Shopify App Setup: Server-Side Tracking in 5 Steps

The Taglinc app for Shopify sends your store's events to your own server GTM container on Taglinc. Page views, product views and cart events come from your theme. Checkout and purchase events come from a checkout pixel, and every order is also sent from the server, so a purchase still counts when the browser blocks tracking.

The app is free in Shopify. You pay for your Taglinc plan on taglinc.com, by card, bKash or PayPal. The Free plan works too.

Before you start

• A Taglinc account with a running server GTM container. See Deploy your first server GTM container.
• A tracking domain on that container is best, for example track.yourstore.com. See Custom first-party tracking domains.
• Your GA4 measurement ID (GA4 → Admin → Data streams → your web stream). It looks like G-ABC123XYZ.

Step 1: Install the app and connect your account

1. Install the Taglinc app in your Shopify admin.
2. On the app's home page, click Connect Taglinc account.
3. Taglinc opens in a new tab. Log in if asked, pick the server container for this store and confirm.
4. Go back to Shopify and reload the app. It shows your account, server container, tracking domain and plan.

To use another container later, click Change container.

Step 2: Turn on the theme embed

The theme embed loads Google Tag Manager from your tracking domain and sends GA4 ecommerce events (view item, add to cart, view cart and more) on your storefront.

1. In the app, click Open theme editor in the Setup list.
2. In App embeds, switch on Taglinc tracking and click Save.

The embed follows your Shopify cookie banner: tags only run with the consent your visitor gave.

Step 3: Turn on checkout tracking

Shopify's checkout runs no theme code, so the app adds a checkout pixel.

1. In the app, under Checkout tracking, enter your GA4 measurement ID.
2. Click Turn on checkout tracking.

The pixel sends begin checkout, contact info, shipping info, payment info and purchase to your tracking domain. The purchase carries the order ID, value, items and, with marketing consent, hashed customer data for Meta and TikTok match quality.

Each order is also sent from Shopify's server with the same event ID, so your tags can drop the duplicate. Refunds are sent as GA4 refund events.

Step 4: Set up GTM

Your tags still live in your own Google Tag Manager. Taglinc can add ready-made ones for you.

1. In Taglinc, open your container and go to the Container tab. Under Setup, link the container with Google if you have not yet.
2. In the Set up GTM for your Shopify store card, pick your store's web container (or let Taglinc create one) and enter your GA4 measurement ID.
3. Optional: open Meta, TikTok or Google Ads and enter their IDs. A platform you leave empty gets its tag added but paused.
4. Click Set up GTM.
5. Open each "Taglinc setup" workspace in Tag Manager and press Submit → Publish. Publish the web container first, then the server container.

Your access tokens go only into your own GTM. Taglinc does not keep them.

Step 5: Check that events arrive

1. Open your store in a new tab and click around: a product, add to cart.
2. Reload the Taglinc app in Shopify. The last Setup step shows First events received with the request count.
3. For a closer look, use Tag Manager Preview on your server container, or Event logs in Taglinc.

For a full test, place a test order (Settings → Payments → test mode) and check the purchase in GA4 DebugView or Meta Test Events.

Troubleshooting

• No events: check the theme embed is on and saved, and that your container is running. See the troubleshooting checklist.
• Purchases missing in GA4: check the measurement ID under Checkout tracking matches the one in your GTM tags.
• Meta or TikTok not receiving: their tags are paused until you enter the IDs. Fill the "Taglinc - …" constants in your server container and un-pause the tags.
• Going over your request limit: see Monthly request limits, or click Upgrade plan in the app.