So, you finally made up your mind to set up server-side tagging? You are at the right place as we are going to learn the easiest method for setting up server-side tagging aka the server-side Google Tag Manager (sGTM). While there are tons of benefits of implementing server-side tagging on your website, users find it complicated and at times, daunting. Keeping this in mind, we created this quick guide to help you set up server-side tagging in a no-nonse way. 

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Let’s get started:

A Quick Preface

Before you begin with the implementation, it is important to understand that you will effectively add a proxy between your client-side tracking technology and the third-party vendors like MarTech tools. In simple terms, it adds a layer of security and puts you in control of what data you share with the third-party vendors instead of them having full autonomy. This will help safeguard your website users’ privacy by leaps and bounds.

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Also, we will be using Tagmate to implement server-side tagging in this quick guide.

Step-by-step Process for Setting up Server-Side Tagging

Here’s the easiest way to implement sGTM:

Step 1: Login to your Tagmate account and click on “Setup Marketing Pixels”. 

If you don’t have a Tagmate account, you can create one here for absolutely free.

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Step 2: Go to the “Project Not Selected” tab and click on “+Add New” to create a new project

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Step 3: Click on “Browse [Client] Side Setup” (Start Project)

Clicking on this option will enable you to use Tagmate’s Google Cloud Platform (GCP) server. This is recommended and doesn’t inflate the costs unnecessarily while not impacting data security at all.

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Step 4: Next, enter the website domain and the project name. Once you have filled this information, click on “Server Container Setup”

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Step 5: In the Server Container Setup screen, click on “Create” 

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Step 6: Select your GTM Account

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Step 7: Select “Google Cloud Platform” as response for the first question of the Server Settings screen.

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Step 8: Select the “Tagmate Owned GCP Server”

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This option will help you use the pre-configured Tagmate server (which is also built on the Google Cloud Platform). The second option will require you to set up your own GCP server which again requires extra effort and time.

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Step 9: Click on “Next”

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Step 10: Enter the subdomain name of your choice and click on “Next”

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Step 11: Once the DNS records are generated, enter them on your DNS server and click on “Validate DNS Records”

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Step 12: Once the DNS is validated, click on the “Connect Container” button

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Step 13: Follow the steps mentioned in the screen and then click on the “Complete Setup” 

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Step 14: Click on “Yes” if you want to setup Facebook Conversion API standard event setup

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Step 15: Fill in the details and click on “Next” button

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Step 16: Fill in the required fields and click the “Next” button

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Step 17: Click on “Yes” and you’re read to go!

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Wrap Up

Congratulations! You are now ready to have much more control over your data and it's time you inform your visitors about the privacy upgrade! This was much, much simpler than the regular method, wasn't it?

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There’s a lot more you can simplify when it comes to GTM and GA4 with Tagmate.

‍Start a 14-day free trial of Tagmate with no credit card required.