Server-side monitoring: a revolutionary technology, but for whom?

The arguments for server-side monitoring are currently quite varied. In the world of digital marketing, server side tracking has been raised in many quarters. analytical data the saviour and the Midas touch of search engine optimisation. 

In this article, I will try to approach the issue from the perspective of a marketer in a SME and provide food for thought for those considering server-side monitoring. 

In short: Server-side tracking means that the activities performed by users on websites are tracked and processed on the server side and not in the user's browser.
If you are reading this, I assume that you are already aware of server-side monitoring at some level. 

I will take a look at the three most frequently used benefit arguments, around which I will try to provide some passionate additional information to support the decision. In this paper, I sometimes use the shorter term "server side" to refer to server-side monitoring for readability.

Benefit 1 - Improved data quantity and quality

This is an absolute fact and according to various sources, the amount of analytical data measured in conversions improves from 20 % to 40 %. This benefit is largely based on two factors. 

Firstly the fact that third-party cookies are on their way out, and server-side monitoring can at least partially circumvent that. However, let's now dispel the wildest rumour that we no longer need to worry about cookie laws. Cookie permissions must be asked for and no tracking data should be collected from those who refuse them. This will not change even if we move to server-side tracking.
Third-party cookies have been deactivated on most browsers for some time now and are only used in Google's Chrome browser. Google was already in the process of removing them, but has just postponed this until 2025. By introducing server side tracking, this cookie problem can be minimised.

Another The fact is that server-side anti-spam software from various browsers can be limited or completely disabled. According to statistics, 37% of browsers in Finland use anti-advertising software, with a predominance of younger users.

If you have a lot of traffic on your site and you actively use analytics data to develop your site, this can bring significant benefits. Similarly, if you are advertising where you actively use conversion data to drive advertising, such as online stores.

On the other hand, if you are not actively using analytics data, or your business is in an industry where there are relatively few measurable conversions from your site, or visitors at all, the extra data may not pay for itself in a reasonable amount of time. There are also completely cookie-free visitor tracking programs, such as Matomo and Snoobi. These should be considered where a company or organisation has a relatively static website and the site's purpose is to collect leads.

Provocatively I might say: "If you're wondering whether your current analytics data is useful, server-side monitoring is not for you".

Benefit 2 - Moving to server-side monitoring helps search engine optimisation

This is of course also a fact...with certain caveats

This benefit is based on the fact that search engines prefer web pages that load quickly, making them more user-friendly. Server-side monitoring improves website performance by offloading the visitor's browser scripts to the server and reducing website load times.

Charging speed is one factor among others, although at the moment it is very much discussed among optimizers. There are many things that affect the loading speed of a website, of which the scripts that run on the Tag Manager are one part of the whole. The ease of use of the Tag Manager may tempt you to install more scripts on your site than you really need and unnecessarily slow down the page load. 

A fast-loading page is always a good thing for the user and therefore also appreciated by search engines. Search engine optimisation However, from the point of view of other factors, other factors have a much greater influence on that too, and oversized images and other heavy elements play a greater role. It is worth putting them in order first and pruning out the unnecessary clutter from existing scripts and tags. A good example is probably the old Universal Analytics tags. If the speed issues are already in place, no amount of extra speed will achieve better SEO results.
Is there a problem with the server connection? Absolutely not, but the SEO benefit may be marginal.

Benefit 3 - Data management and data protection (enrichment/concentration)

Data management can be approached from opposite perspectives. Server-side monitoring provides a good opportunity to enrich the website data with e.g. CRM data and then export it to Analytics or any other data warehouse where it can be used. Conversely, an organisation with extremely strict data security regulations can mask/filter data before exporting it, even if Google Analytics. In other words, server-side monitoring gives you a better chance of influencing the data you collect.
This is where we come back to that exploitation of data. If you are actively using enriched data and the current method doesn't feel like the right solution, server-side monitoring can provide an alternative.

Server side tracking challenges

Server-side monitoring is not without its challenges. While it is not overwhelmingly difficult to implement, it does require significantly more know-how than traditional monitoring. In addition, some investment in server infrastructure is required. Of course, all this comes at a price.

So it's not just about the cost of the service, but also about the skills required to deliver the solution. The resource issue needs to be considered, not only in terms of configuration and installation, but also in terms of ongoing maintenance and upgrades. The importance of updating is significant at the moment, as legislation seems to be constantly evolving and the final interpretation is certainly not yet in place.

The expertise available for traditional monitoring is much greater and therefore the costs are much lower than for server-side monitoring. 

In server-side monitoring solutions, the right choice of supplier becomes crucial. Changing supplier or administrator can be difficult and bring additional costs.

Who benefits from server-side monitoring? Who can be recommended and who can't?

Everyone benefits, but the time and money invested in the change has a very different payback period

Server-side monitoring is useful for businesses and large online stores that actively use large amounts of web data and depend on the most accurate visitor data possible. For these businesses, tracking can provide deeper insights into customer behaviour and help optimise site performance. Server-side monitoring can also provide an alternative for organisations that want to control the data they export to Analytics.

This approach may be less advantageous for small businesses or content-centric websites that do not require extensive user interaction monitoring. For these sites, simpler visitor tracking is more cost-effective and often sufficient.

We hope you gained more understanding and insight into the benefits and challenges of server-side monitoring, which will help you decide whether such monitoring is right for your business.

If you are considering whether server-side monitoring would be suitable for you, please feel free to contact us.