This week, I deployed a complete server-side tracking setup (CAPI plus Google Tag Server) for one client, alongside a custom GEO monitoring system for another. The recurring conclusion: marketing data in 2026 is no longer just GA4. It’s an entire ecosystem of signals to orchestrate, from pixel tracking to LLMs.
Going server-side is no longer optional. iOS, Safari, Brave systematically block client-side tracking. Without CAPI, you lose 30-50 % of reported conversions. And when you steer an ad campaign on incomplete data, it’s like sailing blind: ROI artificially collapses, budgets get wasted, and you’ll never really know whether your strategy works.
In parallel, GEO monitoring becomes the data counterpart of classic SEO. You’ve tracked your Google positions for ten years? Now you also need to track your visibility in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews answers. This isn’t GEO as in geo-targeting. It’s GEO as in Generative Engine Optimization. And it changes everything for brands that want to stay visible in 2026.
Stack tools mastered: GA4, Looker Studio, Metabase, BigQuery, Stape, Customers.ai, Google Tag Manager Server-side. Plus growing expertise in lightweight custom monitoring architectures (Postgres, API monitoring, real-time dashboards).