Title: First-Party Analytics (FPA)
Author: joshhanson
Published: April 23, 2026
Last modified: August 7, 2026

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#  First-Party Analytics (FPA)

By default, the Parse.ly tracker is served from `cdn.parsely.com`. With Parse.ly’s
First-Party Analytics (FPA) tracker, it’s served instead from a subdomain of your
own domain — for example, `fpa-cdn.yourdomain.com` — so it appears as a first-party
request. This can increase the information browsers send in the tracking pixels 
and reduce the chance of the tracker being blocked by ad blockers or browser privacy
features that target third-party domains.

To enable FPA, contact [Parse.ly Support](https://support.parse.ly/hc/en-us). Setup
then takes two steps.

## Step 1: Add DNS records

Parse.ly sends six CNAME records to add to your DNS:

 * **Three service records** for the subdomains the FPA tracker uses (`fpa-cdn`,`
   fpa-events`, and `fpa-api`).
 * **Three validation records** with hashed names (for example, `_abc123.fpa-cdn.
   yourdomain.com`). AWS Certificate Manager uses these to verify domain ownership
   before issuing the SSL certificate that secures the tracker.

Add all six records at the same time.

**Note**

The validation records must appear in DNS within 72 hours of Parse.ly requesting
the certificate. If they don’t, the request expires and Parse.ly has to start over
with a new set of records. Once the records are in place, no further action is needed—
AWS checks for them automatically, and Parse.ly is notified when the certificate
is issued.

When the certificate is issued, Parse.ly finishes provisioning and confirms that
your FPA tracker is ready to use.

## Step 2: Update your tracking script

**Note**

The Parse.ly GTM tag template currently doesn’t allow tracking script changes. If
you are using the tag template, please switch to a custom HTML tag instead.

Change the `src` of the Parse.ly tracking script on your site to load from your 
FPA subdomain.

**Before:**

    ```lang-html
    <script id="parsely-cfg" async defer src="//cdn.parsely.com/keys/your-apikey/p.js"></script>
    ```

**After:**

    ```lang-html
    <script id="parsely-cfg" async defer src="//fpa-cdn.yourdomain.com/keys/your-apikey/p.js"></script>
    ```

Only the domain changes — your `apikey` and any other tracker configuration stay
the same. If you load the tracker through a tag manager or custom loader, update
it in every place it appears.

Last updated: August 07, 2026