What is ad tracking?
Let’s begin with the fundamentals and attempt to understand what advertisement monitoring actually involves.
Ad tracking involves gathering many different pieces of information about how well your ads are doing in order to analyze them and make changes to improve them.
Many times, people are dissuaded from using tracking because of its negative connotations. When discussing ad tracking from the point of view of advertisers, all it is is gathering information about the promotional activities they carry out.
Envision having multiple projects on diverse platforms, that have different objectives and a range of different materials. In order to gain knowledge of which campaign, ad set, or ad unit results in conversions, it is necessary to employ ad tracking.
You can gather facts from the source of clicks and final outcomes, to more intricate, in-depth accounts of places, technological tools, etc.
What can you track with ad tracking?
As a marketer, you could be managing numerous platforms for promoting and marketing. For every route you take, it’s not only necessary to modify the commercials you post, but also the methods you use to keep track of it.
- Paid Ads (Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Bing Ads, etc.)
- Partners advertisements (promotion with the help of referrals, affiliate marketing)
- Direct placement
- Programmatic channels
- E-mails
- SMS campaigns
These different channels require different tactics, but they are still integral components of the daily marketing regimen. Prior to comprehending the process of following specified networks, we need to plunge deeper into some additional information about the concept of ad tracing. I promise we’ll make it as simple as possible.
The principle behind ad tracking is
Prior to examining various kinds of advertising monitoring or how to observe a precise channel, let us initially understand the purpose of ad tracking and the vital elements that make it all conceivable.
What is the goal of ad tracking?
The most challenging issue that experienced marketers face is forming conclusions about advertising campaigns and budget distribution based on data rather than speculation.
In order to action decisions based on data, up-to-date and impartial information is necessary. As a marketer, you must figure out how, when, and why conversions occur.
You get a lot of interesting data from tracking ads, but most importantly, you can learn which clicks lead to successful conversions.
When you connect the click-through with the successful conversion, you can gain further knowledge about your marketing.
Types of conversions you can track
In the big picture there are only 2 types of conversions:
- On-web property event or simply online conversion;
- Events besides web property — offline conversions (phone call, test drive, delivery, etc. — that’s usually something your CRM should capture).
The objective is to accurately record both conversion varieties and to relate those transformations to the precise clicks, campaigns, and ads. Let’s learn what helps do that.
How ad tracking works
To start, you must become familiar with the tracing link.
Let’s take a look behind the scenes to understand how tracking links actually function and how they are used by many marketers.
A tracking link is your link with special features (like tracking parameters and a distinctive click ID) that allow you to connect clicks to conversions (or in other words, track and attribute them).
Let us take apart each part of the monitoring link piece by piece.
1.Tracking (UTM) parameters
UTM parameters are strings of text added to links that help classify the source of website traffic. This information can then be observed in a reporting system to keep track of clicks from various sources.
Google introduced UTM parameters for use with Google Analytics, but now many tracking platforms have developed their own parameters for tracking analytics.
Example of a tracking link with UTM parameters
Go to bootsshop.com by following this link: cmpid=5e6c7b85c6565a0001718aa0&sub1={replace}, and with the parameters utm_keyword={keyword}, sub4={adgroupid}, sub5={creative}, sub6={campaignid}, sub8={adposition}, and ref_id={gclid}.
Everything that is included in the empty set {} contains tracking parameters such as a keyword, adgroudID, creative, and position.
Once a user selects the link, the parameters in the link will swap out for real data from the user, such as which keyword was used, the ad group it’s associated with, and the campaign ID.
In this way, parameters that are tracked help organize the information regarding what the user clicked on. This information will be employed to link clicks and conversion and offer you more analysis.
2. Unique Click ID
The ID found within a tracking link is likely the most important factor. This ID serves the purpose of recording information about the maker of the click, forming a distinct identifier for them.
A Click ID is an individual identifier that recognizes a distinct click and allows the monitoring systems to connect a certain click to an end result for the purpose of assigning responsibility.
By clicking on that same link, we will be taken to a page where a distinct identifier for that click will be saved onto the end of the link (which is written in bold font).
https://bootsshop.com?cmpid=5e6c7b85c6565a0001718aa0&sub1={replace}&utm_keyword={keyword}&sub4={adgroupid}&sub5={creative}&sub6={campaignid}&sub8={adposition}& ref_id= {gclid}
ID clicking is essential for pinpointing the individual responsible for accomplishing a specific goal (or completing any other desired action).
3. Script
In order to use parameters, unique click IDs, and track and attribute information accurately, an additional factor is required – a script.
The script sets off all the parts of tracking and provides all the necessary data to the tracking system in order to correlate it.
Once the individual clicks on the tracking link, the programming code first captures corresponding tracking details from the link, creating an entry in a monitoring system, generating a one-of-a-kind click ID, and storing all of it in a first-party cookie (we will discuss the significance of first-party data tracking subsequently).
The code needs to be added to all pages which get visitors on your website.
Technical Tracking Tools
When it comes to monitoring advertisements, utilizing technical resources is a wise first step. Options such as following links from your webpage, inserting ads in emails, setting up side displays, or utilizing cookie-tracking to determine user activities and customize your business strategy are all available. Let’s explore each in more detail.
Tracking URLs
A regular URL from a website can be given a tracking token to create a tracking URL. This is an instance of a landing page URL alone, as well as a tracking token (highlighted in bold).
Regular old landing page URL:
http://www.yourwebsite.com/your-landing-page/
Landing page URL with a tracking token:
http://www.yourwebsite.com/your-landing-page/?utm_campaign=test-campaign&utm_source=email
You can observe that the page URL is constant in both scenarios, however, appended to the end of the second instance is some supplemental material. This additional data is your tracking identifier, also referred to as a UTM parameter.
What benefits do you gain by using this additional material to track items?
When a person clicks on a URL that has an UTM code attached at the end, it sends a message back to the computer software used to track advertisements to show that the website link was selected. The “source=_____” part of the monitoring token can give insights concerning where the user tapped the link. Likewise, the “campaign=_____” specifier can be used to indicate to your monitoring system that the link should be assigned as a part of a campaign.
As a potential example, if you make the same advertisement to be shown on multiple websites and would like to know which one turns up more clicks, you can add the information of the two websites in the UTM parameters of the associated links.
This article contains information on how to comprehend tracking parameters and the way they function.
When to use tracking URLs:
If you are utilizing a PPC campaign, sending emails, or advertising on a different website, utilizing tracking URLs is perfect to examine the amount of visitors, leads, and conversions you gain from your efforts.
Tracking Pixels
A tracking pixel is a small, usually transparent, picture that is 1 pixel in width and 1 pixel in height. This image can be included in an email, an advertisement, or just a web page. When the page is finished loading, it will notify the tracking tool that someone has seen it.
Tracking pixels can capture comprehensive information on what a user does and how they configure their browser – but only track facts related to the customer’s journey that could enhance the experience for the intended users.
If employed appropriately, tracking pixels can enhance your ads and place them before a crowd that is likely to accept them. For instance, having a pixel-based tracking system for banner ads will provide data about how many individuals merely have a look at the ad versus click on it. This knowledge can demonstrate whether an advertisement was prosperous (and deserves to be utilized again).
When to use tracking pixels:
Utilizing tracking pixels is immensely advantageous for following the success of your web-based promotions from the beginning to the end of the transformation journey. They can provide you understanding on how people are approaching your advertisements, and assist you in refining every step of the customers’ process from first contact to last buying.
Cookies
Cookies may offer knowledge about how users act on your website during multiple visits. Marketers should obtain clear authorization from people before making use of cookies to monitor their behavior. Given permission is stated clearly, cookies can be employed to tailor an individual’s involvement. If you are interested in the technical details of how cookies operate, here is more information.
When to use cookies:
Cookies are great for when you need to present advertisements to someone that is tailored to their online browsing behavior, or demonstrate ads to them regarding items they have showed a concern in. Cookies can be leveraged to give each user a tailored experience as they use your website, based on their past engagements with it – as an illustration, a deserted shopping cart email can be generated when users place objects into their cart however then leave your webpage.
Now that we’ve looked at some important principles of ad targeting, let’s explore how it functions on high-profile ad tracking programs and how you can exploit it to enhance your own ad campaigns.
Search and Social Ad Tracking Solutions
Brands can enhance their advertising reconnaissance by utilizing apparatuses that work with search engines like Google or online media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. This type of ad tracking supplies deeper insight concerning user habits and choices to help businesses adjust their advertising activities.
DoubleClick Ad Tracking
If you ever come across an advertisement for something you looked at a while ago while you’re browsing online, this could be the result of DoubleClick’s tracking capabilities. DoubleClick, which Google obtained in 2008, is a program that allows marketers to coordinate advertising efforts over numerous channels. It serves as an ad management system.
Publishers who host their platform online allow DoubleClick to use some of their site’s space to advertise, while companies and promoters use the tool to display ads on pages frequented by their desired crowd.
In 2012, Google renamed their DoubleClick offerings to Google Marketing Platform, Google Ads, and Google Ad Manager (previously known as DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange).
Google provides advertisers a selection of methods to use when constructing projects on their program, most of which depend on utilizing cookies.
Google states that cookies do not contain any personally identifiable information. Depending on the preferences of both the publisher and user, data that is related to cookies used for promotional purposes may be connected to the user’s Google Account.
Facebook Pixel
Utilizing a variety of ad monitoring tactics, companies that advertise on Facebook have the ability to tailor their ads to best reach their intended audience. The Facebook ad monitoring pixel is a widely utilized system for both desktop and cell phone advertisement tracking. This works the same as the fundamental monitoring pixel described above, and it can be used for following a user’s journey from viewing an ad to arriving at your website and then buying something.
When something happens on a webpage containing a tracking pixel, the pixel will trigger and send the information to your Facebook Events Manager account. Data gathered with the aid of the monitoring pixel can be employed for the development of tailor-made target groups for future advertisement efforts.
