How can tracking be improved with Custom Loader?

When you open the Analytics section in the User Space, you might come across this message:

This message is shown when Stape detects an unusually low number of users with ad blockers or tracking prevention in your Analytics. While that may sound like a good thing, in most cases it actually points to a potential issue with your Custom Loader configurations.

If your Custom Loader is outdated or not installed, Stape Analytics may not be detecting users with ad blockers properly. Check that your Custom Loader is in place. Even if you're already using it, we recommend reinstalling it, just to be sure.

If you're using one of Stape’s apps (like for WordPress or Magento) that install the Custom Loader, make sure the app is also up to date. Some platforms don’t update apps automatically, and an outdated app might cause tracking issues.

If your server-side GTM container is hosted on a common subdomain like sgtm.example.com or gtm.example.com, it may be automatically blocked by ad blockers. These subdomains are often included in public filter lists. If that’s the case, change your sGTM subdomain to something unique and less obvious to avoid detection.

If you've checked all the above and everything looks correct, the low ad blocker detection could simply mean your site’s visitors don’t use them. That’s perfectly fine. In this case, you can safely ignore the warning.

GTM Environments let you load a specific version of your container (e.g., staging or development) instead of the published version. If you use environments, you need to manually add the environment parameters to your Custom Loader code. See our documentation on Custom Loader with GTM environments to learn more.