In this guide
- No requests in server Preview means the problem is before the container: address, DNS, certificate or the web tag.
- If requests arrive but nothing fires, the problem is inside: the client, the trigger or the tag.
- Work through the checks below in order. Most cases end at step 2 or 3.
You open server Preview, load your site, and nothing appears. It is one of the most common first-day problems, and it has a short list of causes. This page walks through them in the order that finds the answer fastest. For what happens after a request arrives, see clients, tags, triggers and variables.
The checks, in order
Open the tagging address directly
Visit https://track.yourstore.com/healthy in a browser. You should see "ok". If not, the server is not reachable on that domain.
Check the DNS record
The tagging subdomain must point to the address your host gave you. In Open Tracked, add the domain in Settings, Domains, point its DNS record to us and press Verify. Wait until it shows Verified.
Check the certificate
The address must open without a certificate warning. A new domain can take a few minutes to get one.
Check the web container setting
The Google tag, or the GA4 configuration tag, must have the server container URL set to your tagging address, with https://.
Check the path
GA4 sends to /g/collect. If you changed the path, the client must be set up to accept it.
Turn off your ad blocker
Blockers may cut requests to the tagging subdomain, especially if its name contains a tracking word.
Open Preview from the right container
You need the server container preview, with the right workspace, not the web preview.
Orders from your store, back to the ad that earned them
Your store sends the order once. Open Tracked passes it on to each ad platform, cleaned and deduplicated.
Symptoms and causes
Use the logs
Open Tracked keeps request logs for 3 days on Pro and 10 days on Business, and the Business+ plan adds log export. Logs show whether a request reached the server and what it answered. If you cannot see your test request in the logs, the problem is in front of the server: DNS, the certificate or the web tag.
Ask Ari instead of digging through reports
Ari reads your tracking and ad data and answers in plain words.
When requests arrive and nothing fires
- In Preview, does the request show up on the left?
- Which client claimed it? If none, fix the client.
- Open the event data. Is the event name what you expect?
- Does the trigger match the event name and conditions?
- Is the tag attached to the trigger, and is its consent setting satisfied?
Terms you will see
- Tagging server
- The server that runs your server container.
- Custom domain
- The subdomain you point to the tagging server.
- Client
- The part of the server container that reads incoming requests.
- Preview
- Debug mode that shows incoming requests.
- DNS record
- The setting at your domain provider that connects a name to a server.
A one-minute test from the command line
curl -I https://track.yourstore.com/healthyA healthy server answers with status 200. A timeout points to DNS, a certificate error points to the certificate, and a 404 or 403 points to a rule in front of the server.
3 things to remember
Scroll and the points stack up.
No requests in server Preview means the problem is before the container: address, DNS, certificate or the web tag.
If requests arrive but nothing fires, the problem is inside: the client, the trigger or the tag.
Work through the checks below in order. Most cases end at step 2 or 3.
Frequently asked questions
Why does server Preview show nothing?
The request did not arrive. Check the tagging address, the DNS record, the certificate and the server container URL in the web tag.
How do I test that the server is reachable?
Open https://your-tagging-domain/healthy. A healthy server answers with "ok".
How long does DNS take?
Usually minutes, sometimes a few hours. Verify the record before you debug anything else.
Why do requests arrive but no tag fires?
No client claimed the request, or no trigger matched. Check the client and the trigger conditions in Preview.
Can a firewall block my tagging server?
A rule such as Block Request by IP can refuse requests. Check the power-ups on the container and the logs.
Do I need spreadsheets to read my results?
No. Once tracking is live, the Open Tracked analytics shows spend, revenue, ROAS and profit, and you can ask Ari, the built-in AI assistant, questions about your own numbers in plain words. Ari's allowance depends on your analytics plan.
Is Open Tracked different from Open Track or Open Space Track?
No. Open Tracked is the official name of our server-side tracking platform, and the website is opentracked.io. Many people search for it as Open Track, OpenTrack or Open Space Track. All of them lead to the same product: server-side Google Tag Manager hosting, first-party analytics and a CRM pipeline.
Fix your tracking at the source
Open Tracked hosts your server-side Tag Manager, keeps first-party cookies alive and shows what each ad is really worth.
The Open Tracked team
We build Open Tracked: server-side tracking hosting, analytics and the tools around them, for stores that spend on ads. Questions about this guide, or an idea for the next one?
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