Server-side tracking
Server-side tracking moves analytics collection from the browser to an intermediate server controlled by the publisher, bypassing ad blockers and ITP/ETP browser restrictions while maintaining GDPR compliance. It restores measurement accuracy without compromising user privacy.
In practice
The typical architecture: the site sends events to a tagging server (GTM server-side, Stape, Tealium) which redistributes them to GA4, Meta CAPI, or other destinations. The first-party cookie is set by the server with an extended lifetime, whereas browser JavaScript would be limited to 7 days by ITP. Implementation cost (hosting, configuration) is recovered within weeks on sites with high consent refusal rates.