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The Relationship Between Google Data Manager and Server-Side GTM

Ecem Ugurlu
Data Analyst

The Relationship Between Google Tag Manager and Server-Side GTM

With the shaping of Google Data Manager's features, a new situation has arisen. Can Google Data Manager be a competitor to Server-Side GTM?

In this article, we will examine the relationship between these two products and why they cannot be competitors.

Google Data Manager

Google Data Manager is a product offered by Google for your first-party data. By connecting your CRM data, offline data, e-commerce infrastructure data, etc., to Google Data Manager, you can transfer your first-party data to Google products such as Google Ads.

With Google Data Manager:

  • Once you connect your data, you can send it to areas such as Google Ads, Google Analytics, and BigQuery.
  • You can improve customer segmentation.

Looking at it this way, we can say it's a Google Data Connector.

Server-Side Google Tag Manager (sGTM)

sGTM, on the other hand, is a very different product from Data Manager. With this product, data from the browser is processed on your own server, filtered, enriched, modified according to the operations you perform on the server, and then sent to a third-party platform of your choice.

With Server-Side GTM:

  • Third-party scripts running in the browser are reduced, and site speed is increased.
  • Data can be filtered before being sent to third-party platforms, thus protecting data privacy.
  • Data loss is reduced because Ad Blockers cannot block server-side requests.
  • It is a solution against restrictions such as Cookie Lifetime and ITP.

In short, we can say that sGTM is a fully controlled middleware for data collection, processing, and routing.

The Relationship Between Google Data Manager and Server-Side GTM

If you are only using Server-Side GTM to send offline conversions to Google Ads, you can do this with Data Manager. But if you are using Server-Side GTM in its true sense, Google Data Manager in its current form will never replace it.

Why do you still need Server-Side GTM?

  • Data Collection: Data Manager collects events on the site, but you can collect data with Server-Side GTM. Server-side GTM is necessary to collect and retain data when a user clicks on an ad and performs actions on the site.
  • Enrichment: When an event reaches the server, we can provide it with additional information as needed. You can obtain channel-breaking conversion data enriched with CRM.
  • Multi-Platform: While Data Manager can only communicate with Google products, Server-side GTM allows you to send data to various third-party platforms.
  • Ownership: Controls such as Consent Management, Cookie Handling, and data processing are under your control with Server-side. Data Manager does not have such a control mechanism.

In conclusion, we have learned about two products that are not competitors.