GA49 min read
GA4 Server-Side Tracking: Why You Need It and How to Set It Up
Browser-side GA4 is vulnerable to ad blockers and cookie restrictions. Server-side tagging solves both. Here is how to migrate your GA4 setup.
AO
Amara Osei
Analytics Engineer · 2024-09-05
GA4 browser-side tracking suffers from the same limitations as browser pixels: ad blockers, ITP, and the impending loss of third-party cookies. Server-side GA4 tagging solves these issues.
The Problem with Browser GA4
Up to 30% of your GA4 hits may be blocked by: - Ad blockers (uBlock Origin blocks analytics.js) - Safari ITP (limits cookie lifetime to 7 days) - Privacy browsers (Brave blocks GA4 by default)
Server-Side GA4 Benefits
- First-party cookies with longer lifetime
- Ad blockers can't reach your tagging server
- Strip or hash PII before it reaches Google
- Lower page load overhead
GA4Server-SideGTMAnalytics