Tracking Method: how events reach each destination

Every destination has a Tracking Method setting. It controls how that one destination receives your events. There are three options. Browser + Server (default, recommended where available). Upstack does two things. It loads the destination’s own tracking tag on your store, and it sends the same events to the destination from Upstack’s servers. Most destinations then match the two copies and count one conversion — see How the two copies are matched. Server. Upstack sends events to the destination from its servers. The destination’s tag never loads on your store. Browser. Upstack only loads the destination’s tag. The tag reports events from the visitor’s browser, the same way it would if you had installed it yourself. Not every destination offers all three options: Klaviyo has no Tracking Method setting. NewsBreak has no browser tag: in the browser, Upstack only captures the nbclid click ID, and conversions are sent from the server.

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Which option to pick

Browser + Server is recommended wherever a destination offers it. The browser path can be blocked by ad blockers and browser privacy settings. The server path cannot. With both running, a blocked browser event still arrives from the server. Switch to Server if you don’t want the destination’s tag loading in the browser.

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How the two copies are matched

With Browser + Server, the destination receives each event twice. How it avoids counting it twice depends on the destination:

• Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, Reddit — both copies carry the same Upstack event ID, so the destination keeps one.
• Taboola, Outbrain — purchases are matched by order ID.
• Google Ads — the copies aren’t matched. The browser tag and Upstack’s server-side conversions report to separate conversion actions, and Upstack creates its server-side conversion actions as secondary so they don’t compete with your primary goal. See Google Ads.

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Questions

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