Introduction

Changes in web browsers are increasingly limiting the use of third-party cookies, which makes it challenging to accurately measure website performance and user conversions.

The Google tag gateway for advertisers is a technical solution that addresses this shift. It works by routing all of your measurement data through scripts hosted directly on your website’s own domain.

This method essentially allows your website to serve as the source of the tracking data. This significantly improves conversion measurement accuracy and gives you enhanced control and resilience over how your data is collected before it is sent to Google.

This direct, first-party data collection not only gives you a clearer picture of your Ads campaign performance but also helps fuel Google’s latest AI-powered tools, helping you optimize your campaigns even further.

Google tag gateway for advertisers is not just for Ads. When enabled, it enhances the Site Kit placed tags for Ads, Analytics, and Tag Manager users, offering improved measurement quality and data control.

Server requirements

Site Kit places a measurement.php file on your server at /wp-content/plugins/google-site-kit/gtg/. This file must be publicly accessible for Google tag gateway for advertisers to function properly. While this is typically not an issue for most servers, certain strict server configurations may block the script. If you experience any issues, please contact your hosting provider to verify that the script is accessible. 

If your server requirements are not met, you won’t be able to enable Google tag gateway for advertisers. 

How to Identify if the Script is Blocked

You can identify if the measurement.php script is blocked by checking the Google tag gateway for advertisers toggle in the settings screen:

  1. Check the Google tag gateway for advertisers toggle
  • Navigate to the Ads, Analytics or Tag Manager Settings screen
  • If the toggle is disabled and accompanied by a warning message indicating server configuration issues, this may suggest that the measurement.php script is blocked or inaccessible.
  1. Review your Site Health information
  • Go to Tools > Site Health > Info.
  • Check for notices related to Google tag gateway for advertisers under the “Site Kit by Google” section:
    • Google tag gateway for advertisers: Service healthy – This indicates whether your server can successfully connect to the Google endpoint for Google tag gateway for advertisers.
    • Google tag gateway for advertisers: Script accessible – This indicates whether the measurement.php script is accessible on your server.

What to do if the script is blocked

The script required for Google tag gateway for advertisers relies on cURL or file_get_contents for sending requests. You can contact your hosting provider to ensure that /wp-content/plugins/google-site-kit/gtg/measurement.php is publicly accessible. 

Setting up

Google tag gateway for advertisers can be set up via Site Kit > Settings > Connected Services > Ads > Edit, Site Kit > Settings > Connected Services > Analytics> Edit or Site Kit > Settings > Connected Services > Tag Manager > Edit and toggle on the Google tag gateway for advertisers option.

Enabling the Google tag gateway for advertisers toggle in the Ads, Analytics or Tag Manager settings page will automatically activate the feature across all of these modules if you have them connected. Similarly, disabling the toggle in one module will seamlessly turn off the feature for all. 

Frequently asked questions

What are the benefits of enabling Google tag gateway for advertisers?

Enabling Google tag gateway for advertisers aims to enhance data privacy and improve signal measurement recovery. Serving tags from your own domain can significantly improve the accuracy and resilience of your measurement signals.

How do I know it’s enabled and working?

Your Site Health information will display your Google tag gateway for advertisers status (Tools > Site Health > Info > Site Kit by Google > Google tag gateway for advertisers: Enabled No/Yes).

Another way to confirm that Google tag gateway for advertisers is enabled is to check your site’s source code and review the Google Analytics or Google Ads snippet placed via Site Kit. When the feature is enabled, the Google Analytics script responsible for tracking will use a measurement.php script loaded from your own domain, such as:
https://example.com/wp-content/plugins/google-site-kit/gtg/measurement.php?id=GT-12345&s=/gtag/js

You can also ensure visits to your site are being tracked using the tagassistant.google.com service, or the Google Analytics real time reporting tool. 

I encountered a “Your server’s current settings prevent Google tag gateway for advertisers from working” message. What are the requirements?

The server requirements section has more details on this. You may need to reach out to your hosting provider.  

I encountered a “Google tag gateway for advertisers has been disabled due to server configuration issues” message. How can I fix this?

Something may have changed at host level, resulting in this error. You’ll find the requirements by visiting the section above. These must be met before you can enable Google tag gateway for advertisers once more.

Does it work on AMP URLs? 

Currently, Google tag gateway for advertisers does not support AMP. When AMP is enabled, Site Kit will output an amp-analytics tag on all AMP URLs.

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