Server-Side GTM Setup – Part 1 – Improve Data Quality & Block Ad Blockers

Why It Matters

Adoption of server-side GTM helps businesses recover more accurate user data, mitigate tracking losses from blockers and privacy changes, and improve site speed, while managed hosting like Stape lowers operational complexity and cost. This can materially improve marketing measurement and ROI.

Summary

The video introduces Google Tag Manager server-side tagging, explaining how it routes browser requests to a tagging server which then forwards data to analytics and advertising platforms. Server-side tagging reduces the impact of ad blockers and browser privacy restrictions, extends cookie lifetimes, and can improve site performance by cutting client-side requests. The presenter demos using Stape, a managed server-side GTM host, walking through creating a server container in GTM, copying the container configuration, and provisioning the server in Stape. Pricing and features are covered—Stape offers a free tier and paid plans starting around $20/month, simplifying setup versus self-hosting on cloud providers.

Original Description

Server-side tagging improves your Google Tag Manager setup by reducing the impact of ad blockers and browser privacy restrictions on your data quality. Set up GTM server-side with Stape at https://lnk.stape.io/LovesData

In this tutorial, you'll learn what server-side tagging is, why it matters, and the exact steps to set up your first server-side container with Google Tag Manager and Stape. This is the first video in the server-side tagging tutorial series. Whether you're new to server-side tracking or looking to improve your current implementation, this step-by-step guide will help you understand the fundamentals and get your server-side container up and running.

This video is sponsored by Stape, a managed hosting solution for Google Tag Manager server-side containers. Stape makes it simple to set up and manage server-side tracking without needing to build and maintain your own infrastructure.

YOUR EXTRA RESOURCES:

○ Get started with Stape – https://lnk.stape.io/LovesData

○ Save 20% with Stape promo code LOVESDATA20 (valid until 30 September 2026)

○ Client-side vs. server-side tracking – https://stape.io/blog/what-is-server-side-tracking

○ Google Tag Manager tutorial series – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1vNrn711L8SnLqvJ_W0sofsVST7ldXXV

○ Google Tag Manager course – https://www.lovesdata.com/courses/google-tag-manager/

SERVER-SIDE TAGGING TUTORIAL SERIES:

Lesson 1: (That's this video)

More Lessons: Subscribe – http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=lovesdata

JUMP TO A TOPIC:

00:00 Introduction

00:45 What is server-side tagging?

02:15 Client-side vs server-side tagging

04:30 Benefits of server-side tracking

05:45 Why Stape for server-side hosting

07:20 Creating a server-side container in GTM

09:15 Setting up your Stape account

12:00 Configuring a custom domain

15:30 Connecting your server to GTM

16:45 Testing your setup

17:30 Next steps in the series

TOOLS WE USE AND RECOMMEND:

○ Data connector – https://lovesdata.co/oOWkI

○ Cookie banner – https://lovesdata.co/letON

○ Email platform – https://lovesdata.co/zrLd7

○ Course platform – https://lovesdata.co/2Zzfq

Join our courses: https://www.lovesdata.com/courses/

Subscribe for more videos: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=lovesdata

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