Server-side tracking
Also known as: server-side tagging, server-to-server tracking
Server-side tracking means a shop reports events to an ad platform from its own server rather than from the shopper's browser. Because the report never passes through the browser, ad blockers and browser privacy limits do not apply to it, and the report can carry details the browser never had, such as the address on the order.
Why did server-side tracking become necessary?
Browsers stopped being reliable messengers. Safari limits how long a site may remember a visitor, iPhone made ad tracking opt-in, and ad blockers remove pixels outright. Server-side tracking moves the report somewhere those limits do not reach, which is why most tracking tools now offer it.
Does server-side tracking bypass a shopper's consent?
It should not, and a tool that uses it to do so is misusing it. Server-side tracking changes where a report is sent from, not whether the shop was allowed to send it. wesaw records the consent state on every event and does not route around a refusal.
Is server-side tracking hard to set up?
It used to mean hosting a container and maintaining it. It no longer has to. wesaw needs one app install and one line pasted into the shop's domain settings, which is what puts the collection endpoint on a subdomain the shop owns.
Sources
- US opt-in to app tracking was 4 to 6 per cent at the launch of Apple's App Tracking Transparency in April 2021, stabilising near 15 per cent worldwide.Flurry Analytics
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