Shopify

How to set up server-side tagging for a Shopify webhop

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Setting up server-side tagging for Shopify

This article walks you through the full setup of server-side tagging on a Shopify store: generating your Google Tag Manager templates, importing them, filling in your IDs, testing them, and finally removing the old tracking connections that Shopify made for you.

Before you start

This article picks up where Getting Started leaves off. Make sure all of the steps in the Setup AdPage container article have been followed. Which means that:

• Your AdPage container is created.

• Your AdPage container is connected to your GTM server container.

• The CNAME record is added in your DNS settings, so tagging runs on your own (sub)domain.

• The AdPage Shopify app, customer events pixel & webhook is installed in your store.

If one of these steps is still open, finish it first. Everything below assumes your server container is reachable on your own domain and that the Shopify app is pushing data into the dataLayer.

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Step 1: Generate your templates in the Template Library

You do not have to build your tags, triggers and variables by hand. AdPage's Template Library generates a complete, tested Google Tag Manager setup for Shopify for you.

1. Go to data.adpage.io/template-library.

2. Select the marketing platforms you want to send data to, for example Google Ads, Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, LinkedIn Ads or Pinterest Ads.

3. Select the Consent Management Platform you use on your Shopify webshop.

4. Generate the templates. You get two JSON files: one for your GTM web container and one for your GTM server container.

5. Download both files and keep them handy.

Only select the platforms you actually use. Every platform you add creates extra tags and constant variables that you will need to fill in later.

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Step 2: Import the web container template

1. Open your GTM web container.

2. Go to Admin and click Import Container.

3. Select the web JSON file you downloaded.

4. Choose a workspace.

   • If you have unpublished changes in your default workspace, we recommend importing into a new workspace so your import stays separate from any other work in progress.

5. Choose the import option:

   • Merge and rename conflicting tags, triggers and variables for a container that already contains a setup. Nothing existing gets removed.

   • Overwrite only for a brand new, empty container.

6. Check the preview of the changes that GTM shows you, then click Confirm.

Do not publish your GTM web container yet. The tags in the import are still missing your IDs, which you fill in at step 4.

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Step 3: Import the server container template

Repeat the same steps in your GTM server container with the server JSON file.

1. Open your GTM server container.

2. Go to Admin and click Import Container.

3. Select the server JSON file.

4. Import into a new workspace and choose Merge and rename conflicting tags, triggers and variables.

5. Check the preview and click Confirm.

6. Go to Clients and check if an extra GA4 client has been set up. If so, delete the imported GA4 client.

Do not publish your GTM server container yet. The tags in the import are still missing your IDs and tokens, which you fill in at step 4.

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Step 4: Fill in the constant variables

Both templates are built around constant variables. All IDs, tokens and settings live in one place, so you never have to open individual tags to change something.

1. In your GTM web container, go to Variables.

2. Open every constant variable, which you can recognize by the "@" in the name. Fill in the correct value per variable. See the table below to know what ID or Token you have to fill in.

3. Save each variable.

4. In your GTM server container, go to Variables.

5. Open every constant variable, which you can recognize by the "@" in the name. Fill in the correct value per variable. See the table below to know what ID or Token you have to fill in.

6. Save each variable.

Depending on the platforms you selected, you will typically fill in:

Container	Variable	Value
Web	Server Container URL	The tagging domain from your CNAME record, for example: https://tagging.domain.com
Web	GA4 Measurement ID	Your GA4 property's Measurement ID: G-XXXXXXXXXX
Web	Meta Pixel ID	Your Pixel ID from Meta Events Manager
Web	TikTok Pixel ID	Your Pixel ID from TikTok Events Manager
Web	Pinterest Tag ID	Your Pinterest Tag ID, found in the Tag Manager of your Pinterest Ads Account
Web	LinkedIn Partner ID	Your LinkedIn Partner ID, found in the Signals Manager of your LinkedIn Ads Account
Web	Cookiebot Domain Group ID	The Domain Group ID from your Cookiebot account
Server	GA4 Measurement ID	Your GA4 property's Measurement ID: G-XXXXXXXXXX
Server	Meta Pixel ID	Your Pixel ID from Meta Events Manager
Server	Meta API Ttoken	The API Token of your Pixel from Meta Events Manager
Server	TikTok Pixel ID	Your Pixel ID from TikTok Events Manager
Server	TikTok API Token	The API Token of your Pixel from TikTok Events Manager
Server	Google Ads Conversion ID	Your Google Ads Conversion ID: AW-XXXXXXXXXX minus the AW- part
Server	Google Ads Conversion Labels	Create new purchase, add_to_cart, and begin_checkout conversions in Google Ads. Once set up, you can find their Conversion Labels.
Server	Pinterest Advertiser ID	The Advertiser ID from your Ad Account. This ID usually starts with 549.
Server	Pinterest API Token	The API Token found in your Conversions API settings of your Pinterest Business Account.
Server	LinkedIn API Token	The API Token which you can generate in your LinkedIn Campaign Manager in the Sources.
Server	LinkedIn Conversion IDs	Create new purchase, add_to_cart, and begin_checkout conversions in LinkedIn Ads. Once set up, you can find their Conversion IDs in the URL of the conversion.

Never leave a constant variable empty. An empty ID means tags fire without a destination, which shows up as missing conversions or failed outgoing requests later on.

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Step 5: Test in preview mode

You have just imported container templates with complete tracking for GA4 and the marketing platforms you selected. That means everything you need is now present in your GTM containers, and anything that was already there for the same purpose is a duplicate.

Disable your old tags first

Go through the tags in your web container and pause or delete every tag that measures something your new setup now handles. In practice this is your old GA4 configuration tag, all GA4 event tags for e-commerce steps such as add_to_cart and purchase, your Meta Pixel tags, your Google Ads remarketing tags, and any custom HTML tags that send data to a platform directly.

If you are not sure whether you will need an old tag later, pause it instead of deleting it. You can always remove it in a later version once the new setup has proven itself. Old triggers and variables can stay, they do nothing on their own.

Skip this and preview mode will show two of everything, and after publishing your conversions will be counted twice.

Test both containers

1. Open the Preview mode in your GTM web container and fill in the URL of your webshop.

2. Open the Preview mode in your GTM server container as well, so you can follow the same hits arriving server-side.

3. Walk through the customer journey and check that each step fires once, with the right e-commerce parameters:

   • page_view

   • view_item_list

   • view_item

   • add_to_cart

   • view_cart

   • remove_from_cart

4. For every event, check in the server container that the GA4 event request arrives and that your platform tags fire and return a successful response.

If the GA4 event requests don't arrive on the server container's preview mode, it means that the server_container_url parameter in the Google Tag gets overwritten somewhere. Check these three options:

• Check if there is another Google Tag active on your GTM web container with the same GA4 Measurement ID. If there is, pause that tag.

• Check if the Google & YouTube App in Shopify has a direct connection set up with the GA4 property you are setting up server-side tagging for. If so, disconnect this connection.

• Check if the Google & YouTube App in Shopify has the 'conversion measurement' option set to 'On'. If so, set the conversion measurement option to 'Off'.

Debugging the Shopify checkout

Shopify loads the checkout inside an iframe, which means you cannot debug it directly in Google Tag Manager's preview mode. Your GTM web container preview mode and a dataLayer checker extension will not show you the steps from begin_checkout up to and including purchase.

To test those steps anyway, install the DataLayer Checker Plus extension.

Besides checking the dataLayer of a website, the extension has two extra options behind the gear icon:

• The first option lets you inspect the dataLayer inside the extension.

• The second option injects the standard <head> script of your GTM web container. With that script injected, you can debug the entire checkout in both your GTM web container and your GTM server container again.

Remember to switch both options off when you are done debugging. If you leave them on, that <head> code gets injected on every page you visit.

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Step 6: Publish both containers

Once everything looks right in preview modes, publish both GTM containers.

Use a clear version name and description, for example "AdPage server-side tagging", so you can roll back if needed.

Your data now runs through your server container. Any connection that Shopify still maintains directly with an advertising platform will send the same events a second time, which leads to duplicated conversions and inflated revenue in your reports.

Go through the platforms below and disconnect what you no longer need.

Google Analytics 4

1. Open the YouTube & Google app in Shopify and navigate to the settings.

2. Disconnect the Google Analytics property if you see that one is still connected.

3. Make sure the Conversion measurement option is switched off.

Meta Ads

1. Open the Facebook & Instagram app in Shopify and navigate to the settings.

2. Ensure the Data Sharing option is switched off.

You'll need access to the Facebook Pixel to be able to switch off this option

TikTok Ads

1. Open the TikTok app in Shopify and navigate to the settings.

2. Go to the Data Sharing settings.

3. Click Disconnect behind the pixel.

Pinterest Ads

1. Open the Pinterest app in Shopify and navigate to the marketing settings.

2. Disconnect the Pinterest Tag, so you no longer share data directly with Pinterest.

Check your theme and custom pixels

Finally, check the theme code and Shopify's Customer events (custom pixels) for hardcoded tracking scripts that were added manually in the past. Remove what is now handled by your server container.

After publishing, compare your conversions for a few days against your shop's own order count. Numbers that are consistently too high are usually a sign that an old connection is still active somewhere.

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Need help?

Still seeing missing events, duplicated conversions or unassigned traffic after following these steps? Reach out to our support team and we will take a look with you.