Tracking and analytics services, London.

Most people don't arrive asking for a service. They arrive with a number that looks wrong. Find yours, run the check, then read the page it points to. Each code links to the fault as written up in the index.

• GA4 and Shopify revenue don't match, in either direction, and nobody can say which is right. Check: last full week's GA4 purchases against Shopify orders for the same days. Leave out the last 48 hours: GA4 processing can take that long, and so can Shopify's order conversion summary. Read: Reconciliation: GA4, store and ad platforms → F-101 F-301
• Google Ads shows more purchases than you had orders. Check: add the Conversions (by conv. time) column. That counts sales on the day they happened, like the store does. Still more? Look for two purchase actions both set to Primary (often the Ads tag and an imported GA4 event), or a thank-you page that counts again on reload with no transaction ID to drop the repeat. Read: Reconciliation: GA4, store and ad platforms → F-101 F-104
• Meta reports far more purchases than the store took. Check: some gap is normal: depending on the ad set's attribution setting, Meta can count a sale within a day of someone only seeing the ad. In Events Manager, Purchase arriving from both browser and server without a shared event ID means a double count. Read: Meta Conversions API → F-102
• Conversions fell the week the cookie banner went live. Orders didn't. Check: conversions by day for two weeks either side of the banner going live, against orders for the same days. Read: Consent Mode v2 → F-201
• Nobody can say what's in the GTM container, or why half of it is there. Check: open Tag Assistant on the homepage and the checkout. Count the tags that fire, and ask who can say what each one is for. Read: GTM consultant → F-501
• Paid traffic shows up as direct, or PayPal shows up as a referral source. Check: GA4's Traffic acquisition report by session source / medium. Look for paypal.com as a source, or Direct jumping when a campaign starts. Read: GA4 consultant → F-204 F-205
• The ad platforms see fewer sales than the store, most of all on Safari and iPhone. Check: store orders against platform-reported purchases, split by browser or device, for the same fortnight. Read: Do I need server-side tracking? → F-401
• Nothing obvious is broken, but nobody in the meeting trusts the numbers. Check: the revenue figure each person in the meeting quotes, and which report they took it from. Read: Tracking audit → R-501 U-001
• You're an agency and need the tracking under your clients' campaigns done under your name. Read: White-label for agencies →

Not sure which? Take the five-question check, or email [email protected] with your site and the symptom.

Written up: GA4 revenue ahead of Shopify · GA4 and Google Ads don't match · conversions down after Consent Mode v2.

1. 01 Tracking audit →

   Who can audit our GA4 and GTM setup in the UK, and what gets fixed first?

   GTM, GA4, Google Ads and Meta checked in Tag Assistant and each platform's own event tools, then against the store's orders. Findings written against the fault index, with a quote for the repairs.
2. 02 Google Tag Manager consultant →

   Who builds, cleans up or looks after our GTM container?

   New containers, clean-ups and rebuilds, the dataLayer (the data the site hands to your tags), naming and the documentation it should have had.
3. 03 GA4 consultant →

   Who handles our GA4 property, including backend support for agencies?

   Property set-up, ecommerce events, custom dimensions, filters and the Google Ads link.
4. 04 GA4 ecommerce tracking →

   Who sets up GA4 ecommerce tracking on WooCommerce, Magento or a custom checkout?

   Product views, cart, checkout steps and purchase on non-Shopify stores, each tested on a real order against the store's record.
5. 05 GA4 reconciliation →

   Why do GA4, the store and the ad platforms report different numbers?

   Which gaps are normal, which are faults, and a written reconciliation against the store's own orders.
6. 06 Consent Mode v2 consultant →

   Who wires the cookie banner to Google's tags, and to the others?

   Cookiebot, OneTrust, CookieYes or Shopify's own banner wired to Google's tags and tested on reject as well as accept. In advanced mode, cookieless pings still reach Google after a reject, so modelling can start once its data threshold is met.
7. 07 Server-side tracking →

   Who sets up server-side GTM, and do we need it at all?

   A tagging server on your own domain, plus a backend feed for sales the browser never reports. Covered below: when it pays and when it doesn't.
8. 08 Meta Conversions API →

   Who sets up CAPI without counting every purchase twice?

   Meta and the store agreeing on purchases: Pixel and Conversions API set up so each sale counts once.
9. 09 Shopify tracking →

   Who fixes GA4, Google Ads and Meta on a Shopify store?

   GA4, Google Ads and Meta seeing the same purchase as Shopify, checkout included.
10. 10 Google Ads conversion tracking →

    Are our Google Ads conversions counted once, with the right value?

    Google Ads counting each sale once, at the value the store recorded.
11. 11 Offline conversion tracking →

    Can Google Ads see the sales that close by phone or in our CRM?

    Closed deals imported into Google Ads and matched to the click that started them, through enhanced conversions for leads and Data Manager.

Also in scope, booked on its own or inside an audit. Each links to where it's written up. Server-side and Meta CAPI have their own section below.

• Reporting in Looker Studio. One agreed definition per metric, built on data that has been checked first. Read: Checking the data before the report → R-501

Any of these on its own: email [email protected] for a scoping call.

The short version: a consultant for diagnosis, an agency for one team across media and tracking, a contractor for work already specified. When the numbers disagree across tools and nobody can say why, that is diagnosis. The three often work together; agencies bring a tracking specialist in for that part, which is how much of my work arrives (see partners). I work as the independent consultant.

I set up and repair server-side GTM (sGTM) and the Meta Conversions API for UK ecommerce brands and agencies. It pays once consent and the browser tags are right and a lasting gap remains between store orders and what the ad platforms see, widest on Safari and iPhone. Before that, a tagging server forwards the same faults faster. When you don't need it →

• Safari. Safari caps cookies set by the page's own scripts at 7 days, and at 24 hours when the visitor arrives from a tracking domain with link decoration such as a click ID. That is how returning buyers lose their link to the ad. Cookies set by a tagging server last longer only when Safari sees the server as the site's own. If the tagging subdomain is a CNAME to another provider, or sits on an IP address that doesn't match the site's, Safari caps those at 7 days too. The Safari note has the detail.
• Sales the browser never sees. These need a feed from the store's backend, such as the Conversions API sent from the server. Filed as F-401.

Meta Conversions API

On Shopify, the Facebook & Instagram app already sends server events at its Enhanced or Maximum data-sharing level. For many stores that's enough, so check that setting first. Off Shopify, Meta offers a one-click Conversions API set-up for website events in Events Manager, if the Pixel is installed. I set up or repair CAPI when those routes can't send what you need: custom or offline events, or events passing through your own tagging server. Where the Pixel also fires, both sides need the same event name and event ID so Meta keeps one. When they don't, it's filed as F-102.

Who takes the work on, and how: server-side tracking · Meta Conversions API.

Written up: server-side vs client-side GTM · Shopify server-side tracking options compared · Meta CAPI setup options compared · why Tag Gateway doesn't fix Safari ITP.

1. 01 Scoping call

   You tell me what's broken, or what just feels off. Twenty minutes, and you leave knowing whether it's worth an audit.

2. 02 The audit

   Usually where I start: a week or two. Tags traced in Tag Assistant and each platform's event tools, then checked against real orders. You get the findings in plain language, fault-indexed, with a quote to put them right. What the audit checks →

3. 03 The work

   Built and tested in GTM's preview mode before anything goes live, then documented and handed over. Every change logged, so if something drifts later you can see when and why.

To book the scoping call, email [email protected] with your site and what looks wrong.

PPC and paid-media agencies bring me in for the measurement under their campaigns: Google Ads conversion actions, Enhanced Conversions, Consent Mode, the Meta Pixel and Conversions API. And the reconciliation before a client report goes out. SEO and web agencies bring the same work for GA4 and GTM.

How it runs, under your name or as a named partner: white-label and partners.

No published rate card. The audit is quoted after the scoping call. The repairs are quoted from what it found: how many sites, containers and platforms, how much is broken, and whether a checkout or consent banner is involved. Both quotes are fixed once agreed.

Agencies: hour estimate and timesheet, see white-label.

1. If nothing's broken, I'll tell you and stop there. It's happened. Twice.
2. Aftercare's there if you want it: monthly monitoring on setups I've rebuilt and stand behind. Never a retainer just for the sake of one.

Me, start to finish. Five talks given; the three written up here: HeroConf (where paid clicks go missing), PPC Live (GA4 in practice) and Search 'n Stuff (tracking under the new data restrictions). Slides from the talks: Speaker Deck. Background and recommendations: LinkedIn.

A few cases at a time. Small jobs and new setups are as welcome as rebuilds.

What does a tracking and analytics consultant do?

I check that every sale, lead and click is recorded once, at the right value, in GA4 and the ad platforms. I fix what isn't, and write down what was set so the next person can follow it. The work happens in Google Tag Manager, GA4, Google Ads, Meta Events Manager and the cookie banner.

Does Synctag run ads or do SEO?

No. Synctag is measurement only. Paid media and SEO specialists bring me in so the numbers they report and bid on are right.

Do you work with agencies, inside their clients' accounts?

Yes. I work inside clients' GTM containers and GA4 properties, as a named partner or white-label under the agency's name. How that runs is on the white-label page.

Who can audit my GA4 and GTM setup in the UK?

I do. Synctag is my practice: I'm Baris Asa, based in London, and I audit GA4 and Google Tag Manager setups for UK ecommerce brands and agencies, remotely. I trace the tags in Tag Assistant, GA4 DebugView and Meta Events Manager and check them against the store's own orders over a week or two. You get findings mapped to fault codes (for example F-101, duplicate purchases, or F-201, consent wiring), a store-against-GA4 reconciliation for a named week, and a fixed quote for the repairs. The tracking audit page has the detail.

What access is needed to start?

Usually GTM with Edit rights (Publish only when changes go live), GA4 Editor, read access to Google Ads and Meta Events Manager, and a way to see the store's orders for the same dates. I publish nothing during the audit.

Independent analytics consultant or agency for tracking setup?

A consultant if the fault is unknown and sits between GA4, the store and the ad platforms; an agency if you want one team for media or a new site and the tracking with it.

Do you work outside London?

Yes. I work remotely through access to GTM, GA4 and the ad accounts, so location rarely matters. Most clients are UK ecommerce brands and agencies.

How are tracking services priced?

There is no rate card. The audit is quoted after the scoping call; the repairs are quoted from what the audit finds. Both are fixed once agreed. Agencies work differently: an hour estimate per job, then a timesheet (see the white-label page).