On this page
The short answer
With 30 conversions or more in 30 days, enough rides on your tags to make a server of your own worth weighing. Oppy lists the pages your ads open whose Google tag sends straight from the visitor's browser.
Why it matters
Google's guide to server-side tagging lists what a server on your own domain changes. The cookies it sets last longer and are more secure.
The page sends one stream of data instead of one per tag, and you decide what each partner receives. The server runs on a host you pay for, so it is worth its cost only once enough conversions ride on it.
How Oppy decides
The check runs once the account records 30 conversions or more in 30 days. One primary action at least must come from your website's tag, since calls and imports never pass through it.
Oppy reads the HTML of the pages your ads open. A page is listed when its Google tag loads from Google's servers, with no Tag Manager container or server named.
Tag Manager can send to a server from its own settings, which a page read can't see. So pages that load it are left alone, and one page naming a server is enough to keep the check silent.
Checks that weigh money or clicks judge what they find on your own account's numbers, not on one figure applied to every account, so what counts as a problem on a small account is not the same on a large one. Checks on settings read how the account is set up.
When there is too little to go on, the check says so instead of guessing. A finding always comes with the rows behind it, so you can read the evidence before you decide.
| This check | |
|---|---|
| Step of the audit | Measurement |
| What it reads | The landing pages themselves, opened |
| Needs trustworthy conversions | Yes. It stays silent when the tracking step fails. |
| What happens next | Reported in the audit with the rows behind it. The decision stays with you. |
Check it yourself in Google Ads
- In Google Ads, open Goals, then Conversions, then Summary, for the last 30 days, and note the total.
- Open a page your ads lead to and view its source.
- Find where the Google tag loads from. A googletagmanager.com address with no GTM container means the browser sends straight to Google.
- If you use Tag Manager, open it and look for a server container.
What to do about it
Set up a server container in Google Tag Manager on a subdomain of your site, and send the Google tag through it. It runs on Google Cloud or another host you pay for.
Your developer can do it, or our team. Weigh the hosting cost against what rides on your conversions.
Other checks in this area
The checks next to this one in Conversion tracking, each with its own page.
- Consent Mode on the pages your ads open, for ads shown in Europe
- Main conversion actions that credit only the last click
- What happens after the lead, told back to Google
- What counts as a phone call, and who decided
- Too little has happened here to judge performance
- The same result counted by more than one action