Tracking and measurement
Server-side tracking
Sending conversion data to ad platforms from a server instead of the visitor's browser. Less affected by ad blockers and browser limits, and allows richer data such as profit.
Server-side tracking sends conversion events to ad and analytics platforms from a server rather than from the visitor's browser. The browser pixel still exists in most setups, but the authoritative purchase event comes from the store's backend or a tagging server, where it is not blocked by ad blockers or shortened by browser restrictions, and where it can be enriched with data the browser never had.
That enrichment is the interesting part for e-commerce. A server knows the order's cost of goods, shipping cost, payment fees and later refunds, so it can send profit as the conversion value and correct for returns. Browser-side tracking can only send what the thank-you page knows, which is usually revenue before any of that.
Server-side tracking also decides what an assistant can learn. An MCP connection to Google Ads or GA4 reads whatever those platforms recorded. If the recorded data is incomplete or revenue-only, the assistant's analysis inherits the gaps. Fixing the tracking is therefore upstream of any reporting setup, however good the assistant.