[Shopify] Creating the ultimate tracking setup

When doing a Server-Side Tagging implementation, there are 8 steps to follow:

1. Collect information

What events and conversions do I want to set up?

Think about the events and conversions you want to track. These events and conversions can have both marketing and analytical purposes. Carefully consider what you want to see in your analytical reports, which conversions you want to advertise on, and which events you want to retarget.

Events
Events refer to different interactions on your website that are triggered by specific actions. For example, when someone fills out a form, clicks on an important call-to-action button, or watches a particular video. These steps are part of the customer journey and are important to track. For WooCommerce sites, DataLayer events are already available for all eCommerce steps like view_item, add_to_cart, etc.

Conversions
Conversions refer to events that are seen as the end point of the customer journey. This could be a purchase or scheduling an appointment. On an eCommerce site, this is the ‘purchase’ conversion, but it could also be a ‘generate_lead’ conversion after filling out a contact or newsletter form on standard WordPress sites.

Which CMP (cookie banner) will I use or set up?

To ensure GDPR compliance and respect the consent given by visitors, you need to handle their consent settings in Google Tag Manager. We’ve also written a blog article on this if you want more information: https://www.adpage.io/post/cmp-instellen-via-gtm-icm-sst.

If you haven’t yet decided which CMP to set up, we recommend Cookiebot.

For which marketing and analytics platforms will I set up tracking?

For the following analytics platforms, you can set up Server-Side Tagging:
Google Analytics 4
Piwik Pro
Matomo

For the following marketing platforms, you can set up Server-Side Tagging:
Google Ads
Meta Ads
TikTok Ads
Pinterest Ads
LinkedIn Ads
Snapchat Ads
Microsoft/Bing Ads

For the following email marketing platforms, you can set up Server-Side Tagging:
ActiveCampaign
Klaviyo
MailChimp
Brevo
Spotler
Copernica

2. Create the GTM containers

Create a server container in Google Tag Manager

3. CNAME record in the DNS settings

Go to your domain name provider.

Navigate to the DNS settings of your domain.

Select the domain name or domain names you want to link to your own Tagging server.

Add a CNAME record with the name “tagging” (you can choose whatever name you want, our standard name is 'tagging')

Set the CNAME value to “projects.trytagging.com.” (don’t forget the period at the end).

4. Set up an AdPage Server Container

Create a server container on trytagging

5. Generate the Tagging Pixel

Generate and install the Tagging Pixel

You install the tagging pixel for Shopify with our own Shopify Plugin

Be aware that this Tagging Pixel replaces the regular Google Tag Manager script. So make sure to disconnect that script when installing the Shopify plugin.

6. Google Tag configuration settings

Set the configuration parameters in your Google Tag to send GA4 events to your server URL

8. Set up GA4 event tags

Set up the GA4 event tags

You also might want to set up client-side event tags for your ad-platforms:
- Meta Ads
- TikTok Ads
- Pinterest Ads

9. Miscellaneous

Configure the Consent Management Platform and the Consent Overview settings or check if they are set correctly. & How do you set up a cookie banner through Google Tag Manager in conjunction with Server-Side Tagging?

Set up the AdPage DataLayer and Webhooks for eCommerce websites

Set up Webhooks for Google Ads

Set up Profit on Adspend in combination with GA4 and Google Ads:

Updated on: 12/03/2025

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