Business websites often use cookies and tracking technologies to track users’ activities on their websites. Tracking helps businesses gather information on users’ sessions and make better business decisions.
However, with increasing awareness of privacy rights and the introduction of data protection regulations worldwide, website tracking has become more complex than ever. Any minor violation of these privacy laws could cause hefty fines for your business.
In this article, we will explain what website tracking is, how it works, and how to use a privacy-focused approach when tracking visitors on your website.
Key Takeaways: Tracking helps websites improve user experience and provide personalized content and ads. Websites track users through cookies and tracking scripts. Data protection laws restrict websites from tracking users without consent. CMPs help websites comply with privacy regulations while tracking users’ activities.
Website tracking is the process of collecting, storing, and sharing information about users’ activities on a website. Most websites use tracking to gather insights into website traffic, user behavior, and preferences and show advertisements and recommendations.
It helps businesses to find how many users have made a purchase after seeing an ad on their website, how long users have stayed on a website, and how many users have landed on a product page from an email marketing campaign.
This information helps businesses to improve the user experience on their website and the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns.
Quick Stats:
75% of marketers in major economies heavily rely on third-party cookies.
Source: Adobe Blog
First-Party Tracking
First-party tracking refers to the tracking conducted by websites on their own visitors using cookies and tracking scripts. Through first-party tracking, websites collect information from visitors and use this information to remember user preferences, language settings, location data, etc. When a user revisits the website, it will recognize the user and deliver the content based on their preference.
This way, users need not adjust their preferences every time they visit a website. It also helps eCommerce websites load the products added to the cart and shows relevant product recommendations, such as recently viewed products, to visitors.
Generally, first-party tracking doesn’t pose a threat to users’ privacy, as it is mostly used to load the websites in your preferred language and settings.
Third-Party Tracking
Third-party tracking also known as cross-site tracking, refers to the tracking of users’ online activities across multiple websites by third-party websites or services. They deploy tracking cookies, pixels, or scripts on other websites to collect information about users’ behavior and interactions with other websites. This information is then used to show personalized ads, retargeting, user profiling, etc.
For example: A user visits an eCommerce website to browse for shoes. The website uses a “Like” button from a popular social media platform. When this “Like” button loads on the eCommerce website, it adds a piece of tracking scripts to the user’s browser. This tracking script will monitor the user’s activities on the eCommerce website, including their searches, browsing history, session duration, etc.
This information is then used to create a profile of the users’ interests and behavior, which allows them to deliver targeted ads across different websites. So, the user might start seeing ads for shoes on other websites they visit.
Third-party tracking raises privacy concerns, as it allows external parties to gather information about users and their preferences without their consent. However, regulations such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) regulate third-party tracking and require websites to collect explicit consent before collecting or processing user data.
Websites track users to collect information about their online interactions. They use this information to improve the user experience and security, provide personalized content, ads, and recommendations, and generate analytical reports.
Tracking helps websites identify issues that affect their performance and areas for improvement. It provides insights that help them make informed decisions.
Below are some of the major reasons why websites track users:
Improve User Experience
Tracking helps websites learn how visitors interact with the content and design. It helps them identify the content that keeps visitors engaged with the website. Websites can also find the areas that affect the user experience of the site visitors and make decisions to improve it.
For example, let’s consider an eCommerce website that tracks user interactions to improve the shopping experience.
Suppose a user frequently adds items to their shopping cart but abandons the checkout process without completing the purchase. By tracking the user interactions, the site owner can identify the friction points in the checkout process.
In this case, let’s assume that the user abandons their carts when they reach the shipping information page. So it could be either a high shipping cost or a long delivery time. In either case, the website can address these issues by providing a free shipping option or arranging an express delivery option.
By identifying and addressing these barriers through tracking, websites can improve the user experience, increase conversion rates, and ultimately drive more sales.
Provide Personalized Content
Tracking helps websites identify their visitors’ likes and preferences. It helps website owners find what people like to see and read on their websites. They can use this information to deliver personalized content to users and keep them engaged with the website. The more they see items matching their interests, the more likely they are to stay on the website.
For a news website, if a user frequently reads articles about science and technology, the website can prioritize showing them more articles in those categories on the homepage or in recommended sections. This will keep the user engaged with the website, and they are likely to return in the future and spend more time exploring the content.
For an eCommerce website, they can show frequently bought items or recently viewed products as recommendations, tempting them to purchase from the store.
Quick Stats:
80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalized experiences.
Source: Epsilon
Improve Website Security
By tracking and monitoring website activities, security teams can identify patterns of suspicious behavior, such as multiple failed login attempts, sudden spikes in traffic to a particular page, or unusual access patterns. This allows them to quickly detect potential security threats or vulnerabilities and take appropriate action to mitigate them.
Google Search Console report showing an unusual spike in impressions
Measure Conversions and Effectiveness
Tracking helps marketers monitor the effectiveness of their campaigns and measure the conversions on their product page. It provides information about how users are responding to their campaigns and how it affects the conversion rate.
For example, Google Analytics helps websites attribute conversions to specific marketing channels or campaigns. So, if a user clicks on a Facebook ad, visits the website, and makes a purchase, the conversion will be attributed to the Facebook ad campaign.
This helps in measuring the effectiveness of different marketing campaigns and optimizing future campaigns accordingly.
Retargeting Advertisements
Websites can use tracking cookies to deliver targeted advertisements to users based on their previous interactions with the website. This allows advertisers to display targeted ads to users who have already shown interest in a product or service.
Here’s how it works: Let’s say you’ve been searching for a mattress in an eCommerce store but later decided not to make a purchase. However, the website has a retargeting strategy in place, so it places retargeting cookies on your browser.
After you leave the website, you may notice ads appearing on your social media accounts. These ads are targeted at you based on the retargeting cookies set by the eCommerce website. This is how retargeting works in online advertising.
The goal of retargeting is to bring back visitors who didn’t convert during their initial visit, encouraging them to return and complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a service.
Websites track users in different ways based on the purpose. Below are the common methods of website tracking:
1. IP Address
Every device connected to the Internet has a unique IP address which is based on the geolocation of the device. Websites track the IP addresses of users to identify the patterns in the site traffic, location of their site visitors, and gain insights into how visitors from a specific location engage with the website content, design, and marketing strategies. They can use IP addresses to refine the analytics based on user location and also attribute a conversion journey to a specific user.
IP addresses can also be used for security purposes, such as identifying and blocking malicious users or suspicious activities. Many websites use IP addresses to personalize the user experience based on geographic location, such as providing content in a regional language. This allows websites to deliver personalized content based on the user’s likes and preferences.
When using a VPN connected to France, Amazon adjusts its website content to French, matching the IP address.
2. Cookies
Cookies are the most commonly used tracking technologies on the Internet. They are small pieces of information created by web servers and placed on a user’s browser when they visit a website. Cookies are used to collect various information from site visitors such as their user activity, site preferences, cart data, session data, etc.
Quick facts
The term “cookie” was coined by Louis J. Montulli in 1994, derived from “magic cookie” used in computing. A magic cookie referred to data packets sent and received without alteration, aiding Unix programmers in event identification.
Montulli, employed by Netscape Communications, was tasked with developing an eCommerce application for MCI WorldCom, seeking a solution to store data on the client’s computer to reduce server load. This led to the development of cookie technology.
Source: Hidden Heroes
Websites uses first-party cookies to track the users’ session, provide personalized content, and remember users’ preferences. For example, eCommerce websites uses cookies to remember users shopping cart when they leave the website. When the user returns to the website, it will recognize the user and restores their shopping cart.
Many websites may also use third-party cookies to track users. These cookies are set by third-party services used by the website, such as Google Analytics, Hotjar, MS Clarity, etc. They are mostly used for website analytics, advertising, and retargeting.
See also:
Heatmap from MS Clarity demo account. Red areas show the maximum number of user interactions.
3. Tracking Pixel
A tracking pixel or web beacon is a single-pixel transparent image that is embedded into web pages or emails. When a user visits a webpage or opens an email, the pixel will load and send a request to the host server, which logs various information such as the user’s IP address, browser type, device type, time of the visit, etc.
This allows websites and marketers to monitor traffic to the product page, the open rate for marketing emails, and users’ interactions with the website.
4. Browser Fingerprinting
Browser fingerprinting is a technique used by websites to track and identify unique users. It collects various attributes of a user’s browser, such as device model, screen resolution, operating system (OS), preferred language, search history, time zone, etc.
This information will be used to create a unique identifier, or “fingerprint,” that can be used to track and identify users across different websites and browsing sessions.
5. Canvas Fingerprinting
Canvas fingerprinting is a technique used by websites to uniquely identify and track users based on the rendering of HTML5 Canvas elements in web browsers. When a user visits a website that has canvas fingerprinting, the website instructs the browser to draw hidden graphics.
These graphics will be unique to each individual as they differ based on the hardware, graphics card, and browser configurations. Thus, it creates a unique digital footprint for each individual.
Canvas fingerprinting doesn’t add anything to the user’s browser, so it is difficult to block or delete it. However, it has raised significant privacy concerns as it is intrusive and works without users’ knowledge or consent.
Many countries have implemented strong data protection regulations that restrict websites from tracking users and collecting their personal information without consent. Below are some of the major data protection laws that regulate website tracking:
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
The General Data Protection Regulation is the principal data protection regulation in the European Union, that regulates the processing of personal information of European citizens. GDPR imposes strict regulations on businesses that track their users or collect their personal data.
It requires websites to obtain explicit consent from site visitors before processing their personal data. Websites should disclose that they track their users, why they do so, and how users can opt out of it. This gives more control to users over their personal data shared with businesses.
GDPR also grants several rights to users for protecting their personal data and imposes obligations for businesses to comply with the law.
California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA)
The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) imposes strict obligations on businesses for collecting, processing, or sharing personal data of California residents. Websites must provide more transparency when tracking users online. They should disclose how and why they track users and also provide users with the option to opt out of tracking.
CPRA grants several rights to data subjects to protect their personal data. Website should honor these rights and take necessary steps to protect the personal data of site visitors. Also, when handling sensitive personal data, websites should take explicit consent from users and take additional steps to protect it.
Tracking users while respecting their privacy requires a delicate balance between gathering necessary data for improving user experience and protecting the privacy rights of individuals. Below are some strategies that will help you track users while respecting privacy:
- Ensure user data is anonymized by removing personally identifiable information.
- Obtain explicit consent from users through opt-in mechanisms.
- Inform users about tracking practices, including data collection, usage, and retention periods.
- Enable users to opt out of tracking.
- Collect only essential data required for intended purposes.
- Provide users control over their data. Allow them to access, update, or delete their data if they choose to do so.
- Implement robust security measures to protect user data.
- When using third-party tracking services, ensure that they follow strict privacy standards.
WebToffee’s GDPR Cookie Consent Plugin is a consent management solution for WordPress websites. It helps you obtain prior consent from your site visitors for using cookies and manage cookie compliance for major privacy laws such as GDPR and CCPA.
The plugin displays a cookie consent banner with accept and reject buttons. It works with both opt-in and opt-out consent mechanisms. You can add a link to opt out of cookies as required by CCPA/CPRA.
You can scan and list all the cookies used on your website and add the cookie list to your cookie policy. The plugin enables you to create a cookie policy using the free cookie policy template. It lets you block third-party cookies until the user consents to them. You can allow your site visitors to only consent to specific categories of cookies based on their purpose. This will give granular control to your site visitors as required by GDPR.
Our plugin is compliant with privacy standards such as IAB-TCF v2.2 and Google Consent Mode v2. This enables advertisers, marketers, and publishers to continue using Google’s ads and analytical services without risking their compliance.
Our plugin is native plugin that works within the WordPress ecosystem, so any consent related data such as consent log reports will stay within your server. Check out our detailed blog on why do you need a native consent management solution for WordPress to learn more.
If you are a user and want to restrict websites from tracking you, here are some measures that will help you with that!
- Use a privacy focused web browser: Using a privacy focused web browser such as Tor browser or Brave will enable you to block tracking cookies and scripts from tracking your online interactions. When using popular web browsers such as Chrome or Safari, adjust the privacy settings to block trackers by default.
- Clear cookies and browsing history: Regularly clearing cookies and browser history will restrict tracker from tracking your activities in the internet.
- Install privacy extensions: Install browser extensions such as uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, or Ghostery, which block trackers, ads, and other invasive elements on websites.
- Use VPN services: Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to encrypt your internet connection and mask your IP address, making it difficult for websites to track your online activities.
- Opt-out of cookies and tracking scripts: Explore the privacy settings on websites to opt-out of tracking. Some websites may have a cookie consent banner with cookie control options that allows you to opt out of tracking cookies.
- Limit sharing of information: Limit the sharing of personal information to websites. Avoid providing personal information to websites that are not credible or do not have clear privacy policies.
- Stay informed: Keep yourself updated on the latest privacy regulations and best practices for online privacy protection. Also, review the privacy policy of websites and services you use online.
No, website tracking is not illegal. However if you are not complying with the requirements of applicable data protection regulations, then you may face hefty fines and legal action from the concerned authorities.
Websites track users for various reasons, such as to improve user experience, provide personalized content, services, ads, and recommendations on their websites, measure conversions, and gather analytical insights.
No, websites generally cannot directly see your search history. However, using cookies and tracking scripts, they can track your online activities and create a profile based on your interests and preferences.
Digital footprints are a trail of information that an individual leaves behind while using the internet. Your digital footprint consists of information spread across different platforms. Every search you make on Google, every post you like on Facebook, and every product you purchase from Amazon leaves some information about you.
Check out our detailed guide to learn more about digital footprints and how to reduce them.
Conclusion
Website tracking is the process of collecting, storing, and sharing information about users’ activities on a website. It help websites to provide personalized content and ads to users, improve the user experience and increase the security of a website. Tracking also helps users as they don’t have to adjust their preferences every time they visit a website.
However, tracking sometimes can be a little bit intrusive as marketers often try to gather extensive data about users, including their browsing habits, interests, and demographic information. This level of tracking can raise concerns about privacy and data security, leading to debates over the ethical implications of online tracking practices.
The ideal way is to find a balance between gathering necessary data and protecting the privacy rights of individuals. By following a privacy-first approach for your business, you can ensure transparency in your tracking practices, obtain user consent before collecting their data, and prioritize anonymization and data minimization techniques.
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