Tracking Pixel vs. Cookie Explained in Simple Terms

Tracking Pixel vs. Cookie. Both these technologies serve similar purposes, such as behavior tracking and targeted advertising, but they differ in significant ways. However, it’s crucial to ensure compliance with privacy laws when using either!

Pixel 🔒 vs. Cookie🍪: Understanding Cookies

What is a Cookie?

Cookies are small data files generally stored on the user’s computer/browser. When revisiting a website, cookies remember your settings (e.g., your password). They serve various purposes:

• To enhance your experience on the visited website: Trackers can remember your password or items placed in your online shopping cart.
• To track your online behavior and provide targeted recommendations: Trackers are the reason the shoes you searched for online now seem to appear everywhere!  

How do Cookies Work?

When you visit a website, your browser and the website interact with your web server. Subsequently, your web server transfers a cookie to your device’s browser, which is then stored on your computer’s hard drive.

This means cookies enable a website to store information (e.g., a unique ID number) on a user’s computer and retrieve it later.

Own a website? Find out which cookies your website uses.

Privacy Concerns with Cookies

While cookies are great for marketing purposes, they can significantly impact user privacy when used for behavior tracking or advertising display. Hence, they are regulated.

🇪🇺 In Europe, laws such as GDPR and ePrivacy mandate user consent before cookies or similar tracking technologies can be employed or installed on their computers.

🇺🇸 According to US laws like CPRA or VCDPA, and the EU General Data Protection Regulation, you must disclose the categories of personal data you process in your privacy policy and provide a way for users to opt out of this processing.

Pixel vs. Cookie: Understanding Tracking Pixels

What is a Tracking Pixel?

In a general sense, a pixel is a unit and the smallest element of a digital image, often represented as a small square. In the context of tracking technologies, pixels are used in a particular way.

What is a Tracking Pixel? Tracking pixels are transparent 1×1 images embedded in the HTML code of an email, ad, or website. It’s considered a marketing pixel when used to monitor traffic, conversions, and behavior, such as knowing when a visitor clicked on an ad and subsequently made a purchase.

For example, a Facebook tracking pixel allows you to track ad conversions, build a targeted audience for other ads, and optimize these ads.

How do Tracking Pixels Work?

Tracking pixels contain a link to an external server. This server eventually receives some information about the user who views an ad, interacts with an email, or navigates a website. This happens through the user’s browser, which downloads this invisible image file (or pixel). Among other things, the following data can be retrieved:

• IP address;
• Type of operating system (mobile vs. desktop) or browser used;
• When the website was visited or the email was read;
• Activities on the website during a session.

Privacy Concerns with Tracking Pixels

When using tracking pixels, you likely collect specific personal data similar to cookies. Pixels are concerning as they are invisible on a website or in an email, and users are unaware they are being tracked.

According to major privacy laws, you are obligated to:

• Specify your use of tracking pixels in your privacy policy;
• Obtain prior user consent for using these technologies (European law);
• Provide an opt-out option (US laws).

Tracking Pixel vs. Cookie: Ensuring Compliance with Privacy Laws

Compliance with tracking technologies can be complex due to varying regulations. In brief:

🇪🇺 Key European privacy laws focus on trackers and similar technologies, requiring user information and blocking of trackers before obtaining consent (opt-in), applicable to both cookies and tracking pixels. 🇺🇸 Key US privacy laws demand disclosing the processing/sharing of personal data and providing the option to opt out. By using cookies and/or tracking pixels, you collect user personal data and must adhere to these laws.

How can you meet all these requirements?

It’s simple: Utilize with real cookie banner !

• Select the services/technologies capturing personal data on your website;
• Choose with one click whether to simultaneously comply with US and/or European laws;
• Automatically generate a privacy policy with all country-specific details;
• Customize and display a consent banner, enabling the prior blocking of trackers!