We sometimes find ourselves explaining to clients what tracking pixels are and how they work. Often this comes up because the client has heard about Facebook Pixel, cookies related to Google, or just simply wondering how a client visits a website and then noticing that same brand being advertised in their Facebook newsfeed or in website advertisements.
How Does Facebook Know You Were Looking at Phuket Hotels on Agoda?
Usually a question like this is how discussions with clients arrives at the topic of tracking pixels. You are planning a trip for a long weekend and then later in the day or the next day you’re browsing and you start seeing advertisements or sponsored content from Agoda showing the hotels that you looked at just recently.
This is “retargeting”. So how does retargeting work?
For the rest of this article we’ll use Facebook and see just how Facebook knows what you’ve been looking at online. We’ll use Facebook for this because it’s easy to understand and Facebook tracking pixels are fairly common. Plus Facebook has been in the news frequently because of its relationship to users. Just remember that Facebook isn’t alone in this, almost every internet advertising company uses tracking pixels.
Tracking Pixels: The Magic of URL + Query Parameters
The tracking pixel is a 1×1 transparent gif that is used to track you. Obviously a lone gif image won’t do much and definitely won’t be tracking you.
- Sites use URL and query parameters in the tracking pixel to add extra information. This information can be the URL of the page you’re visiting or other details. For example the tracking pixel will request https://www.facebook.com/tr/?the_website_you’re_on. This same “trick” is used by email marketers to measure how you’ve interacted with an email.
- Websites send cookies with the tracking pixel. The cookies are used to identify that the same person who visited Agoda.com is the same person who is using Facebook on the same computer.
The Facebook Pixel on Agoda.com
I looked at a hotel on the Agoda website with the URL of https://www.agoda.com/the-blue-pearl-kata-hotel/hotel/phuket-th.html?checkin=2020-01-03&los=1&adults=2&rooms=1&ro=C10000&cid=1655663&tag=472667_19cb2df13d66420897361ef538659870&searchrequestid=0763fd16-08f6-4cf9-bf39-cd3349de2467&travellerType=1 (The Blue Pearl Kata Hotel).
To view the data, we used the very helpful Facebook Pixel Helper extension. You can also use Developer Tools in your browser to see the javascript that runs when visiting the site.
So what’s happening here?
- My browser sends a request to:
- With that request, a cookie was sent with the identifier of the cookie and my Facebook ad tracking ID.
Now We Visit Facebook!
Let’s visit and login to Facebook to see what happens there.
Hey! Not a surprise, but we see the same cookie from above being shared with Facebook. So now Facebook knows that Shane Hebzynski is browsing Facebook and that I visited the Agoda site a short time ago. It also now knows I was looking at hotels in Phuket, particularly The Blue Pearl Kata Hotel. The specificity of what I viewed will provide Facebook with more data about my online behavior.
Third Party Cookies
The cookie that websites like Facebook use to track your online activity are “third party cookies”. This is because Agoda’s website is using the cookie to identify users to a third party. In this case the third party is Facebook. These are different from the first party cookies that keep you logged into a website.
Some web browsers, like Safari and Firefox block third party cookies. For tracking pixels and associated cookies to work, users need to turn off the security setting and allow third party cookies. As of this writing, Chrome doesn’t block third party cookies. of course, why would it? Google sells advertising and Google wants to track your behavior to provide better ad targeting for their paying customers.
Tracking Pixels Are Abundant
Websites often have a lot of tracking pixels. For example on the Levi’s website, there were 10 tracking pixels form different domains. Tracking pixels on levi.com came from levi.com, doubleclick.net, snapchat.com, bluekai.com, adsrvr.org, letslinc.com, and 3lift.com.
Your Browser Choice Matters
Did you know that your web browser decides what information about you is sent to websites? The tracker on a website can ask for your browser to send information about you to Facebook. But, your browser doesn’t have to fulfill that request. Browsers like Safari and Firefox ignore the requests of third party cookies by default. Other browsers like Google Chrome will respond to the request.
Maybe you don’t like Safari and you prefer Google Chrome. That’s fine. Just be sure to configure your privacy settings to your preference. People are aware of cookies and that’s why there is a plethora of privacy browser extensions available out there.
Tracking pixels are a reality of living any portion of your life online. For marketers and businesses, tracking pixels are a useful tool that can provide insights into the behaviors of a brand’s customers and also provide data that helps refine and understand a brand’s audience.
Let’s Talk About Your Brand
shane@3catslabs.com | Call +65-3159-4231
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