Explore cutting-edge tracking methodologies that prioritize user consent and comply with data protection regulations.
Topics covered
As digital landscapes evolve, businesses encounter significant challenges in effectively tracking user interactions. Traditional methods often fall short due to increasing browser restrictions aimed at protecting user privacy. Consequently, a strategic shift towards server-side tracking has emerged, allowing companies to collect and manage data more efficiently.
This article explores the intricacies of server-side tracking, highlighting its ability to help organizations navigate many limitations imposed by modern tracking prevention systems while ensuring compliance with privacy regulations.
Understanding server-side tracking
At its core, server-side tracking reroutes data collection from the client’s browser to a controlled server endpoint.
This means that data about user interactions is processed on the server before being sent to third-party platforms like Google Analytics or Meta. By consolidating this process, the data appears to originate from the same domain as the website being visited, effectively mitigating restrictions commonly imposed on third-party tracking.
Benefits of server-side tracking
A key advantage of this method is maintaining a first-party context. Unlike traditional client-side methods, which may be hindered by browser treatments like Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP), server-side tracking eliminates many challenges by avoiding reliance on JavaScript that communicates with external domains. This capability enhances data continuity and ensures the accuracy of analytics.
Moreover, server-side tracking operates without utilizing techniques such as fingerprinting or cross-domain identifiers. Instead, it employs a deterministic approach that respects user privacy and adheres to data minimization and purpose limitation principles as outlined by regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Consent and compliance considerations
Understanding the importance of user consent is crucial in data tracking. Server-side tracking systems, such as those implemented by JENTIS, fully respect user agreements regarding data usage. If consent is required for analytics or marketing purposes, these systems ensure compliance with user preferences, thereby upholding privacy rights.
By acting as a technical transport layer, these systems do not circumvent user rights but work within established boundaries, ensuring that all data collection meets legal standards. This approach stabilizes attribution models reliant on multi-session logic, allowing for accurate mapping of conversions back to their original traffic sources.
Enhancing session tracking in mobile applications
The demand for effective solutions extends to mobile applications. For instance, using tools like the React Native tracker, developers can implement robust session tracking to monitor user activity within apps. By default, this client session tracking is enabled and utilizes a session context to append relevant data to each event.
The tracking process maintains session information as long as the app is installed, with sessions defined by periods of user inactivity. If a user does not generate any tracking events within a designated timeout period—typically set to 30 minutes—the session is considered expired. This mechanism ensures that developers can accurately capture user behavior while managing session timeouts in both foreground and background states.
Practical implementation strategies
Organizations aiming to adopt server-side tracking should consider specific implementation strategies. It is essential to configure timeouts effectively, allowing the app to recognize when a session should be renewed based on user activity. For example, a setting that expires a session after 15 seconds of background inactivity can help maintain data accuracy and relevance.
This article explores the intricacies of server-side tracking, highlighting its ability to help organizations navigate many limitations imposed by modern tracking prevention systems while ensuring compliance with privacy regulations.0
This article explores the intricacies of server-side tracking, highlighting its ability to help organizations navigate many limitations imposed by modern tracking prevention systems while ensuring compliance with privacy regulations.1
