Google Ads Server-Side Tracking with Google Tag Manager

Before you start #

I’m going to show you how to set up Google Ads server-side tracking on Google Tag Manager. I’m assuming that you’ve already set up tracking on Google Tag Manager Client-Side and that you’re already sending data to the server container via Google Analytics 4.

Together, we’ll look at what the following tags are for, how to implement them and how they behave according to consent signals:

• Conversion Linker
• Google Ads Remarketing
• Google Ads Conversion Tracking

Conversion Linker tag #

What is the purpose of the Conversion Linker tag? #

The Converion Linker is used to determine whether or not a visitor has come from advertising.

It will therefore detect the gclid parameter in the URL of the page visited and deposit a FPGCLAW cookie, which I believe stands for First Party Google CLick id Ad Words.

This cookie can then be read by the Google Ads conversion tags to transmit information to the advertising platform that the converting visitor comes from a Google ad. This makes it possible to attribute a conversion to an ad.

Example for a visitor who comes from an ad:

flowchart LR
    A["Visitor who comes\n from advertising"]-->B["The Conversion Linker detects\n gclid and deposits\n the FPGCLAW cookie"]
    B--The visitor\n converts-->C["Conversion tracking tag \nsends the FPGLCAW cookie value\n to Google Ads"]

Example for a visitor who doesn’t come from an ad:

flowchart LR
    A["Visitor who doesn't come\n from advertising"]-->B["The Conversion Linker doesn't detect\n gclid and doesn't deposit\n the FPGCLAW cookie"]
    B--The visitor\n converts-->C["Conversion tracking tag \n doesn't send the FPGLCAW \ncookie value to Google Ads"]

Conversion Linker tag configuration #

The Conversion Linker tag must be triggered on all page_view events.

Conversion Linker and Consent Mode #

The behavior of the Conversion Linker tag according to the consent signals :

Google Ads Remarketing tag #

What is the Google Ads Remarketing tag used for? #

The Google Ads Remarketing tag allows you to re-engage your visitors after an initial interaction with your website.

You can add these visitors to remarketing lists, showing them ads again in the hope that they’ll convert after several points of contact with your website.

Here are some examples of dynamic remarketing lists in Google Ads:

Google Ads Remarketing tag configuration #

Classic remarketing #

To set up classic remarketing, you just need to configure the remarketing tag on page_view events.

Dynamic remarketing #

To configure dynamic remarketing, you need to check the Send dynamic remarketing event data box and trigger the tag on the following events:

Send user ID #

To send the user ID via the Google Ads Remarketing tag, the user_id key must be present in the event data and you must have checked the Provide user ID box in the tag parameters.

Google Ads Remarketing and Consent Mode #

The Google Ads Remarketing tag requires the three consent signals (ad_storage, ad_user_data and ad_personalization) to send a request from the browser to the domain name googleads.g.doubleclick.net.

This request contains :

• the items array
• the event name (data parameter)
• the user_id (userId parameters)

Check data collection #

Data received by the Google Ads Remarketing tag is visible in Shared library > Audience managemer > Your data sources > Details on the Google Ads tag.

Google Ads Conversion Tracking tag #

What is the Google Ads Conversion Tracking tag used for? #

The Google Ads Conversion Tracking tag is used to send conversion data to Google Ads. It can be triggered, for example, when a form is filled in on a lead generation website, or on a purchase event on an e-commerce site.

In this example, I’m going to trigger it on a purchase event.

Google Ads Conversion Tracking tag configuration #

Enhanced conversion tracking (user data) #

Enhanced conversion tracking involves sending user data to Google Ads to help the platform link a visitor who has completed a conversion action to a Google account.

To enable enhanced conversion tracking, you need to send user data to the server container via the following parameters:

user_data object example received by the server:

user_data: {
  email_address: "[email protected]",
  phone_number: "+15551234567",
  address: {
    first_name: "John",
    last_name: "Doe",
    city: "New York",
    region: "NY",
    postal_code: "10000",
    country: "US"
  }
}

The Google Ads Conversion Tracking tag will use this user_data parameter to transmit user data to Google Ads and thus enable enhanced conversions.

New cutomers data #

New user acquisition allows you to bid differently depending on the type of user (new or recurring).

To activate this feature, check the Provide new customer data box and send the new_customer and customer_lifetime_value parameters to the server container.

Product data #

To activate this feature, check the Provide product-level sales data box and send the items parameter to the container server.

Frequently asked questions #