Enabling Google Signals for Server-side Tag Manager in Universal Analytics

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Server-side Tag Manager supports Google signals for Universal Analytics.

The following steps are required to enable Google Signals for server-side tagging in Universal Analytics:

  1. Create and configure a Universal Analytics tag to route data via your server-side configuration. Google signals does not support the use of the GA4 root tag for processing UA server-side requests.
  2. Configure a server-side client that can claim UA requests. This can be the default UA client that is provided with Server-side Tag Manager, or a custom client that is able to claim UA requests.
  3. Activate Google signals in Universal Analytics.

Using FPID with Google signals in Server-side Tag Manager

If you are using first person identifier (FPID) with Google signals, it is important that you enable “Data Collection for Google Signals” directly in Universal Analytics and rather than relying on the “Enable Display Advertising Features” in Tag Manager.

If you use the “Enable Display Advertising Features" option in Tag Manager, the doubleclick request is sent before the FPID value is set. This means that the cid will be sent with the normal value, creating a mismatch between the cid sent to doubleclick and the FPID sent to UA. This can result in incomplete and inaccurate audience and demographic data.

When “Data Collection for Google signals” is enabled directly in Universal Analytics, the doubleclick request is sent through a redirect after the UA request, which sets the FPID cookie in the browser. As a result, the doubleclick redirect correctly sends the cid with the FPID value.