SEO glossary: Server-side tracking

 

Server-side tracking vs. client-side tracking: why the latter is on the decline

In order to understand server-side tracking and its important future role in online marketing, it is beneficial to first understand client-side tracking.

 

Although server-side tracking has been around since the 1990s, client-side tracking is still the preferred method of data collection. One of the main reasons for this is its simplicity.

 

Client-side tracking: How it works and problems caused by a lack of data protection and intelligent tracking prevention

 

In order to obtain data on the behaviour of website visitors and to optimize the conversion rate, click-through rate and other website key figures on this basis, tags are set in JavaScript on every page during client-side tracking.

 

These tags are small code elements commonly known as cookies. They have the following effect:

 

1. Data is transferred from the user's browser (the browser is the client in this case) to a provider who collects the data.
2. The provider shares the collected data with the operators of websites for data analysis.
3. On the basis of the data obtained, website operators are able to target their marketing more precisely.
4. In particular, the placement of advertisements (SEA; search engine advertising) benefits from the collected data, because advertisements can be displayed exactly according to the interests of the users.

 

With client-side tracking, a third-party provider is therefore involved in the tracking of data. This is why we speak of the use of third-party cookies ("third party" for "third-party provider").

 

However, there are currently signs of a change in which this type of cookie is being banned. The ban also applies to some first party cookies - namely those that are not necessary for the functionality of the website.

 

Google has announced that it will ban third-party cookies in the second half of 2024. Until then, client-side tracking will still be possible with Google Chrome.

 

Nevertheless, the effectiveness of client-side tracking and the effectiveness of cookies are already limited.

 

This is because ad blockers and browser functions such as Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) significantly restrict data collection via client-side tracking.

 

The situation is even more extreme than with Google in the iOS and Firefox browsers. Third-party cookies are already prohibited there.

 

The main reason for the ban on third-party cookies is their problematic nature with regard to user data protection.

 

The careless forwarding of data collected about users to website operators is not GDPR-compliant and not consumer-friendly according to the legislator.

 

Aside from the negative effects on data protection, client-side tracking has disadvantages for website operators, including above all the slower page loading speed.

 

Server-side tracking as a solution for greater security, control and data accuracy

With server-side tracking, the server is interposed as a further instance between clients and third-party providers.

 

This type of tracking works without setting a cookie in the user's browser. Instead, the server makes an automated request to the client side and receives the user's data from it.

 

These are then forwarded to the third-party providers. In this way, server-side tracking circumvents the ban on cookies, allowing website operators to collect and forward data.

 

 

Source: https://www.analyticskiste.blog/analytics/serverside-tracking-loesungen/

 

Ultimately, the principle of tracking from the server side is similar to client-side tracking: data from the user is generated and forwarded.

 

Server-side tracking therefore does not do much for user data protection. The crucial difference, which is why server-side tracking still works, is the intermediate instance: the server.

 

Neither browsers nor adblockers or functions such as Intelligent Tracking Prevention recognize the server's request.

 

This means that all the necessary data about users is generated and can be used for online marketing and search engine marketing (SEM).

 

What's more, server-side tracking has a positive effect on page speed, which is a direct ranking criterion for individual web pages and the entire website.

 

Furthermore, server-side tracking has various advantages in terms of the accuracy of the data collected.

 

Server-side tracking: advantages and disadvantages at a glance

User data collected via the server is more accurate.

 

The effectiveness of adblockers and other mechanisms that restrict client requests is low or non-existent in server-side tracking.

 

The amount and precision of the data collected is therefore exceptionally high, making it easier to manage advertising budgets precisely and conduct accurate online marketing.

 

The security of data collection also increases. The generated data is not sent directly to third-party providers such as Google Analytics and other SEO tools.

 

Instead, they are stored on your own web server. This gives you a better opportunity to customize the data and/or decide which data should be forwarded to the third-party providers in the first place.

 

Data security for users is therefore far greater.

 

Important in this context: Since user data is collected, used and forwarded via server-side tracking, it is still mandatory in terms of data protection to inform users (similar to cookie consent) about the storage and use of their data.

 

This is a brief overview of other advantages of server-side tracking compared to client-side tracking:

 

• Website speed increases: Websites on which server-side tracking is used display a higher loading speed. The reason for this is that - unlike with client-side tracking - a tag does not have to be stored on every page for the implementation of cookies. Instead, all tagging can be managed via a tag manager such as Google's.
• Map the customer journey more holistically: The customer journey is an essential component of holistic marketing concepts. In the digital age in particular, there are highly precise possibilities for planning the customer journey. A successful customer journey depends on the consideration of all relevant marketing channels (including social media and email marketing), including the data generated on these channels about user interaction with the company. If the collected data is stored on the company's own server, it can be collated more easily. For example, companies and SEO experts can analyze the data from Facebook advertising together with the data from Google Ads.
• SEO is positively influenced: The reduced page load speed already has a positive effect on SEO because the crawlers from Google and other search engines receive positive signals for the ranking assignment. In addition, the high data quality from server-side tracking and the information from the analysis tools help to derive the right SEO measures for companies and website operators. Based on this, SEO is finally carried out and the authority and ranking of the website are improved.

 

In addition to the many advantages of server-side tracking, there is also a disadvantage. It consists of the more difficult implementation in web analysis.

 

The following section deals separately with how server-side tracking can be integrated and used in SEO.

 

From the user's point of view and from the perspective of data security, server-side tracking has two specific disadvantages.

 

On the one hand, the tracking of data can be concealed, and on the other, website operators can also conceal the logging of the IP address from users.

 

In both cases, data is collected from users without them knowing about it. This problem does not exist with client-side tracking.

 

 

Methods for implementing server-side tracking: Example using Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager

 

The must-have tools for website operators include Google tools as well as powerful SEO tools from third-party providers.

 

One of the Google tools that website operators can use to analyze data is Google Analytics.

 

Among other things, Google Analytics offers the functions of counting website visitors, analyzing user behavior quantitatively and qualitatively, obtaining detailed information about users and finding out technical details about the website.

 

This involves data collection in which Google Analytics collects data from website visitors and makes it available for analysis.

 

Based on the analyses of Google Analytics, SEO and the entire marketing can be optimized.

 

The data required for data collection was previously collected via client-side tracking and forwarded to Google as a third-party provider. Because ...

 

• client-side tracking is on the decline,
• Google wants to ban third party cookies and first party cookies in 2024 anyway and
• the data quality for tracking from the client side is low,

 

... Google now offers a method for implementing server-side tracking.

 

Server-side tracking is intended as a solution to the shortcomings of client-side tracking.

 

The Google Tag Manager plays a central role in Google's solution. Because the user's data is forwarded to Google Analytics via a tagging server, this is also referred to as server-side tagging.

 

Among the various methods that can be used to set up server-side tracking, this article will only discuss the implementation of tracking using the example of Google Tag Manager for the sake of brevity.

 

1. set up your own proxy server for server-side tagging

 

A website operator sets up a proxy server for server-side tracking/tagging with Google Analytics. This should have a URL that is similar to the URL of your own web pages.

 

If a user is on a website called examplewebsite.com/123, the proxy server could have the URL examplewebsite.com/tagging.

 

A difference between the two URL addresses is hardly noticeable, so that the proxy server is lost in the large number of websites and URL addresses accessed.

 

Why it is important to have your own proxy server with a URL that is similar to the URL of other websites

 

1. Using the server of a third-party provider would be conspicuous. This is because the URL addresses of third-party servers differ from the URL addresses of Google's own websites. If you were to use the server provided by Google for server-side tracking, it would be noticeable that the user data ends up on a third-party server and therefore not with the website operator.
2. So you use your own server. It is called a proxy server because it is a proxy that is used for communication between two networks. It receives the data from the client (the user's web browser) in order to forward it to Google Analytics as a third-party provider.
3. If the proxy server had a URL that was clearly different from the URLs of the website the user was visiting, it would be suspected that it was an unusual request. However, because the aim is to conceal server-side tracking from browsers and control bodies, the proxy server is given a URL that gives the impression that the user is accessing a normal website.

 

 

 

 

2. configure Google Tag Manager to forward the data

 

The Google Tag Manager must be configured accordingly so that the user's data is no longer transmitted directly from the client to Google Analytics, but first to the proxy server and only then from the proxy server to Google Analytics.

 

You set a tag for this, which looks like this, for example:

 

 

Above you can see the configuration for using the proxy server as an intermediate point, which is made clear by the gtag tag.

 

The transport URL examplewebsite.com/tagging is entered there, which forwards the data to the URL of the proxy server.

 

Other tags are mentioned below, where the event (e.g. page views) for which data is to be collected is entered.

 

Implement server-side tracking: Final information

 

Apart from server-side tagging with Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics, there are other methods for setting up server-side data collection.

 

In any case, the technical requirements for setting up the system are high, so laypersons are advised not to set up server-side tracking themselves.

 

In individual cases, aspects of data protection and SEO must be taken into account, which is why only professionals and SEO experts should set up server-side tracking.