How To Make Google Analytics More Accurate – Use Server-Side Tracking

If your company relies on Google Analytics to measure website and advertising performance, you’ve likely noticed flaws in your data. As great as Google Analytics is, there are inherent inaccuracies with GA due to its reliance on tracking cookies and referrer data. But there’s a solution: server-side tracking.

In this post, we’ll break down why standard Google Analytics tracking falls short, how server-side tracking improves accuracy, and why server-side tracking is worth the investment for decent-sized ad budgets.

Why Traditional Google Analytics Tracking Is Inherently Inaccurate

Google Analytics works by embedding a JavaScript snippet on your website. When a user visit your site, their browser is supposed to execute the javascript snippet. The snippet has two jobs:

1. Collects data from the user’s browser, then send that data to Google’s servers
2. Create a tracking cookie to “tag” the visitor, so Google will know if the visitor returns later

The problem? A lot of browsers don’t execute the javascript, don’t allow it to collect data, and/or don’t store the tracking cookie. All browsers have privacy settings that block or severely hamper Google Analyics, and some popular browsers block tracking cookies by default.

Additionally, many users install ad blockers, which limit the ability of Google Analytics even further.

It’s estimated that ~30% of website user activity is untracked, which means that Google Analytics is having trouble tracking about 1/3rd of the traffic that visits your website. Most of the time, Google Analytics will list these unknown users as “direct” or “not set” traffic.

It’s Not Just Analytics That Has Tracking Issues – It’s Advertising Too

Google Ads, Meta Ads, Microsoft Ads, etc. all use javascript snippets to track users. If the user’s browser doesn’t allow tracking, the ad platforms won’t be able to track sales back to clicks. This often leads to advertising accounts under-bidding or underestimating the value of a click, reporting lower than average ROAS, and ultimately reducing revenue while slowing growth.

How Server-Side Tracking Fixes Tracking Accuracy

Server-side tracking offers a smarter approach. Instead of relying on the user’s browser to collect data, tracking happens on your server. This provides two significant advantages.

1. Server-Side Tracking Cookies Are 1st Party

One of the biggest accuracy improvements with server-side tracking is how it handles cookies. By default, Google Analytics sets third-party cookies, which are likely to be blocked or deleted by modern browsers.

With server-side tracking, the cookies are set as first-party cookies, originating directly from your domain. This means they are far less likely to be blocked or cleared, which means your analytics account will better recognize repeat and return visitors and attribute transactions back to the proper source.

2. The Server Runs The Tracking Script

Server-side tracking also eliminates the need for the user’s browser to execute JavaScript for tracking to work. This means that even if a visitor is using an ad blocker or privacy-focused browser, the server will still track their visit and collect data.

These two features increase the accuracy of Google Analytics as well as Google Ads, Meta Ads, Microsoft Ads, etc.

Additional Benefits of Server-Side Tracking

Beyond improved tracking accuracy, server-side tracking has a couple of other advantages:

1. Better Site Performance: Since fewer scripts run in the user’s browser, page load time improves. Reduced load time leads to higher engagement, higher conversion rate, and better search rankings.
2. Easier Integration with Third-Party Platforms: Server-side tracking makes it easier to share clean, accurate data with platforms like Klaviyo, Google Ads, Meta Ads, etc.

While server-side tracking offers clear benefits, it does come with some ongoing costs. Maintaining a server-side tracking setup typically runs between $100 to $200 per month, depending on your website traffic and specific setup.

At Spork, we recommend server-side tracking to most of our clients. The improved accuracy leads to smarter ad-spend decisions and higher overall return on ad spend, and as a percentage of ad budget the cost of server-side tracking is pretty low.

Final Thoughts: Is Server-Side Tracking Right for You?

If you’re serious about understanding your website traffic, improving ad performance, and making data-driven decisions, server-side tracking is worth the investment. The combination of more accurate data, better site performance, and easier platform integrations makes it a powerful upgrade for any business running significant ad campaigns.

If you’re an automotive part or accessory company and you’re interested in setting up server-side tracking for your website, please contact us. We can help you with setup, advise you on the right intergation with your website platform, etc.

If you’re outside the auto industry, you can check out Google Tag Manager’s new First Party Mode, or look into one of the server-side vendors like Stape or Elevar. You’ll probably want to work with a web developer to get everything configured, but the expense and hassle is usually worth it.

Good luck!