GDPR-compliant server side tagging: the answer for Google Analytics and your marketing tracking
Server side tagging (SST) is the only way to run Google Analytics 4 and other marketing tools lawfully in Europe. With your own tagging server in Germany you keep full control over your data and decide yourself which information is passed on to third parties, anonymised.
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100% legal compliance: meeting the GDPR and the TTDSG
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Full data sovereignty: no "tracking black box", you control the data flow
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Protection against US data transfer: server location exclusively in Germany
Why Google Analytics without server side tagging is not GDPR-compliant
The legal situation is unambiguous: numerous European data protection authorities — among them the German DSK, the French CNIL, Austria and Denmark — classify the use of Google Analytics without additional safeguards as not GDPR-compliant. The central objection is the uncontrolled transfer of personal data (such as the IP address) to the USA, a country regarded as an unsafe third country.
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The conference of the independent German federal and state data protection authorities, DSK for short, concludes that in Germany the use of Google Analytics is not lawfully possible without the active consent of users (Source)
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The data protection authority in Denmark reaches the same conclusion (Source)
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The same applies in Austria (Source)
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The Netherlands, too, assess the use of Google Analytics as not GDPR-compliant (Source)
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The Italian data protection authority likewise assesses the use of Google Analytics as illegal (Source)
The solution: server side tagging as proxy and control layer
Running your own server side tagging server acts as the necessary control layer. All tracking data is sent to your own server first. There you can filter, anonymise and decide which information is forwarded to Google Analytics, META, LinkedIn and many others at all. That is how you make sure no inadmissible personal data ends up in the USA.
In short: with server side tagging by ScaleCommerce you meet the GDPR and the TTDSG without giving up the valuable insights of Google Analytics.
Careful: server location and configuration decide GDPR compliance
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1. Server location in Germany/EU: the server must be located in the EU to avoid transfers to unsafe third countries. The standard solution via Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is therefore unsuitable for a lawful setup in Germany. ScaleCommerce offers you hosting in Germany.
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2. Correct configuration: the setup has to ensure that all personally identifiable information is filtered or anonymised before it is forwarded to Google Analytics. Our team of experts supports you with a correct, privacy-compliant setup.
Rely on the expert for GDPR-compliant server side tagging
Building your own GDPR-compliant SST instance is a strategic necessity for every company that cares about legal certainty and data quality. Rely on the expertise of ScaleCommerce.
Your tags, your responsibility –
with us they are in the best hands.
ScaleCommerce vs. SST on Google Cloud Platform
| Feature/benefit | Google server side tagging at ScaleCommerce | SST on Google Cloud Platform |
|---|---|---|
Marked improvement in data quality |
Yes | Conditional |
100% control over your data |
Yes, in full | Conditional |
Hosted in Germany/EU |
Hosted in Germany/EU | No |
Higher speed for your website, your web shop, your front end |
Yes, and markedly so. | Conditional |
100% GDPR and data protection compliant |
Yes | No |
24/7 support |
Yes | No |
Google server side tagging in brief
This online session is all about server side tagging: what it is, what it can do and how it improves load times and with them your Google Core Web Vitals. Thomas Lohner is the ScaleCommerce explainer-in-chief and an expert on web shop performance. See for yourself.
One in three online shops with us runs its own Google server side tagging cluster
And the number keeps growing. The reason: switching to Google server side tagging at ScaleCommerce takes minimal effort, while the benefit is enormous. It is simply smart to configure this option. How often can you raise performance, data volume and GDPR compliance at the same time? That combination is rare. Here is an extract from our customer chat.
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“Of course I want to keep improving users' browsers and their load times. And SST barely takes any effort on top.”
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“Best project of 2025 — and I already know that in February. One week of testing and we were so impressed that we moved all three shops to ScaleCommerce straight away.”
Take ten minutes for an enabling call, find out everything you need to know about server side tagging and get going.
Sign up for a 10-minute enabling call