GuideInfrastructure~25 min

Google Tag Manager

Complete guide: Web Container (client-side) and Server Container (server-side). Importing the pre-configured containers, checking the values, publishing, tag architecture, consent, GA4 transport, CAPI destinations, Enhanced Conversions.

Connectors0/3

GTM Web Container ID

tagmanager.google.com. e.g. GTM-XXXXXXX

GTM Server Container ID

tagmanager.google.com. e.g. GTM-XXXXXXX

Server Container URL

Addingwell > Server > Custom Domain. e.g. https://tags.domain.com

Const - Server - Container URL

Credentials required0/7

GA4 Measurement IDServer Container URLCookiebot CBIDMeta Pixel IDMeta Access TokenGoogle Ads Conv. IDGoogle Ads Conv. Label

Fill them in from the matching guides (Connectors section at the top of each guide).

1Role / Purpose

GTM is the central hub of the tracking stack. It receives DataLayer events (injected by Addingwell), handles consent (Cookiebot CMP), gates the marketing tags, and routes hits to the server container (sGTM) through a first-party custom domain.

Shopify Store
      ↓
Addingwell (DataLayer + Custom Pixel + GTM injection)
      ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  GTM Web Container (client-side)                │
│  Consent, marketing tags, GA4 transport         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
      ↓  GA4 hits via server_container_url
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  GTM Server Container (server-side)             │
│  GA4 Server, Meta CAPI, Google Ads EC, etc.     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Container	Role	Hosted on
Web (client-side)	Consent, marketing pixels, GA4 config/transport, forwarding to sGTM	Browser (through Addingwell)
Server (server-side)	CAPI destinations, Enhanced Conversions, first-party tracking	Custom domain (tags.mystore.com)

Both containers ship pre-configured and complete. Every tag, trigger, variable and vendor template is included. Credentials are interpolated from Connectors at download time.

2Web + Server Architecture

How the Web Container is organised

GTM Web Container
├── Consent Initialization
│   └── Cookiebot CMP (Denied defaults)
│
├── GA4 Config / Transport
│   └── GA4 tag → server_container_url → sGTM
│
├── Marketing Tags (waiting for consent)
│   ├── Meta Pixel (PageView, ViewContent, AddToCart, Purchase)
│   └── Google Ads Remarketing
│
├── DataLayer Triggers
│   ├── page_view, view_item_list, view_item
│   ├── add_to_cart, remove_from_cart, view_cart
│   └── begin_checkout, purchase
│
└── Variables
  ├── DataLayer Variables (ecommerce.*)
  ├── Consent State Variables
  └── Connectors Variables

How the Server Container is organised

sGTM Server Container
├── Client
│   └── GA4 Client (receives hits from the Web Container)
│
├── Tags
│   ├── GA4 Server Tag → Google Analytics
│   ├── Meta Conversions API Tag → Meta
│   └── Google Ads Server Conversions Tag → Google Ads
│
├── Triggers
│   └── Based on the GA4 event_name (purchase, page_view, etc.)
│
└── Variables
  ├── Event Data Variables (transaction_id, value, etc.)
  └── User Data Variables (email, phone: hashed)

Full Web → Server flow

GTM Web → GA4 transport → server_container_url
                                  ↓
                          sGTM Server Container
                                  ↓
                  ┌───────────────┼───────────────┐
                  ↓               ↓               ↓
            GA4 Server       Meta CAPI      Google Ads EC
                  ↓               ↓               ↓
          google-analytics   graph.facebook   googleads.g

Principles

Every tag has its own DataLayer trigger
Marketing tags are gated on consent
GA4 acts as transport to the sGTM through the first-party custom domain
No tag fires without an explicit trigger
Client-side and server-side share the same event_id for deduplication

Web Container. Client-Side

3GTM Web Container

Import procedure

Import the Web container

Download the Web container below

GTM Web → Admin → Import Container

Workspace: Default

Mode: Merge → Overwrite conflicting tags, triggers, and variables

0/8 variables

What the container holds

17 tagsCookiebot CMP, GA4 Config + Addingwell Transport, Conversion Linker, Google Ads Remarketing, and more

18 triggersE-commerce events (page_view, view_item, add_to_cart, begin_checkout, purchase) + consent updates

32 variablesConnectors constants (GA4 ID, Server URL, CBID) + DataLayer, Event Data and User Data variables

3 templatesCookiebot CMP, Facebook Pixel, Event ID

DataLayer & triggers

Addingwell feeds the DataLayer, not the theme. Events reach GTM automatically.

DataLayer event	GTM trigger	Associated tags
page_view	CE - page_view	GA4, Meta PageView
view_item	CE - view_item	GA4, Meta ViewContent
add_to_cart	CE - add_to_cart	GA4, Meta AddToCart
begin_checkout	CE - begin_checkout	GA4, Meta InitiateCheckout
purchase	CE - purchase	GA4, Meta Purchase, Google Ads Conversion

Consent Mode v2

1. Consent Initialization
 └── Cookiebot → Denied defaults
     (ad_storage, analytics_storage, ad_user_data, ad_personalization)

2. Visitor accepts/declines
 └── Cookiebot → consent_update

3. Gated tags
 └── Built-in Consent checks before each tag fires

Tag	Required consent
Cookiebot CMP	None (Consent Initialization)
GA4 Config	analytics_storage (Advanced Consent Mode)
Meta Pixel	ad_storage + ad_user_data
Google Ads Remarketing	ad_storage + ad_personalization

Advanced Consent Mode

GA4 uses Advanced Consent Mode: even without consent it sends anonymised pings (no cookies). Marketing tags are strictly blocked without consent.

GA4 Config / Transport

The GA4 Config tag initialises GA4 and sets up hit transport to the server container (sGTM) through the custom domain.

Parameter	Value	Role
Measurement ID	G-XXXXXXXXXX	GA4 identifier
server_container_url	https://tags.mystore.com	sGTM custom domain (first-party)
send_page_view	false	Disabled: handled by the page_view trigger

DataLayer event (e.g. purchase)
      ↓
GA4 Event Tag (purchase)
      ↓
GA4 Config (server_container_url)
      ↓
https://tags.mystore.com (sGTM)
      ↓
Server-side destinations

server_container_url

server_container_url routes GA4 hits to the sGTM instead of google-analytics.com. That is what enables the adblocker bypass and first-party tracking.

Client-side marketing tags

Platform	Tag	Events
Meta	Meta Pixel	PageView, ViewContent, AddToCart, InitiateCheckout, Purchase
Google Ads	Remarketing	Page view + audiences

Client-side: enriches first-party signals (_fbp, _fbc, ttclid cookies, …)
Server-side (sGTM): sends conversions through the API (resilient, deduplicated)
event_id / transaction_id deduplication prevents doubles
The two channels complement each other to maximise signal

Reminder — Consent Mode

Consent Mode v2 (every default at Denied) is handled by the Cookiebot CMP tag in GTM. That tag loads the banner, sets the defaults, sends consent updates and fires the conditional triggers.

Server Container. Server-Side

4GTM Server Container

Import procedure

Import the Server container

Download the Server container below

GTM Server (through Addingwell) → Admin → Import Container

Workspace: Default

Mode: Merge → Overwrite conflicting tags, triggers, and variables

0/7 variables

What the container holds

15 tagsGA4 Server, Meta CAPI (Full server-only), Google Ads EC (10 conversions), Addingwell Monitoring

12 triggersGA4 Client events (page_view, purchase, add_to_cart, view_item, begin_checkout, …)

8 variablesEvent Data (items, value, currency, event_id, fbc, gclid) + Conversion ID constant

4 templatesMeta CAPI by Addingwell, Addingwell Monitoring, URL Builder, Facebook CAPI

sGTM routing flow

GA4 Client (receives the Addingwell transport requests)
├── GA4 Server → Forward to GA4
├── META – CAPI → Conversions API (Full server-only)
│   └── fbp/fbc 1P cookies, event_id, user_data
├── GADS – Conv (x10) → Enhanced Conversions
│   └── purchase, add_to_cart, begin_checkout, view_item, etc.
├── Addingwell Monitoring → Logs & analytics
└── Automatic enrichment:
  • User data through the GA4 Event Settings Variable
  • event_id for Meta deduplication
  • Consent Mode v2 signals

First-party custom domain

Hits go to tags.mystore.com instead of google-analytics.com
Adblockers do not block first-party requests
Cookies are first-party (unaffected by ITP)
Better attribution and longer cookie lifetimes

DNS
tags.mystore.com → CNAME → sGTM hosting

GTM Web
GA4 Config → server_container_url = https://tags.mystore.com

Result
Every GA4 hit travels through the custom domain

HTTPS required

The custom domain must be served over HTTPS. The sGTM provider (Addingwell, Stape, …) manages the SSL certificate automatically.

Server-side destinations

Destination	sGTM tag	API	Events
Meta	Meta Conversions API	graph.facebook.com	PageView, ViewContent, AddToCart, Purchase
Google Ads	Google Ads Conversions	googleads.googleapis.com	purchase (Conversion Action)

Deduplication

Platform	Deduplication key
Meta	event_id (identical client + server)
Google Ads	transaction_id / order_id

Addingwell templates

The Addingwell templates (Meta CAPI, Google Ads Conversions) enrich events automatically with user_data, cookies and URL parameters. No manual variable configuration.

Turnkey container: server-side connectors, first-party routing and destination credentials (Pixel IDs, Access Tokens) are pre-filled through Connectors. Meta runs in Full CAPI (no browser pixel).

Configuration & Publishing

5Check the Values

Every value is pre-filled in the imported containers. Open each variable/tag in GTM and confirm the value matches.

GTM Web. 3 constants

GA4 Measurement ID

Measurement IDG-XXXXXXX

Server Container URL

Container URLhttps://tags.my-store.com

Cookiebot CBID

CBIDxxxxxxxx-xxxx-...

GTM Server. destination credentials

Meta CAPI

Pixel ID123456789

Access TokenEAAG...

Google Ads

Conversion IDAW-XXXXXXXXX

Conv. LabelAbCdEf...

Procedure: GTM → Variables (Web) or Tags (Server) → open the item → check the Connectors value. DataLayer variables (DLV - ecommerce - *) fill themselves through Addingwell.

6Disable Unused Destinations

When a destination is not in use, pause its tags: do not delete them.

Destination not used

Web tag to pause

Server tag to pause

No Meta Ads

META - Pixel - All Events

META - CAPI - All Events

No Google Ads

GADS - Remarketing - All Pages

GADS - Conv - purchase

Procedure: GTM → Tags → open the tag → ... menu → Pause → save.

7Publish the Containers

Once the values are checked and the unused destinations paused:

GTM Web

1Submit

2Name the version

3Publish

GTM Server

1Submit

2Name the version

3Publish

Before you publish

Do not publish if any value looks wrong, or if placeholders are still visible in the variables or tags. Go back to Connectors and fix them first.

Reference & Verification

8Tag Reference

Enhanced Conversions

Enhanced Conversions improve user matching by sending hashed (SHA-256) data to the platforms.

Data	Source	Hashing
Email	DataLayer (purchase)	Automatic SHA-256
Phone	DataLayer (purchase)	Automatic SHA-256
First Name	DataLayer (purchase)	Automatic SHA-256
Last Name	DataLayer (purchase)	Automatic SHA-256
Address	DataLayer (purchase)	Automatic SHA-256

Shopify Checkout (purchase)
      ↓
DataLayer (user_data in clear text)
      ↓
GTM Web → GA4 transport → sGTM
      ↓
sGTM templates hash it automatically
      ↓
Platforms receive the hashed data

Consent required

User data is never sent without marketing consent. Consent Mode v2 blocks the transmission when ad_user_data = Denied.

DataLayer variables (Web Container)

Variable	DataLayer path	Usage
DLV - ecommerce.currency	ecommerce.currency	Currency (EUR, USD, …)
DLV - ecommerce.value	ecommerce.value	Transaction amount
DLV - ecommerce.transaction_id	ecommerce.transaction_id	Unique order ID
DLV - ecommerce.items	ecommerce.items	Products (array)

Credentials needed (Server Container)

Destination	Credentials
Meta CAPI	Pixel ID + Access Token
Google Ads	Conversion ID + Conversion Label
GA4	Measurement ID (inherited from Web)

Naming convention

DataLayer variables use the DLV - prefix. Configuration constants are named after their role. Triggers use the CE - prefix (Custom Event).

9Verification

GTM Preview Mode (Web Container)

1Open GTM → Preview (top-right button)
2Enter the Shopify store URL
3Browse the store in the preview tab
4Check which tags fire in the debug panel

Check	Expected
Consent Initialization	Cookiebot CMP fires first
Before consent	Only Cookiebot and GA4 Config fire
After marketing consent	Meta and Google Ads fire
purchase event	Every ecommerce variable populated
server_container_url	GA4 hits leave through the custom domain

GTM Preview Mode (Server Container)

1Open GTM Server → Preview Mode
2Browse the store and trigger some events
3Check the GA4 Client receives the hits
4Check each server tag fires correctly

Verify the destinations

Destination	Verification tool
Meta CAPI	Meta Events Manager → Test Events
Google Ads	Google Ads → Conversions → Diagnostics
GA4	GA4 DebugView (Realtime)

CDN proxy and Preview

When the Addingwell CDN proxy is active, Preview Mode may not work on the custom domain. Test with the proxy temporarily disabled, or use the direct GTM URL.

Phase 2: GTM + consent foundations

GTM + consent foundations0/7

Pre-consent test (private window)

1Open the site in a private window

2Click "Deny all" in the Cookiebot banner

3GTM Preview: check that only Necessary tags fire

4Network: no request to GA4, Meta or Google Ads

Post-consent test

1Open the site in a private window

2Click "Accept all" in the banner

3GTM Preview: analytics and marketing tags must fire

4GA4 DebugView: events visible in real time

10Troubleshooting

Tags not firing (Web)

Check:

1GTM injected by Addingwell (no conflicting manual snippet)
2Container ID correct
3DataLayer events present (console → dataLayer)
4Triggers correctly mapped to the events

Marketing tags fire without consent

Check:

Cookiebot tag on Consent Initialization (not All Pages)
Built-in consent configured on every marketing tag
No tag left on "No additional consent required"

sGTM receives no hits

Check:

1server_container_url correct in GTM Web (GA4 Config tag)
2Custom domain working (curl https://tags.mystore.com/healthz)
3Server container published
4GA4 Client configured in the sGTM

Meta CAPI returns errors

Check:

Access Token valid and not expired
Pixel ID correct
Token permissions (ads_management, ads_read)
Event format (event_name, user_data)

Duplicate conversions

Check:

event_id identical between client-side and server-side
No duplicate purchase tag in GTM Web
No conversion imported manually in parallel
Deduplication enabled on the platform side

Enhanced Conversions low match rate

Check:

user_data present in the DataLayer (email, phone)
Values non-empty at purchase time
Automatic hashing active in the templates
ad_user_data consent = Granted

Full checklist

GTM. Import, Config & Publish0/9

Check the layer you just set up

Scan the store: 41 checks read what it now sends to GA4, Meta and Google Ads.