How to set up Xandr tag using server Google Tag Manager

Xandr is Microsoft's advertising and analytics company, which runs the Community online platform for buying and selling consumer-centric digital advertising. 

Xandr's capabilities in technology, automation, data and identity solutions, and a partnership-first strategy can help you run complex and massive programmatic advertising campaigns.

Using Xandr's platforms, you can take advantage of every benefit of running campaigns across screens and tapping into engaged audiences to help your buyers and sellers solve their most difficult advertising concerns.

To make the Xandr integration easy for you, we created a Xandr tag for the server Google Tag Manager. In this article we will describe how Xandr tag works and how to set it up using server GTM. 

How does Xandr tag for server Google Tag Manager work and what are its benefits?Copy link to this section

Xandr server-side tag has significant benefits over traditional tracking. 

It doesn’t depend on 3rd party cookies, thus making tracking conversion accurate as it is.

With server-side, you can precisely manage what data is given to each vendor and ensure that they do not scrape any information about website users without your consent. That guarantees you total data control and security. Another essential advantage is website page speed optimization.

There are two types of events that Xandr tag supports: PageView and Conversion.

• PageView event stores the token URL parameter inside the xandr_token cookie.
• Conversion event sends the HTTP request with the specified conversion data to Xandr.

How to use the Xandr tag:

1. Create an Xandr pixel and add Page View and Purchase triggers.

2. Add the only required field for the conversion event - Pixel ID, other fields are optional.

Pixel ID - advertiser program ID.

Order ID - booking or transaction ID.

Total Order Value - value excluding taxes, delivery, and discounts.

Other - You can include an extra field to pass into your pixel and then see this data in conversion reporting.

How to set up Xandr tag using server Google Tag Manager?Copy link to this section

1. Create and set up a server Google Tag Manager container.

2. The Xandr tag is not yet in the server Google Tag Manager template gallery. You can download it from GitHub and add it to your server GTM container by opening the template tab, clicking new, clicking three dots in the top right corner, and clicking import. 

3. When configuring the Xandr tag, you can add Page View and Purchase triggers. Add the only required field for the conversion event - Pixel ID, other fields are optional.

ConclusionCopy link to this section

To sum up, Xandr's server-side tag is an incredibly efficient way to track conversions with accuracy and total data control. Not only does it provide you with more advanced data collection methods, but it also helps to optimize your website’s page speed. All of this, taken together, makes the Xandr integration a powerful tool worth using with server Google Tag Manager. 

We hope this article helped explain how to set up Xandr tag and its benefits clearly. If you have any questions or need help setting up the Xandr tag on your server GTM, please feel free to reach out to Stape support and we will be glad to help.