Pixels

by XShardx

Posted: 15 years ago 11 replies

AD NETWORKS

I have heard people refer to pixels and such before. From a design aspect, I am very aware of what a pixel is but I'm not sure I understand how that factors into my CPA offers. I have noticed that a few of the networks that I use add pixels onto the end of the offer url. What is that for? I have also heard people talking about adding their own pixels onto their offers. What's that do?

Sorry to be asking such newb questions but this one was bugging me. I am running an offer right now that had a pixel from the network. I removed the pixel part of the url link when I posted it on my site. I was figuring that I should have had several clicks on this offer by now but my account is showing $0. I was just wondering if my removing the pixel could have thrown off the tracking or something.

Thanks for any and all help!

#pixels

Harvey Affcash

15 years ago

Pixels are are actually tracking code. They used to be 1x1 transparent gif files, which is why they're still called pixels nowadays.
On a site it's basically for a server to grab the IP of the computer browsing the site, so they can see what pages a particular individual has been to, so they can track someone going from the lander, to the lead, to the end action, and beyond.

They can also be used to drop cookies, which is basically one method of cookie stuffing.

Thanks
3 replies

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malfumos 15 years ago

Basically, pixel is the size for you banner ad for each campaign you made.
- Thanks
- 1 reply
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- XShardx 15 years ago
  
  Thanks for the replies guys. Malfumos, those aren't the type of pixels I am talking about. I am talking about tracking pixels.
  
  Do I need that tracking pixel in my Linkshare offer in order to get credit for the clicks and sales?
  
  Thanks
  
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wbbw

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Harvey Affcash

Pixels are are actually tracking code. They used to be 1x1 transparent gif files, which is why they're still called pixels nowadays.
On a site it's basically for a server to grab the IP of the computer browsing the site, so they can see what pages a particular individual has been to, so they can track someone going from the lander, to the lead, to the end action, and beyond.

They can also be used to drop cookies, which is basically one method of cookie stuffing.

cookie stuffing -- hmmm.....not sure exactly why this makes me think it occurred at the WF ad URL below -- but a search brought me here originally to

Code:

warriorforum.com/warrior-forum-classified-ads/72100-professional-wordpress-e-commerce-theme-packs[dot]html  

but even when it go to the section of  

warriorforum.com/warrior-forum-classified-ads/

all i got was an empty page where the browser displayed it as a 1x1 gif pixel .

nothing else was cached in google and I can't find any other reference to that (i was looking for wp themes) .... weird glitch or cookie stuffing or strange dead link or .....????

Thanks

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Headfirst 15 years ago

Originally Posted by Harvey Affcash

Pixels are are actually tracking code. They used to be 1x1 transparent gif files, which is why they're still called pixels nowadays.

I've written a couple of pixel tracking packages over the past few years so I'll chime in here.

Pixel tracking works like this...

Web User clicks your advertisement. The ad they clicked goes to your ad management server which hands them a cookie, records their IP address and the campaign data for the advertisement they clicked to enter your flow and then hands them off to the sales page (this happens in fractions of a second)

If the user decides to purchase the product when they get to the thank you page the there is a 1x1 pixel (a real pixel, but there is nothing actually there, but seen as a pixel to the browser) the fires from the thank you page and loads an image into the thank you that is hosted on _your_ server. When that image gets loaded The IP and the Cookie as passed back to your ad management system which looks to see if this is your customer and if so records a sale. The ad management software then records a sale for that particular campaign and subcampaign allowing you to optimize your data for maximum efficiency.
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- 1 Marketing 15 years ago
  
  I never knew this Pixel game before... Thanks a lot Head First for explaining in too detail
  
  Thanks
  
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AdscendJeremy Banned 15 years ago

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- XShardx 15 years ago
  
  Thanks for the response Jeremy, but this was undoubtedly a pixel in the link that the network gave me. It was a Linkshare offer and it clearly had a img tag set to height 1 and width 1 immediately after the link itself. I'm still not sure what it's for.
  
  Thanks
  
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tinkerbelle 15 years ago

It's probably an impression tracking pixel to record a hit everytime the page loads. Subsequently, the offer/ad will also load and that will fire a server call to Linkshare so that they can record the impression.

Tink
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AdscendJeremy Banned 15 years ago

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- XShardx 15 years ago
  
  Thanks for the responses all. I understand it better now.
  
  Thanks
  
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Liz Micik 15 years ago

I thought I understood it too until this post about cookie stuffing. I've heard of that term as a "black hat" technique, and I've heard of the networks themselves seeing where your traffic is coming from and cutting you out of the equation. How could a transparent gif "pixel" be used either way?
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Liz Micik 15 years ago

Terrific explanation Headfirst; thank you. So does the advertiser read and record the cookie to pick up on where your campaign originated (and where this buyer came from before me)? Or, are they getting that data from regular log files (hence the need for redirects a couple of times if you want to keep them from finding out where your customers are coming from)?

Sorry if I'm straying too far off topic with this but... if a network's agreement states you can't use XYZ sort of traffic for this program, and you use the redirects, do you risk being kicked out of the program?
- Thanks
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Pixels

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