Really helpful overview, thanks for writing this. One nuance I’d add: when we say “server-side isn’t affected by ad blockers or browser privacy settings”, that’s only true for the delivery of the event, not for the existence of a usable signal in the first place. If an ad blocker or strict browser settings prevent any meaningful client-side signal (no click, no click-ID, no cookies, no view, no purchase...or other event hitting the backend), server-side tagging can’t magically recover that.
Also, in the common “web GTM → sGTM” setup, most server events are still mirrors of browser events, so if the browser event never fires, the server event won’t either. The really big wins from server-side show up when the source of truth is the backend/CRM/payment provider - server side tracking (not tagging).
Really helpful overview, thanks for writing this. One nuance I’d add: when we say “server-side isn’t affected by ad blockers or browser privacy settings”, that’s only true for the delivery of the event, not for the existence of a usable signal in the first place. If an ad blocker or strict browser settings prevent any meaningful client-side signal (no click, no click-ID, no cookies, no view, no purchase...or other event hitting the backend), server-side tagging can’t magically recover that.
Also, in the common “web GTM → sGTM” setup, most server events are still mirrors of browser events, so if the browser event never fires, the server event won’t either. The really big wins from server-side show up when the source of truth is the backend/CRM/payment provider - server side tracking (not tagging).