Server-Side Tracking versus ClickMagick
It's a step in the right direction, but it doesn't solve the real problem.
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Patrick Kelly
ClickMagick Founder -
December 4, 2024
Created on -
7 minutes
Est. read time
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Hi, I’m Patrick — the founder of ClickMagick.
If you're looking for increased tracking accuracy to further scale your paid ads, you may come across Server-Side Tracking as a possible solution. But will this fix all your tracking problems?
The short answer is no, it can't. While Server-Side Tracking does help improve accuracy by getting around ad blockers and most iOS tracking issues, it doesn't solve the real problem.
The real problem is that with Server-Side Tracking you're still relying on your ad network's tracking and attribution ...
And both the Facebook Pixel and Google Tracking Tag have unfixable problems that result in inaccurate tracking.
Let’s take a closer look at what Server-Side Tracking does and doesn't do for you ...
Patrick Kelly, Founder -
Improved Tracking Accuracy
Server-Side Tracking does improve tracking accuracy in two ways.Server-Side Tracking uses a cloud server as an intermediary between a visitor's browser and your third-party ad or analytics platforms.
With this setup, the server receives user data first, processes it using a Google Tag Manager container, and then sends the relevant info to your desired ad platforms like Facebook or Google Ads.
And when implemented correctly, this can help reduce data loss due to Safari ITP and iOS restrictions, as well as decrease the impact of ad blockers.
ClickMagick does those things too, but that's where the similarities stop.
Let's look at the problems that Server-Side Tracking can't fix for you ...
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Short Attribution Windows
ClickMagick tracks visitors “forever” so all your sales are tracked. This is non-negotiable.Depending on your business, it could be weeks or even months before customers fully engage or make a purchase.
That’s why ClickMagick tracks your visitors “forever,” so even if you have a longer sales cycle all sales are tracked properly.
With ClickMagick, even if someone buys 6 months after clicking your ad, we’ll still track that sale all the way back to the original ad they clicked — and their entire journey inbetween.
But Google Ads has an attribution window of just 30-90 days, which means any conversions or sales more than 30-90 days after someone clicks your ad won’t be tracked by the Google Tag at all.
And Facebook is even worse with just a 7-day attribution window. Ouch!
Studies show that over 25% of sales happen after day 7, and these untracked sales make it impossible to know your true LTV and optimize your ads.
So this alone means you can't rely on the stats you see in your Facebook or Google Ads account, but that’s just the start ...
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Flawed “Greedy” Attribution
ClickMagick’s multi-touch attribution reveals what’s really working — top, middle and bottom of funnel.Imagine someone clicks your ad right now but quickly bounces ...
Then, about a week later, something else catches their attention and they ultimately buy something from you.
Maybe it’s an ad you're running on another platform, one of your YouTube videos, or something you posted on TikTok ...
At this point the first ad they clicked a week ago — and have probably completely forgotten — may have contributed absolutely nothing to generating the conversion ...
... yet the Google Tag and Facebook Pixel will still take full credit for the sale.
Google and Facebook are desperate to show results — so you keep giving them your money — even if those results are not very accurate.
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View-Through Conversions
Did you know Facebook & Google Ads take credit for sales even when people don’t click your ads?Believe it or not, ad network attribution is even more greedy than that ...
Their attribution systems actually causes them to take credit for conversions that occur even if a user doesn’t actually click your ad.
Crazy right? These are known as “view-through conversions” ...
Once your ad is shown to someone on Facebook or Google, if they later engage with any other marketing you do, the Google Tracking Tag and Facebook Pixel are once again going to take full credit for the sale.
That’s right, Facebook and Google take credit for the sale even though the user didn’t click — and probably didn’t even see — your ad at all.
And so at this point the stats they provide simply can’t be relied on at all.
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Data Sampling & Modeling
Google & Facebook guess — ClickMagick shows you exactly what really happened.You’d think it couldn’t get much worse, but all of this bad data you see in your Facebook or Google Ads account is indeed made even worse by their extensive use of “data sampling” and “modeling.”
What this means to you, in plain English, is this:
They know that they can't track everything, so they use conversion modeling to "predict unobserved conversions."
And they also have way too much data to analyze quickly enough in order to show the stats you see in your ad manager, so they use data sampling to "improve reporting performance."
So, basically, most of the stats they give you are just “best guesses.”
That’s right. By their own admission, they use data sampling and data modeling methods to estimate your stats. "Just trust us" they say.
But hopefully it goes without saying that estimated stats are not what you want when you’re trying to optimize your ads ...
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Bad Data Destroys Ad Optimization
We send your enriched, first-party conversion data to your ad platforms, so they can better optimize your ads.I could go on and on but hopefully you get the picture — you simply can’t rely on the stats in your Facebook or Google Ads account.
Growing your business with paid ads is a simple matter of scaling what’s working and killing what’s not, but you just can’t do that effectively with the inaccurate tracking and stats they provide.
And to make matters worse, Facebook and Google’s AI algorithms are also using all this bad data to try to find you more customers.
But because they’re using bad data they can’t properly optimize your ads ...
... which means they end up showing your ads to people who are less likely to engage with your business, and your ROI suffers.
It’s a simple math problem
ClickMagick wouldn’t exist if you could rely on Facebook or Google for accurate tracking and conversion attribution.
And that's the whole problem with Server-Side Tracking — you're still reliant on the Facebook Pixel or Google Tracking Tag, which have all sorts of unfixable problems and will never give you the accuracy you need.
So your choice is really just a simple math problem ...
All of these issues are costing you a small fortune — and stressing you out — and the reason we’ve helped over 100,000 small businesses is because we fix it all for about 5 bucks a day. ClickMagick just makes sense.
ClickMagick TrueTracking® gives you best-in-class tracking and conversion attribution ...
Every click. Every conversion. Every journey in between. Exactly as it happened ...
You can finally optimize your marketing based on your actual results ...
And we’ll automatically send your true conversion data back to your ad networks in real-time ...
Leveraging first-party data collected on your website or in your online store ...
Which leads to improved ad optimization, and more conversions at the lowest cost possible.
Learn more or sign up for a free trial and get started right now. You can have everything up and running in about an hour, and I guarantee you’ll be blown away by the results.
And if you have any questions, feel free to email me personally — patrick@clickmagick.com
Patrick Kelly, FounderP.S. ClickMagick offers tons more I haven’t even talked about ...
One-of-a-kind stats like ROAS24 which tells you if you’re making or losing money on the frontend of your funnel.
More visual reporting than Facebook and Google, and a detailed “user journey” for every visitor and customer.
Best-in-class bot filtering, click fraud protection, bit.ly style tracking links, affiliate marketing tools ...
And the best customer support you’ve ever experienced. I guarantee it.