Cookies
Cookies are a simple technology that have been around since the early days of the web. They are pieces of code that web servers use to put information on a user’s browser, and then retrieve that information at a later time for various uses. For example, YouTube sets a cookie on your browser to remember your user name and volume settings so you don’t have to input those every time. Cookies are privacy conscious by design, so that only the server domain that sets a cookie is able to retrieve it.
Ad servers (such as DoubleClick or Atlas) use cookies to set unique IDs so they can identify the same user across multiple touchpoints. When an ad server receives an ad display request from a user who does not have an existing cookie, the ad server assigns a new unique ID (a random alpha-numeric string such as 118D132F9423). On each subsequent request the cookie returns the same unique ID, thus allowing the ad server to know that it is the same user. Because all requests are recorded by the ad server, reports can be created that provide a record of all the touchpoints for each user.
Click Redirects
For media running outside of the ad server, such as paid search, one approach is to apply click redirects within the URL. These briefly send the user through the ad server to be cookied and then shoot them back out to their desired landing page. This happens in a fraction of a second and is barely perceptible by the user. Because that intermediate hop is on the ad server domain, it can log the data needed to record and read the cookie for the unique ID.
Pixel Tags
For media without a click event (such as navigating to a site directly), click redirects cannot be used. In those cases, the solution is to use pixel tags (also known as tags, 1x1 pixels, or web bugs). Pixel tags are typically single pixel, transparent GIF images that are added to a web page. Even though the pixel tag is virtually invisible, it is still served just like any other image you may see online. The trick is that the web page is served from the site’s domain while the image is served from the ad server’s domain. This allows the ad server to read and record the cookie with the unique ID and the extended information it needs to record.
Tag Containers
Finally, sometimes tag containers (also called container tags) must be used. Tag containers hold JavaScript code which contains one or more pixel or click tags. These tag containers can control the information being passed into images, and can decide whether or not to “fire” or show the image tag, which would trigger the ad server to record an impression with the unique ID. A common use for tag containers is to tag users from unpaid impressions such as organic search visits and direct traffic. The attribution process often uses JavaScript to record the referring URL or other information needed to identify and record otherwise untracked conversion paths.
As you can see, there are a host of technologies used to track user engagement stacks for attribution measurement. Once all the touchpoints for a user are recorded by an ad server, attribution software can consume the log files that ad servers provide to do the work necessary to appropriately assign fractional credit to each touchpoint that contributed to a desired outcome.
Cookies are a simple technology that have been around since the early days of the web. They are pieces of code that web servers use to put information on a user’s browser, and then retrieve that information at a later time for various uses. For example, YouTube sets a cookie on your browser to remember your user name and volume settings so you don’t have to input those every time. Cookies are privacy conscious by design, so that only the server domain that sets a cookie is able to retrieve it.
Ad servers (such as DoubleClick or Atlas) use cookies to set unique IDs so they can identify the same user across multiple touchpoints. When an ad server receives an ad display request from a user who does not have an existing cookie, the ad server assigns a new unique ID (a random alpha-numeric string such as 118D132F9423). On each subsequent request the cookie returns the same unique ID, thus allowing the ad server to know that it is the same user. Because all requests are recorded by the ad server, reports can be created that provide a record of all the touchpoints for each user.
Click Redirects
For media running outside of the ad server, such as paid search, one approach is to apply click redirects within the URL. These briefly send the user through the ad server to be cookied and then shoot them back out to their desired landing page. This happens in a fraction of a second and is barely perceptible by the user. Because that intermediate hop is on the ad server domain, it can log the data needed to record and read the cookie for the unique ID.
Pixel Tags
For media without a click event (such as navigating to a site directly), click redirects cannot be used. In those cases, the solution is to use pixel tags (also known as tags, 1x1 pixels, or web bugs). Pixel tags are typically single pixel, transparent GIF images that are added to a web page. Even though the pixel tag is virtually invisible, it is still served just like any other image you may see online. The trick is that the web page is served from the site’s domain while the image is served from the ad server’s domain. This allows the ad server to read and record the cookie with the unique ID and the extended information it needs to record.
Tag Containers
Finally, sometimes tag containers (also called container tags) must be used. Tag containers hold JavaScript code which contains one or more pixel or click tags. These tag containers can control the information being passed into images, and can decide whether or not to “fire” or show the image tag, which would trigger the ad server to record an impression with the unique ID. A common use for tag containers is to tag users from unpaid impressions such as organic search visits and direct traffic. The attribution process often uses JavaScript to record the referring URL or other information needed to identify and record otherwise untracked conversion paths.
As you can see, there are a host of technologies used to track user engagement stacks for attribution measurement. Once all the touchpoints for a user are recorded by an ad server, attribution software can consume the log files that ad servers provide to do the work necessary to appropriately assign fractional credit to each touchpoint that contributed to a desired outcome.
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