Does not collect and store IP addresses
Google Analytics 4 offers a feature to protect user privacy by preventing the collection and storage of the IP address as personal data.
Data retention
Through this feature you can set how long the data qatar whatsapp mobile phone number list collected by GA4 will remain available for viewing in custom reports.
If you need to correct a mistake you made in data collection, or if a user asks you to remove data collected about them (this is a right guaranteed by the GDPR), GA4 allows you to delete this data from a Property , either generally or selectively.
Another small step taken by Google to make changes in an attempt to comply with privacy laws (albeit very slowly) concerns the implementation of a proxy – therefore Google servers located in Europe – which should not be controlled or controllable by Google LLC.
This is not enough, however, because if the parent company is American, it can take advantage of the Patriot Act, thanks to which it can access all the parent company's servers whenever it wants, even if they are in Europe.
The current digital marketing landscape involves a reduction in the quality and quantity of available tracking data.
The solutions for this scenario are drastic, such as disabling Google Analytics tracking, even though this tool is important for business and targeted marketing.
One solution approved by the CNIL – the French Data Protection Authority – is Server-Side tracking .
What is Server-Side Tracking?
Server-side tracking protects user data by making it accessible only to the site's server located in Europe.
The parts of the data that should be forwarded to third-party providers can then be defined within the server.
This is in stark contrast to client-side tracking, which sees JavaScript set cookies and send data directly to third parties.
Server-side tracking protects user data from being collected by third parties.
Third-party tools do not receive personal information about the user because the tag management server overwrites this data before sending it to the third party.
To summarize the advantages of using Server Side tracking are:
Better site performance
Full control of the data collected
Mitigating Third-Party Cookie Blocking
Ability to integrate data from different sources
Server-side tracking is a solution that allows you to collect and analyze a website's navigation data through a server. To use this solution, you need to own or rent a server, which can be hosted on a cloud platform such as Google Cloud Platform.
In any case, these servers have maintenance costs, although usually low, which must be considered when making a decision.
So is Server-Side Tracking a solution to the problems related to the provision of the Italian Privacy Guarantor?
From a purely marketing point of view, the answer is obviously yes !
Hopefully the EU and the US can soon find an agreement on data transfers .
Conclusion
With the arrival of GA4, digital data analysis becomes even more important for the growth and achievement of a business's commercial objectives.
The new Google Analytics property, as mentioned, uses reports and analysis that indicate a real revolution in reading and managing data. Furthermore, the migration to GA4 could be an excellent opportunity to re-evaluate your tracking strategy and, if necessary, adapt it to the new tool.
Understanding the features of GA4, as mentioned, could require more time and skills than the UA world.
Request a personalized consultation from our team of Google Analytics experts.
