What is server-side tracking?

Server-side tracking is a method of data col­lec­tion in digital marketing, in which user data is processed on the website operator’s server instead of in the end user’s browser.

What is the purpose of server-side tracking?

Until now, tracking pixels and third-party cookies have been used in online marketing to track website visitors, collect user data and display targeted ad­vert­ising. However, ad blockers, improved privacy and cookie policies, and the end of third-party cookies are forcing companies to seek al­tern­at­ive methods. Companies need to find methods that are capable of gathering reliable data without violating the General Data Pro­tec­tion Reg­u­la­tion or being hindered by browser re­stric­tions. An al­tern­at­ive that is able to do this is server-side tracking.

Server-side tracking can be used to track and analyse various types of user in­ter­ac­tions on a website. These typically include clicks, page views, form sub­mis­sions, trans­ac­tions and other actions that users perform on a website. Although server-side tracking works in­de­pend­ently of cookies, first-party cookies can be used as part of server-side tracking to collect and store ad­di­tion­al in­form­a­tion about users.

Server-side tracking allows website operators to gather personal data related to user behaviour. This in­form­a­tion is critical for making know­ledge­able decisions about marketing tactics, website en­hance­ment and user ex­per­i­ence. Ad­di­tion­ally, this method ensures that data can be collected precisely and reliably since it processes in­form­a­tion directly on the server, making it less sus­cept­ible to ad blockers and similar tech­no­lo­gies.

What are the ad­vant­ages of server-side tracking?

Server-side tracking offers a number of ad­vant­ages over con­ven­tion­al client-side tracking:

1. Com­pli­ance with data pro­tec­tion: By pro­cessing user data on your own server, it makes it easier to comply with data pro­tec­tion guidelines, in par­tic­u­lar, with the strict re­quire­ments of the General Data Pro­tec­tion Reg­u­la­tion (GDPR) in Europe.
2. Increased security: Pro­cessing data on a server reduces security risks such as data leaks or cross-site scripting attacks. Sensitive in­form­a­tion is not processed in the user’s browser, which reduces the risk of data misuse.
3. Future-proof first-party data strategy: Server-side tracking supports a future-proof first-party data strategy that allows companies to collect and use their own data directly instead of relying on third-party cookies.
4. Cookie-free tracking: Server-side tracking allows companies to harness the potential of cookie-free tracking and al­tern­at­ive data col­lec­tion methods to un­der­stand user behaviour and create per­son­al­ised ex­per­i­ences without relying on cookies.
5. Better data quality: Server-side tracking can lead to more accurate and reliable data. Since the pro­cessing takes place on the server, the data is less sus­cept­ible to ad blockers and mech­an­isms designed to prevent tracking.
6. Enriched data: Server-side tracking enables companies to enrich their data and collect ad­di­tion­al in­form­a­tion about users. By combining tracking data with other data sources, companies can create a com­pre­hens­ive picture of their target groups and create per­son­al­ised ex­per­i­ences.
7. Scalab­il­ity: Server-side tracking fa­cil­it­ates the man­age­ment of large amounts of data, scaling ef­fect­ively with the website’s traffic. This guar­an­tees efficient data pro­cessing, even for websites with high visitor numbers.
8. Flex­ib­il­ity: By im­ple­ment­ing your own tracking logic and in­teg­rat­ing it into various analytics platforms, server-side tracking offers a high degree of flex­ib­il­ity. Website operators can adapt their tracking re­quire­ments and develop cus­tom­ised solutions.

How does server-side tracking work?

In contrast to con­ven­tion­al client-side tracking, where data pro­cessing takes place in the user’s browser, server-side tracking involves pro­cessing user data on the website operator’s server. This is done by in­stalling a JavaS­cript code on the website that collects data, which is then sent to the server that is hosting the website. There, the data is processed in com­pli­ance with data pro­tec­tion reg­u­la­tions before it is finally forwarded to third-party providers such as Google Analytics. The process of server-side tracking together with client-side JavaS­cript is as follows:

• Client-side data col­lec­tion: When a user visits a website, the JavaS­cript tracking script is loaded and executed in the browser. This script records the user’s in­ter­ac­tions on the website, such as clicks, page views and form entries.
• Data transfer to the server: Data gathered by JavaS­cript is trans­mit­ted to the website owner’s server, either instantly or peri­od­ic­ally. Typically, this trans­mis­sion occurs through HTTP requests, AJAX requests or other data trans­mis­sion methods.
• Server-side pro­cessing: Incoming data is analysed and processed on the server. This typically involves ex­tract­ing relevant in­form­a­tion from the data received, such as the user’s IP address, the time an action was taken and other user-defined data.
• Ag­greg­a­tion and storage: The processed data is stored in a database or analytics platform and used for sub­sequent analyses and reports.
• Sharing with analysis tools: After pro­cessing, data can be forwarded to analytics tools, databases or other endpoints for further analysis or use in other systems.

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