-Side Tagging?

Moving from Client Side Tagging to Server-Side Tagging has many advantages:

• You fully comply with the new European Privacy Legislation, because you will manage your own data yourself. When you let a third party (e.g. Meta) do that, not everything is 100% AVG-Proof.
• You are and remain the owner of all data you collect. Because you store all the data yourself on your own server, you are the owner and you decide what happens to this data.
• By correctly measuring the results of Meta, Google and TikTok Ads, you can better optimize your campaigns, leading to better performance and a higher return on investment.
• By loading a first-party script (instead of third-party), the data is not hindered by AdBlockers, allowing you to measure 20% more on average.
• The efficient loading of the script dramatically improves the performance of your website.
• By switching directly to Google Analytics 4 and forwarding everything server-side, you benefit from the latest and most advanced data analysis capabilities.

Setting tagging together correctly

Still have questions about Server-Side Tagging or could use some help setting it up and implementing it?

Together with AdPage tagging specialists, we ensure that everything is right for your customers at once. That way there is a perfect basis for measuring and optimizing ads and landing pages.

Schedule a no-obligation appointment with one of our Tracking Specialists.