Server-side tagging

Server-side tagging sends your tags' data to a server on your own subdomain first. Fewer requests are blocked, pages load faster, and you decide what each vendor receives.

Open Tools → Hive and select Server-side tagging. The page has three tabs:

A finding of No server-side tagging in a report links here too.

Use your existing container

Already run a server container? Pick the site it serves. Hive Setup adds the My Journey Analytics client template and tag to it, maps your dataLayer events, and points GA4 forwarding at it. You review every change before anything is written.

1. Select Set up server container next to the site.
2. Follow Hive Setup, picking your server container in the Containers step.

The tab lists your monitored sites. If it is empty, monitor a site in Hive first, then come back.

Set one up

The tab walks through running your own server container:

1. Create a server container. In Google Tag Manager, open your account, choose Create container and pick Server. When asked, choose to provision the tagging server manually and copy the container config string.
2. Run the tagging server on your subdomain. Pick a subdomain such as sgtm.example.com. Run Google's tagging server image there with the container config, plus a second copy as the preview server. If you would rather we run it, see Let us host it.
3. Point your web container at it. In the GA4 configuration in your web container, set the server container URL to your subdomain, then publish.
4. Add My Journey Analytics to the server container. Hive Setup installs our client template and tag, maps your dataLayer events and checks the result. Use the Use your existing container tab.
5. Check it. Run Hive Check on your site. It confirms that hits go to your subdomain and that the server container answers.

To add our tag to a server container by hand, see Server-side Google Tag Manager.

Let us host it

We run your server container on our servers in your region, on your own subdomain. You keep full control of the container in Google Tag Manager; we keep the tagging server and its preview server running.

Hosting is the Hosted server-side Tag Manager add-on, from US$250 a month per container, on the Growth and Enterprise plans. Without it, the tab shows the add-on message in its place. See Add-ons.

Ask us to host a server container

1. Create a server container in Google Tag Manager and copy its container config string, as in step 1 of Set one up.
2. On the Let us host it tab, under Ask us to host a server container, fill in the fields below.
3. Select Send request.

You see "Request sent. We review it and tell you the DNS record to add." Each subdomain can be used once. Your plan sets how many containers we host for you; when you reach it, the request says how many your plan includes.

Add the DNS record

Once we approve the request, the DNS (CNAME) column says which record to add: a CNAME for your subdomain, and for the preview subdomain if you gave one, pointing to the address shown, or to the address we sent you.

Add the record at your DNS provider. Then point your web container at the subdomain, as in step 3 of Set one up, and add My Journey Analytics to the container with Hive Setup.

Statuses

The table lists your hosted containers with their Domain, Status, DNS (CNAME) and Last health check.

Last health check shows OK or Failing, with when the container was last checked.