Website owners or other parties may use website tracking technologies, such as cookies, to gather, store, and/or distribute data about their users’ actions.
Websites and third parties track user behavior to better serve users with relevant content and other features.
Although first- and third-party cookies are frequently the most widely used monitoring methods, there are numerous other ways to track visitors to websites.
Why Do You Care?
Many websites engage in the crucial and fundamental practise of website tracking. As was already said, tracking technologies are utilised to give website owners insight into how their site works and how successful their ad campaigns are.
In addition to optimising ROI and ensuring regulatory compliance, analysing this monitoring technology data gives users a better user experience. By comprehending and categorising all these different monitoring technologies, informing the users, and obtaining their agreement, a successful website that makes use of this technology offers transparency to its users.
Furthermore, privacy regulations like the GDPR, CCPA, CPRA, and others govern or place limitations on the tracking of user data. Learn more about the cookie banner requirements for each international privacy law here.
Categories of Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
Website/HTTP Cookies
HTTP and website cookies are bits of information that websites embed into a visitor’s device when they visit such pages. They are typically stored in text files. The owner of the website can then utilise that data to modify the user experience and show relevant adverts.
Despite the fact that practically all websites utilise cookies to provide basic functionality, it’s crucial to understand the different sorts of cookies because transparency is necessary for compliance and fosters user trust.
Cookies from Third Parties
First-Party Cookies are kept on your computer by the website (or domain) you are currently visiting. These cookies enable website owners to perform fundamental tasks including gathering analytics data, remembering language preferences, and delivering the best possible user experience.
First-party data doesn’t generally cause users any problems. For instance, users’ shopping carts wouldn’t be followed across various products if eCommerce websites like Amazon didn’t gather first-party data. indicating that just one item could be checked out at a time by guests. Not needing to log in each time you visit a website is another fundamental element of effective user experience design.
Cookies from Unrelated Parties
Websites other than the website (or domains) a user is viewing create third-party cookies. These are typically used for online advertising and are added to a website via a script or tag.
For instance, when a user is shopping on a website and adds an item to their cart but doesn’t make a purchase, they can later see adverts for that item. Because these kinds of cookies are a little more debatable, it’s crucial to comprehend how you employ third-party cookies in order to build customer confidence and transparency while also complying.
With the elimination of third-party cookies in 2023, there will be significant changes. Businesses and websites that adjust and A/B test their strategy now will not only protect their future revenue but also develop a sustainable competitive advantage.Learn more about the demise of third-party cookies and how you can start preparing right away.
Additional Website Tracking Technologies
Websites track visitors using a variety of technologies, either separately or in tandem.
The following are some of the most popular website technologies:
Fingerprinting
Creating a user profile using characteristics of the user’s browser or device. The user’s device, operating system, screen resolution, browser and browser version, language, and time zone are among the data monitored. Although none of the data is useful on its own, when combined, it provides a remarkably precise method of user identification.
Cross-Device Tracking
This feature enables tracking and identification across several devices, including mobile phones, smart TVs, and laptops.
Web beacons are tiny tags that are inserted into emails and websites to monitor how users interact with the content. When utilised for email marketing, the organisation can obtain fundamental insights about performance, such as whether or not the user opens the email and how frequently.
Tracking pixels are 1 by 1 pixel images that are used to track user behaviour, site conversions, online traffic, and other data comparable to cookies. They’re typically concealed and incorporated in everything from banner advertising to emails. Companies and websites can use a variety of various sorts of pixels.
Tracking Tags, commonly referred to as UTM codes, are pieces of code appended to a website’s URL to give better analytics regarding online traffic and user behaviour.
Supercookies are used to monitor users across the web in a manner similar to ordinary cookies, but they are more difficult to find and delete since they are kept in multiple locations.
Favicons, sometimes referred to as shortcuts and website icons, are shown next to the website’s URL and are used to follow users throughout browsing sessions.
Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) classifies users into cohorts based on their browsing behaviour with the aim of protecting user data without affecting the efficiency of advertising.
Conclusions
It’s possible that the era of cookies set by third parties is drawing to a close. For example, Google has stated that it would discontinue the utilization of tracking cookies from third parties on its Chrome browser by the year 2022.
This is significant because Chrome is the web browser that has the most users. However, measures are being taken to restrict third-party cookies by more than simply privately owned businesses.
This includes the General Data Protection Regulation, also known as GDPR, which was passed in Europe and controls the process by which multinational corporations gather, retain, and get rid of customers’ personal information.
In addition to that, it incorporates the California Consumer Privacy Act, generally known as the CCPA, which was enacted to safeguard the personal information of California residents. Companies that breach these regulations by failing to inform customers that their websites are using cookies to track their activity can be subject to significant financial penalties.
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