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There are all sorts of ways we are tracked online, from cookies to web beacons to fingerprinting and more. Marketers in particular are adept at tracking users’ online behavior, and as nefarious as online tracking can seem, often it really is done with the best interest of the user in mind, with marketers striving to only serve content that will resonate with their audience — and ultimately, of course, make sales and other conversions.
One of the most effective online tracking tools is also one of the least well-known among the average internet user: the pixel. Short for “picture element,” a pixel in image form is the smallest possible amount of light that can be shown on a screen, though the same term is also used for embedded bits of code that don’t display at all.
Pixels embedded on websites or in opened emails can track all sorts of things about a user’s online activity. While that can be very useful for advertisers, it can also raise security and privacy concerns.
Understanding Tracking Pixels
What Are Common Names for Pixels?
In digital marketing, pixels are commonly referred to by several names, all essentially describing the same small snippets of code used for tracking user activity and collecting data. They go by the term tracking pixel most often, but also by web beacon, marketing pixel, conversion pixel, pixel tag, and spy pixel. Whatever the name, a pixel’s primary function is to track user behavior and gather data for analysis and targeted advertising.
How Does a Pixel Collect Data About User Behavior?
When a user visits a webpage that uses tracking pixels (or opens an email that does), the pixel’s image request automatically triggers data collection about the person’s activity. This data, including IP address, browser type, device information, and actions on the page, is sent back to the marketer’s server, allowing them to track user behavior and personalize their experience.
How Pixels Work
How Is a Pixel Typically Implemented On a Website or In an Email?
When a user visits a website or opens an email containing the pixel, their browser downloads the image, sending a request to the server where the pixel is hosted. This action triggers a data transmission back to the server, providing information about the user’s interaction.
On a website, tracking pixels are implemented by inserting a small piece of code, usually in the header or body of a webpage’s HTML code. This code typically contains an external link to the server where the pixel image is stored.
What Information Can a Pixel Track?
Pixels can gather a wide range of information about a user’s online activity, including their IP address, the device type they’re on, the browser they are using, and even the specific pages they visit, items they purchase, or other conversions, like a form submission. They can also track when an email is opened or a link is clicked within an email.
How Is the Collected Data Transmitted to Advertising or Analytics Platforms?
When a visitor lands on a webpage, a pixel’s code is executed by their browser. The code then gathers information about the visitor’s actions and interactions on the site. This gathered data, such as page views, clicks, session duration, and so on, is then transmitted to the platform’s server for processing and analysis.
Pixels are closely related to the better-known tracking tool, the cookie. Pixels act as triggers, notifying a server or analytics platform when a user interacts with a website or email. When a pixel “fires,” it instructs the user’s browser to set or retrieve a cookie. This cookie then stores information about the user’s behavior or preferences.
This combination allows for more in-depth tracking and personalization. For example, a pixel can track a user’s visit to a specific product page, and a cookie can remember that visit to later serve them a targeted ad based on that behavior for that product on another page, or even on another platform.
Types of Pixels and Their Uses
All pixels are used to collect data about a person’s online activity, but different types of pixels have specific uses.
What Are Advertising Platform Pixels and What Are They Used For?
Advertising platform pixels, such as a Facebook pixel or a Google Ads conversion tracking pixel, are used to track user behavior, interactions, and conversions, providing valuable data for advertisers and marketers. This data helps in enhancing targeting, measuring campaign performance, and building custom audiences.
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What Are Analytics Platform Pixels and What Data Do They Track?
An analytics platform pixel (like a Google Analytics tag) tracks a variety of metrics, including website visits, email opens, ad impressions, conversions, and user behavior. This data helps businesses understand user engagement, measure the effectiveness of digital initiatives, and personalize marketing strategies.
What Are Email Tracking Pixels and What Information Do They Provide?
Email tracking pixels, also commonly known as web beacons or, more ominously, spy pixels, are tiny, often invisible images embedded in emails. They track email opens and can provide detailed information about how recipients interact with the email, such as time of opening, location, device type, and even whether they clicked on links.
What Are Third-Party Data Pixels?
Third-party data pixels are snippets of code, often one-by-one transparent images, that are embedded within websites or emails to track user activity and send the collected data to a server controlled by a third party. These pixels gather information about user behavior, such as website visits, clicks, and interactions, which can be used for analytics and targeted advertising.
Benefits of Using Pixels in Digital Advertising
Knowledge is power, and when it comes to marketing, knowledge about customer behavior means targeted ads, better segmented audiences, and more conversions.
How Do Pixels Enable Conversion Tracking?
Conversion tracking pixels enable marketers to track user actions and conversions after they click on an ad or simply visit a website. These small pieces of code trigger a notification to a server when a user performs a desired action, like making a purchase or filling out a form. This allows marketers to measure the effectiveness of their ads (or the lack thereof) and helps them to better understand how users are behaving on their websites.
Pixels can be vital for measuring the effectiveness of ad campaigns by tracking user actions and interactions within and across websites. They help advertisers understand which campaigns are driving conversions, leading to site visits, and more, and they allow for optimized targeting and the creation of audiences for future campaigns.
How Are Pixels Used for Remarketing and Retargeting Audiences?
By triggering the placement of cookies in a user’s browser, pixels allow advertisers to recognize users even as they visit other sites or use other platforms. Marketers can therefore show users relevant ads as they browse, thanks to what they learned when the pixel was active. This allows for retargeting campaigns that re-engage users who previously interacted with a website, but didn’t complete a desired action.
How Can Pixels Contribute to Building Lookalike Audiences?
Pixels contribute to building lookalike audiences by providing the source data used by advertising platforms to find new users sharing similar characteristics to existing ones. Basically, if one user spends time on X, Y, and Z websites and then goes off to A, B, and C and converts, another user who also seems to like X, Y, and Z may respond to ads for A, B, and C.
How Do Pixels Facilitate Cross-Device Tracking?
Tracking pixels facilitate cross-device tracking through a combination of techniques, but they do so primarily by collecting and analyzing data associated with a user across different devices.
The data a pixel sends back carries information about the user and their device, such as an IP address, browser type, operating system, and unique identifiers like user IDs, if the user is logged in. With this information, marketers can tell when the same ID pops up in other places. If a user logs into a service (such as a social media platform or an email provider) on multiple devices, the tracking pixel can link these devices to the same user based on their login information.
Privacy Considerations and Pixel Usage
Considering one of the names for pixels involves the word “spy,” it’s no great shock that these digital tools raise some security, privacy, and ethics concerns.
What Are the Privacy Implications of Using Tracking Pixels?
Tracking pixels raise significant privacy concerns due to their ability to collect personal data without explicit consent, and the potential for misuse. They can collect browsing history, location, and device information, and can be used for cross-site tracking, profiling, and even exploitation by malicious actors. Regulations like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and CCPA (California Consumer Protection Act) have addressed these concerns, requiring explicit consent for tracking and offering users the right to opt out.
Collection of this data can be troubling to some people on its own, but as it’s often shared or even sold to other parties, it can put users in a compromised position.
How Do Regulations Like GDPR and CCPA Affect the Use of Pixels?
The GDPR requires explicit, informed, and freely given consent before parties collect and process personal data via pixels. This means website visitors must actively agree to cookie and pixel tracking before any data is collected. Pre-checked boxes or implied consent are not sufficient. You have seen the implications of this act many times when you’ve clicked “Allow” or “OK” at the bottom of a freshly loaded site.
The CCPA, on the other hand, does not require express prior consent, but it mandates that businesses implementing data collection provide consumers with a way to opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of their personal information collected through pixels and cookies. This includes implementing a “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” link, for example.
What Are Best Practices for Obtaining User Consent for Pixel Tracking?
Transparency is key! Marketers should use plain language to inform users about the use of pixels (and cookies), as well as about the type of data to be collected and how it may be used.
The parties creating the ads must maintain a comprehensive and easily accessible privacy policy that clearly outlines your data collection and tracking practice, and you would be well-advised to use a consent banner or pop-up to inform users about cookie and tracking technologies at play.
For people who wish to avoid being tracked, there are plenty of steps to take. Browser privacy features, e.g., have significantly impacted the functionality of tracking pixels by limiting their ability to collect and transmit user data.
Key Takeaways
You can’t see a pixel, but it can see you, and it will send the data it sees back to the marketers who placed it on a website or within an email. Pixels collect data such as a user’s IP address, the type of computer or smart device a person is using, their browser type, and about the actions they take on a site. This data is then stored by a digital cookie, which can be used to track the person across different sites and platforms. These tiny, invisible images provide data that helps businesses understand how users interact with online content and improve their marketing strategies.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Are pixels visible to website visitors?
Technically, yes, with a magnifying glass or microscope, but effectively, no. Pixels are tiny, nearly invisible images embedded in websites and emails that are used to track user behavior and activities. They are usually one-by-one in size and are often transparent, making them virtually undetectable to the human eye.
Do all pixels track the same information?
While pixels all function similarly, different pixels are designed to collect specific data and track different events. For example, a Facebook pixel might track website visits and conversions, while a Google Analytics pixel tracks website engagement and user behavior.
How can I check if a pixel is installed correctly on a website?
To see if your pixels are installed properly on a site, you can use tools like the Meta Pixel Helper Chrome extension, the Google Tag Manager, and other tools.
How do tag management systems help manage pixels?
Tag management systems like Google Tag Manager simplify the process of managing tracking pixels on websites and applications. These systems act as a central hub for all your tracking scripts, allowing you to add, modify, and remove pixels without directly editing your website’s code.
