Tagging of data developed from a server
Today the main goal is to capture data in a safe manner. The digital scenario presents:
- Blocking third party cookies.
- A growth in advert and private browsing blocking.
- Changes to data legislation and as a consequence of exponential growth in the violations to public policies which look to protect users from their data being used.
This has led to the modification of the traditional model of measurement which is based on a browser where visitors register information about the interactions with a website and also the most common form of tagging used by the websites.
Client-side tagging
The model of tagging at the server level or server side tagging (SST) in contrast uses a tagging manager in the user’s browser which is like a stocked server for this end.
The client manager organizes a unique channel to gather information that is sent to the server. The server receives the information and distributes it to the external providers from a subdomain belonging to the business. Preventing that the data gathering process is affected by the advert blockers and helps in defending against the vulnerabilities of third party data violation.
The present and future of data has led the digital industry to change several core rules of the data collection process from user interactions to benefit consumer privacy.
One of these is into passing the labeling from the client side to the server, which offers the following benefits:
Security improvement:
- The data is sent to third parties that are considered relevant.
- The connection to the providers is from a server under the control of the company, replacing the browser of each user.
- Resolves the issue of spam requests
Improves user experience
- Page loading time is reduced.
- The server-side option only processes a script that sends the information to the server-side GTM container.
- Enables customization tactics.
Improved data quality
- The data can be sent to your own subdomain.
- All cookies would be 1st party which are not currently blocked.
- Improves the quality of the data analyzed and enriches the information collected
The implementation of this solution includes the following activities:
- Enabling an environment of development where the detail of the amount and type of the domains are translated into the SST model.
- Implementation includes: the definition of the elements to measure and the -respective configuration of the containers (if they do not exist).
- Data gathering tests in the development environment.
- Application of operational cost optimization techniques for the GTM server side.
- Period of tests for the double gathering of data from the site in production.
- Data analysis, approval and new GTM containers are put into production.
The benefits of the tagging solution at the server level to capture client data:
- Improve the data quality and attribution: without ITP or advert blocking.
- Improve the user experience to have less measurement tags in websites or applications, to reduce the quantity of code that the client executes and improves the download time for the site.
- Improve the security of the data obtained, the data that is sent to a server, where they are processes and transferred to other tags (Facebook, GAds, etc).
- Enable the possibility of enriching the information gathered now that there is the capacity to combine/enrich your data before sending it to an external provider (Facebook, GAds, etc).
- Enable the possibility of activating personalization tactics.
The traditional measurement model with Google Analytics:
- The installation of Google Analytics and other pixels such as Facebook, Google Ads and others is carried out directly on the site, through the content management system (CMS) or through the help of a webmaster.
- When the visitor enters, these code libraries send requests directly to third-party servers, each with information about the user's session.
- In turn, these services leave cookies from third-party servers in the user's browser, creating the conditions for the truncation of data due to the new restrictions.
The traditional measurement model with Google Tag Manager:
- A tag manager such as Google Tag Manager is used.
- This manager orchestrates all remarketing and measurement pixel tags on your site.
- The pixels come from external providers like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
- By coming from third parties, these cookies fall into the problem of blocking by browser or operating system.
Alternative measurement model: Server-side tagging
- A tag manager is used in both the user's browser and a provisioned server for this purpose.
- The client manager orchestrates a single information collection channel that it sends to the server.
- The server receives this information and distributes it to external providers from a subdomain of the Company itself.
- As the server has been provisioned with a subdomain, the problem of third-party cookies is mitigated, among other things.
Client - side vs Server side
Server-level tagging optimizes the data collection process at the capture level, increases the quality of the information collected, improves website load-time performance, and prevents data vulnerabilities.
This solution is quoted as a fixed price project that is determined from the client’s requirements expressed through a discovery session. Enabling this solution begins as a process of analyzing the current situation, implementing the solution including configuring servers in the cloud, testing and putting it into production. The starting price of this product is $2,500.
In addition to the Extendo services, the monthly amount for the cloud servers must be considered. As a reference, these can start at $90 per month.
We also offer documentation and knowledge transfer- training for solution maintenance.
—— Edward Tufte, Statistician
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