Recently, I worked with a client whose website ran on a completely custom WordPress theme — so custom, in fact, that my usual go-to plugin, PixelYourSite Pro, simply wouldn’t work.
For most WordPress projects, PixelYourSite Pro is my preferred tool to integrate Meta Pixel, GA4, and Google Ads tracking. It’s robust, feature-rich, and simplifies advanced tracking setups across browser and server. But in this case, the site’s architecture deviated from the standard WordPress structure that PixelYourSite expects — making it unusable.
That challenge led me to revisit how to track the Meta pixel with GTM — a more flexible and powerful setup using Google Tag Manager. I combined browser-side tracking, server-side tagging via Stape.io, and a Consent Management Platform (CMP) that actually works the way advertisers expect.
The site initially used CookieYes for cookie consent. At first glance, it did the job — it asked for permission and appeared compliant. But there was a big problem:
CookieYes only activated trackers like Meta Pixel and GA4 on the next page view or refresh — even after the user had clicked “Accept All”.
That’s a serious issue if you’re running performance marketing campaigns.
Meta’s ad platform expects a PageView event immediately when the user lands. If it doesn’t get it, Meta won’t attribute that visit to the ad — and your campaigns will struggle to optimize. That’s why I replaced CookieYes with Cookiebot CMP, which allows consent to be handled immediately, even on the first page load.
Consent Initialization – All Pagesanalytics_storagecookie_consent_update<script>
function getCookie(name) {
var match = document.cookie.match(new RegExp('(^| )' + name + '=([^;]+)'));
return match ? match[2] : null;
}
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',
'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');
fbq('set', 'autoConfig', 'false', 'YOUR_PIXEL_ID');
fbq('init', 'YOUR_PIXEL_ID');
fbq('track', 'PageView');
window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
window.dataLayer.push({
event: 'metaPixelPageView',
event_id: 'pageview_' + Date.now()
});
</script>
Also include a <noscript> fallback image for browsers with JavaScript disabled.
metaPixelPageViewevent_id and other parameters to sGTMmetaPixelPageView data layer eventgtm.yourdomain.com)All GA4 Eventsevent_id and event_name with browser tagThis setup isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. If you’re running Meta or Google Ads, it’s the best way to ensure accurate data, optimized campaigns, and GDPR compliance. If you’d rather have a team handle the technical setup, we’re here to help.
👉 Contact us below to get started with reliable analytics and server-side tracking.
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