The term “Client-Side Tracking” is used to define a mode of tracking user data that directly involves the user’s web browser.
In “Client-Side Tracking” the delivery of data is, in fact, performed through tags and is considered, to date, one of the most common ways of transmitting data from web pages.
In this tracking mode, the user’s browser (client) sends data directly to the server, so Client-Side Tracking is used to collect and share data from the website to service providers and marketing solutions.
Although Client-Side Tracking is still seen as the most common method of data collection, the phasing out of third-party cookies will make it increasingly problematic, thus advancing tracking systems that are more complex but, at the same time, capable of providing more data, namely those implemented server-side (Server-Side Tracking).
However, despite the increasing shift to server-side tracking systems, we should not forget that the client-side mode still has significant advantages.
Let us analyse them in detail:
- direct data access: because client-side monitoring involves the user’s device, this mode of data collection allows direct access to user data;
- implementation: since client-side monitoring has been frequently used, it is often considered the standard solution and therefore has a simple implementation;
- lower cost: client-side monitoring generally has a lower cost than server-side monitoring.
In choosing one type of tracking system over another, it is important to remember to keep several factors in mind, such as:
- technical skills and abilities for implementation no doubt more are required for server-web tracking systems;
- performance concerning the possible presence of Ad Blockers and the quality of the data collected, which is certainly higher in the case of server-web tracking;
- user matching, which is the ability to use third-party cookies only with client-server tracking systems.
