Server Side Tracking

Privacy
1

Hi!

We have several questions according finding an alternative for third party cookie tracking right now

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  • Cookies are always stored in the browser, but if you want to use server-side identification for sessions, choose the cookieless tracking option. The latter option relies on a temporary session identifier that cannot be tied back to a visitor, once they leave the website or the session ends.
    In the version 15.3 planned for the release next week, we made some improvements to make this option better and more intuitive to set up. See more in the v15.3 changelog.

  • If the user does not accept cookies, we will track sessions or nothing at all (you can make a choice). This setup is simplified in the upcoming 15.3 release and you will see in the configuration the following options:

    Choose to collect non-sensitive data for visitors who don’t consent:
    (1) collect data using a 30-minute cookie,
    (2) collect data without using cookies or
    (3) don’t collect data.

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Hi @maciej ,

are there any plans at Piwik Pro concerning a server side tagmanager in order to turn from client side to server side tagging/tracking? (just as Google came up with some time ago)?

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Hi @nila. Yes - we have a server side component on the roadmap. Initially, we want to limit it to be able to handle Piwik PRO Analytics, but this may change in the future. Could you share the exact thing you’re looking for? A few different directions are possible, e.g. using Piwik PRO as one of GTM server side templates or using a dedicated Piwik PRO solution.

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Hi @kuba ,

ho, thats not a simple question :slight_smile: . I will share my thoughts gladly, but I certainly know only superficially about the technical depths of this problem. Maybe we can start a broader discussion with other community members here, that would be great. Let me comment about the different directions as you pointed them out:

  1. Using Piwik Pro as a GTM server side template: this would be quite a convenient solution for many people who want to hold GTM as their favorite tool. Nonetheless I think this could run into problems as Firefox and Safari are already blocking gtm.js from scratch in their policies (e.g. see the findings of Markus Baersch concerning this subject https://www.campixx.de/media/ServersideGTM_MarkusBaersch.pdf).
  2. Dedicated PP solution: As far as I understand the browsers ITP/ETP approach , all solutions using central and recognizable (external) endpoints (as somepoint.piwik.pro) may experience the same problems as GTM and may be blocked in the near future. If that would be the case, only server side solution on premise or at least on the same TLD could be used as a reliable endpoint…

But maybe I do not realise other possibilities… (?)

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Hi @nila,

thanks for your input! Indeed, it’s more likely that the most popular solutions will be blocked as it’s hard for them to overcome things like for instance CNAME cloaking, etc. That’s why we want to suggest a fully first party solution where the client-facing components (by client I mean here the browser) are hosted even on the same machine as the tracked website. This will give the users full control over the tracked data and definitely is in line with our strategy. We’ll post an update here once we have some news regarding our first party tracking solution.

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Hi @kuba,

are there any news concerning this topic? I haven’t tested new Safari or Safari mobile versions yet, but I fear that the piwik.pro host as an tracking endpoint will run into problems within this year…
Are there any tangible plannings in your product roadmap already?

Have a nice day :slight_smile:

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First party tracking configuration is about to be released (no exact ETA, but it’s in the final stage of works), but it will be available only for paying customers, as in most cases it’ll require support from our tech team while setting it up. A nice workaround would be to use proxy service on your end for all Piwik PRO endpoints, making the proxy available e.g. in a subdomain. We’ll shed some more light on that once the feature is released.

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As we are paying customers, this is good news indeed! :grin:
I’m looking forward to the new config possibilities, thanks.

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Hi @kuba ,
has your first party config been released already? I had a look into the Piwik Pro changelog, but could only find an announcement concerning GTM server side integration in July 22.

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Hi. You can check this guide: Install a first-party collector (server-side) | Piwik PRO help center

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Hi @kuba ,
this guide hits part of the first party problem quite well, but does not cover Tagmanager functionalities on server side.
Do you plan to release something like a “Tagmanager for Server Side”-Container, so PiwikPro customers will be able to tag, manipulate and send trackings to different (third party) endpoints?
Or will we have to use GTM server side for that purpose in the future?

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Hi. Our solution is limited to analytics module only. We have no plans to release a server-side tag manager. Obviously, you can use any existing server-side tracking solution for that purpose, it’s just the matter of using our measurement protocol.

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Hello Kuba, is this statement still correct in april 2024 ? “no plan to release a server-side tag manager”… to send data to marketing tool / media network (Facebook CAPI) ? and could you please confirm that the Piwik PRO first-party collector (server-side) setup is only possible with a “Enterprise plan” ?