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15 Project Management Tools For SEO Professionals

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15 Project Management Tools For SEO Professionals

Search engine optimization is complex.

Between changes to search algorithms, new keywords, and strategic changes made by competitors, the field is in a constant state of flux.

If you’re like most SEO pros, at any given time, you’re juggling numerous projects, plans, and tasks.

Just staying organized can feel like a full-time job in itself.

Luckily, you can put technology to work for you in the form of project management (PM) tools.

Why SEO Professionals Need Project Management Tools

If you’re already using a project management platform, you undoubtedly recognize the benefits it provides for busy digital marketers and web teams.

If you’re still getting by without one, you should get one as soon as possible. Why you ask?

Because it can uncomplicate your life and help you get more done in less time.

Some of the essential functions a good project management platform provides for SEO professionals are:

  • Accurate planning. From a bird’s eye view of all your campaigns to detailed information on how a specific keyword performs, SEO project management software allows you to create structured plans.
  • Task and time management. Whether you’re working solo or as part of a team, PM tools allow you to assign tasks and receive notifications about them, so you can more accurately work hours. This can also be used to generate accurate invoices for your clients.
  • Resource allocation. An SEO PM software will give you at-a-glance information about where your budget and resources are going. Useful for SEO, it’s also extremely helpful if you’re also running pay-per-click ads.
  • Reporting. Most modern PM platforms offer robust reporting features and dashboards, so you can generate and analyze data to improve efficiency.

It’s easy to see why so many SEO professionals have turned to PM platforms to help them stay organized and productive, but there are a lot of options.

How do you know which one is right for you and your team?

We’ve compiled a list of some of the top ones. Below, you’ll find our choices for the 15 best PM tools with a brief overview of each, including pros and cons.

Our Top 15 Project Management Platforms For SEO

1. Asana

The PM platform used by Search Engine Journal, Asana is a personal favourite.

This cloud-based platform provides a virtual workspace from which your team and various stakeholders can collaborate.

It’s useful for SEO and digital marketing because it allows you to clearly set and manage strategies, goals, tasks, and expectations.

Why It’s Good For SEO:

  • Task management: Using the forms feature, you can create standard workflows customized to your SEO processes.
  • Automated workflow: Rules-based automation can replace tedious manual tasks.
  • Reporting features: Asana has dashboards, charts, and graphs with real-time reporting, so you can get a high-level view or dive into the details.
  • Free for up to 15 users: Asana has a free tier that can be used by teams of 15 or less. It includes unlimited tasks, messages, projects, and 100MB of storage for each user.
  • Integrations: Asana plays nice with more than 100 other apps and platforms, including Microsoft Office, Dropbox, and Salesforce.

Potential Drawbacks For SEO:

  • Unintuitive design: If you’ve never used Asana before, it can be a little challenging to figure out. However, once you’ve mastered the learning curve, it’s quite easy to use.
  • No time tracking functionality: There is no built-in time tracking functionality in this platform. This can cause complications in billing clients or resource allocation.
  • Not ideal for small teams: With a range of advanced features and capabilities, it can be overwhelming for small teams or limited SEO projects.

 2. Monday.com

Garfield may hate Mondays, but SEO professionals who use Monday.com for project management sure don’t.

With an operating system that can be customized to your preferred workflow, it’s a great choice for smaller SEO teams looking for a tool to help them stay on track.

Why It’s Good For SEO:

  • Clean user interface: Monday.com has a clean interface that allows you to customize your dashboard and extend data in columns. You can easily get multiple views of an SEO project including calendars, Kanban boards, and collateral.
  • Templates: Monday.com has many templates to choose from, so you will likely find one that matches your workflow.
  • Notifications and communication: This platform streamlines team communication. Team members can leave comments on tasks or documents and stakeholders can be notified via email.

Potential Drawbacks For SEO:

  • Steep learning curve: Like many PM platforms, it can be challenging to get the hang of Monday.com. Bigger tasks with more communication can begin to get a bit unwieldy.
  • Slow dashboard loading: It can take some time for your Monday.com dashboard to load, particularly on larger projects where a lot of data has to be transferred from its servers to your computer.
  • Client licenses not included: If you want to invite clients to participate in your workspace, you will need to buy a license for them.

3. GanttPro

For more than a century, PM professionals have been using Gantt Charts to track their project schedules.

GanttPro is a web-based PM solution based around these visual trackers.

Why It’s Good For SEO:

  • Readily understandable: You don’t have to have a project management certificate to track tasks with GanttPro. It gives you status information in an easy-to-understand visual format.
  • Undo functionality: A simple mistake doesn’t have to derail your project because this tool saves your history and lets you undo actions with CTRL + Z.
  • Customizable fields: You can create custom fields for every task.

Potential Drawbacks For SEO:

  • Not as many integrations: Unlike other PM platforms, GanttPro is light on integrations with other apps.
  • No billing or invoicing tools: You will need an outside program to generate invoices for your SEO services.
  • Manual date input: Changing dates for benchmarks and project completion must be input manually, which some users find tedious.

4. Trello

One of the most popular platforms for project management, Trello uses boards, lists, and cards to help keep you organized.

With a free basic plan, it is useful for SEO teams of all sizes.

Why It’s Good For SEO:

  • Free basic plan: Your entire team can try Trello for free. If you like it, there are premium plans available that add integrations, automation, and other functionality.
  • Intuitive Kanban boards: Trello’s drag-and-drop card system makes it easy to track the status of any project.
  • Useful for campaigns of all sizes: Trello works just as well for huge, complex campaigns as it does for simple projects.

Potential Drawbacks For SEO:

  • Kanban-reliant: If you don’t like to use Kanban boards, this is not the PM tool for you, as most of its functionality is built around them.
  • Upload sizes limited: Trello restricts free users to 10 MB of online storage and paid users to 250 MB. For most SEO teams this probably won’t be a problem, but you may differ.
  • Timeline relationships are not always clear: Trello does not allow users to manipulate relationships for a better understanding of how they work together.

5. Teamwork

Another Kanban-based PM tool, Teamwork offers a drag-and-drop interface with more advanced reporting features.

Teamwork lets you create custom branding accounts, which is useful if you’re working on more than one client.

Why It’s Good For SEO:

  • Unlimited users: You can add any number of users to a single task.
  • Clear vision of scope: Teamwork’s board view makes it easy to understand what is going on with each project.
  • Repeating tasks: Teamwork lets you simply copy any task, which is especially useful for SEO professionals.

Potential Drawbacks For SEO:

  • Can be overwhelming: The upside is Teamwork has a lot of features. The downside is all those features can get confusing, especially when you’re a new user.
  • No in-platform chat functionality: You’ll need to use an outside app to “chat” with your team and/or stakeholders.

6. Zoho Projects

A cloud-based platform, Zoho Projects provides the functionality you need to manage several SEO projects at once.

You can choose from a limited free version with basic features and four premium plans with different features and user caps.

Why It’s Good For SEO:

  • Communication tools: Zoho Project has real-time chat and forum pages, so you can quickly and easily share information with your team.
  • Timekeeping: If you bill your SEO clients by the hour, this platform is a good choice because it has excellent time tracking functionality.
  • At-a-glance-info: Zoho makes it easy to spot delays, lags, and bottlenecks.

Potential Drawbacks For SEO:

  • Features can be overwhelming: Because it offers so much functionality, some users may be intimidated by this PM platform. It also has a steeper learning curve.
  • Inflexible: It can be difficult to customize projects to your needs with this platform.

7. Wrike

Wrike can help you simplify planning while keeping your SEO projects on track.

Customizable workflows and ample communication options help you reduce emails, meetings and status updates.

Why It’s Good For SEO:

  • Task prioritization: With Wrike, you can push critical tasks to the front to make sure you don’t miss deadlines.
  • Natural workflow: Wrike is structured in a way most people will find logical and easy to use.
  • Advanced features: Functionality for task management, Gantt charts and real-time newsfeed is built-in.

Potential Drawbacks For SEO:

  • Pricier than some options: There is a free version available with limited functionality, but premium plans with more functions are more expensive than other PM tools.
  • Difficult onboarding new users: Adding new users and assigning tasks to them must be done manually, which can be time-consuming.
  • Can be difficult to navigate: Users who are unfamiliar with Wrike may have difficulty navigating projects.

8. Smartsheet

With project and work management tools, Smartsheet is an online work execution platform that allows you to automate tasks and generate real-time visuals, including Gantt charts and dashboards.

Why It’s Good For SEO:

  • Robust communication and collaboration: Smartsheet makes it easy to create and implement communication plans.
  • Adding tasks and dependencies: Smartsheet has an intuitive design that allows you to add tasks and dependencies with ease.
  • Custom dashboards: Set up your dash to display the information you want.

Potential Drawbacks For SEO:

  • Doesn’t support detailed documents: Users are only allowed to upload 10 documents per ticket, which can be troublesome for highly specific campaigns.
  • May be too simple for larger teams: If you’re overseeing a big team with many stakeholders, you may find this platform doesn’t include all the functionality you want.

9. Celoxis

Designed to be an all-in-one PM platform for enterprise-level organizations, Celoxis has nearly all the functionality an SEO professional could ever want.

It has high-level visibility and numerous reports, to help your campaigns stay on track and on budget.

Why It’s Good For SEO:

  • Easy to use: Celoxis gives you the tools to dive deep into a project, without sacrificing usability. It’s also easy to set up.
  • Includes time tracking, resource management, and budgeting: It also has ample reporting features to keep you on track.
  • Good value: Celoxis offers the functionality of a top-tier PM platform at the price point of a mid-tier one.

Potential Drawbacks For SEO:

  • No billing or invoicing functionality: You will have to use an outside program to bill your clients.
  • No free version: If you’re looking for a free-to-use PM platform for your SEO team, this isn’t it.

10. ProofHub

ProofHub doesn’t have as many features as some other PM platforms, but it’s still a good fit for SEO.

It provides a centralized hub for task lists, workflows, calendars, and documents.

Why It’s Good For SEO:

  • All the tools you need: ProofHub gives you everything you need for SEO planning, team collaboration, and management.
  • Unlimited users: You can add as many people to the platform as you need.
  • Communication: All discussions can be centralized in one place thanks to built-in chat and document sharing features.

Potential Drawbacks For SEO:

  • Recurring tasks must be entered manually: ProofHub does not provide you with the option to repeat tasks.
  • No budgeting: You will need to use a third-party platform to oversee budgeting for your SEO tasks.

11. ClickUp

ClickUp is a cloud-based platform that combines centralized company information and business tools in one place.

It allows you to create and manage to-do lists, workflows, and schedules in a variety of formats.

Why It’s Good For SEO:

  • Easy to use: ClickUp has a short learning curve, meaning you and your team can start benefiting from it faster.
  • Multiple views: Track your campaigns via a list, board, calendar, and workload view, among others.
  • Perfect balance of functions and ease of use: ClickUp falls in the Goldilocks zone by including the features you want without the complexity.

Potential Drawbacks For SEO:

  • Navigation can be confusing: The differences between tabs is subtle.
  • Implementation can require significant planning: Because it’s highly customizable, you may have to systematically plan workflows to maximize ClickUp’s benefits.

12. Forecast

With Forecast, you can put all your SEO projects, resources, and budgeting in one convenient tool.

An AI-native platform can significantly reduce your administrative workload.

Why It’s Good For SEO:

  • Easily track the lifecycle of projects: You can assign and allocate tasks and budget for your entire SEO PM operation through this platform.
  • Schedule visualization: You can get information on a team member’s workload at a glance.
  • Gathering data is easy: Want to compare a current campaign to an old one? Forecast makes it easy to pull data.

Potential Drawbacks For SEO:

  • Updating time and task entries can be tedious: Manual entry can be a time-consuming process.
  • Not ideal for larger teams: Visualization elements can be overwhelming if you have a lot of people working under you.

13. Adobe Workfront

Adobe’s solution for project management needs, Workfront is configurable to your needs and includes extensive integrations, so you can easily track the latest developments in your SEO projects.

Why It’s Good For SEO:

  • Well-designed user interface: Workfront is easy to use and visually appealing.
  • Real-time information: It keeps you abreast of any status changes.
  • Good transparency: This platform helps eliminate confusion about who is supposed to do what, as stakeholders and project scope are easily visible.

Potential Drawbacks For SEO:

  • Lengthy setup process: A high level of customization means Workfront requires a more in-depth initial setup.
  • May offer too much detail: With Workfront, you can get as granular into tasks as you like, which may lead to some people becoming lost in the details.
  • Finding tasks can be difficult: If you don’t know what project a task is assigned to, it can be difficult to locate.

14. WorkOtter

With WorkOtter, you can plan resources for your SEO campaigns at a project, rather than task level.

One of the easiest PM platforms to use, it’s an excellent choice for SEO work.

Why It’s Good For SEO:

  • Very easy to use: You don’t have to be a tech wiz to use WorkOtter for SEO project management.
  • Good communication and reporting tools: Real-time information keeps your entire team on the same page.
  • Good for resource management: This platform is useful for deciding exactly where your SEO resources will be allocated.

Potential Drawbacks For SEO:

  • Cloud-only: There is no local version available, which can be problematic if you are trying to work offline.
  • English-only support: This may present challenges for non-native English speakers.

15. PSOHub

This versatile PM platform is as useful for SEO teams as it is for architect firms or financial companies.

It has predictive project management to allow you to more accurately project how your SEO campaigns will run.

Why It’s Good For SEO:

  • Excellent time tracking functionality: PSOHub is one of the best platforms for tracking where your team’s time is going, on both group and individual levels.
  • CRM Integrations: This platform integrates with Hubspot and other CRMs, so you can track your SEO campaigns alongside email initiatives.
  • Flexible reporting: PSOHub lets you choose the data you want to include in reports.

Potential Drawbacks For SEO:

  • Time-consuming setup process: It can take some time to manually enter all your campaigns and tasks into this platform.
  • All users must have the same license level: You cannot have some users on a basic level and others on a more complex one.

How To Pick The Right PM Tool For Your SEO Needs

We’ve given you 15 different project management options that can work for your needs as an SEO professional. But how do you pick the right one for you?

It all comes down to your specific needs. Any of these platforms will help you streamline your operations, manage campaigns more effectively, and eliminate wasted time. But each of them has slightly different functionality.

It’s up to you to decide what will work best for your needs. But hopefully, by this point, we’ve given you enough information to get started.


Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal



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GPT Store Set To Launch In 2024 After ‘Unexpected’ Delays

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GPT Store Set To Launch In 2024 After 'Unexpected' Delays

OpenAI shares its plans for the GPT Store, enhancements to GPT Builder tools, privacy improvements, and updates coming to ChatGPT.

  • OpenAI has scheduled the launch of the GPT Store for early next year, aligning with its ongoing commitment to developing advanced AI technologies.
  • The GPT Builder tools have received substantial updates, including a more intuitive configuration interface and improved file handling capabilities.
  • Anticipation builds for upcoming updates to ChatGPT, highlighting OpenAI’s responsiveness to community feedback and dedication to AI innovation.

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96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here’s How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023]

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96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023]

It’s no secret that the web is growing by millions, if not billions of pages per day.

Our Content Explorer tool discovers 10 million new pages every 24 hours while being very picky about the pages that qualify for inclusion. The “main” Ahrefs web crawler crawls that number of pages every two minutes. 

But how much of this content gets organic traffic from Google?

To find out, we took the entire database from our Content Explorer tool (around 14 billion pages) and studied how many pages get traffic from organic search and why.

How many web pages get organic search traffic?

96.55% of all pages in our index get zero traffic from Google, and 1.94% get between one and ten monthly visits.

Distribution of pages by traffic from Content Explorer

Before we move on to discussing why the vast majority of pages never get any search traffic from Google (and how to avoid being one of them), it’s important to address two discrepancies with the studied data:

  1. ~14 billion pages may seem like a huge number, but it’s not the most accurate representation of the entire web. Even compared to the size of Site Explorer’s index of 340.8 billion pages, our sample size for this study is quite small and somewhat biased towards the “quality side of the web.”
  2. Our search traffic numbers are estimates. Even though our database of ~651 million keywords in Site Explorer (where our estimates come from) is arguably the largest database of its kind, it doesn’t contain every possible thing people search for in Google. There’s a chance that some of these pages get search traffic from super long-tail keywords that are not popular enough to make it into our database.

That said, these two “inaccuracies” don’t change much in the grand scheme of things: the vast majority of published pages never rank in Google and never get any search traffic. 

But why is this, and how can you be a part of the minority that gets organic search traffic from Google?

Well, there are hundreds of SEO issues that may prevent your pages from ranking well in Google. But if we focus only on the most common scenarios, assuming the page is indexed, there are only three of them.

Reason 1: The topic has no search demand

If nobody is searching for your topic, you won’t get any search traffic—even if you rank #1.

For example, I recently Googled “pull sitemap into google sheets” and clicked the top-ranking page (which solved my problem in seconds, by the way). But if you plug that URL into Ahrefs’ Site Explorer, you’ll see that it gets zero estimated organic search traffic:

The top-ranking page for this topic gets no traffic because there's no search demandThe top-ranking page for this topic gets no traffic because there's no search demand

This is because hardly anyone else is searching for this, as data from Keywords Explorer confirms:

Keyword data from Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer confirms that this topic has no search demandKeyword data from Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer confirms that this topic has no search demand

This is why it’s so important to do keyword research. You can’t just assume that people are searching for whatever you want to talk about. You need to check the data.

Our Traffic Potential (TP) metric in Keywords Explorer can help with this. It estimates how much organic search traffic the current top-ranking page for a keyword gets from all the queries it ranks for. This is a good indicator of the total search demand for a topic.

You’ll see this metric for every keyword in Keywords Explorer, and you can even filter for keywords that meet your minimum criteria (e.g., 500+ monthly traffic potential): 

Filtering for keywords with Traffic Potential (TP) in Ahrefs' Keywords ExplorerFiltering for keywords with Traffic Potential (TP) in Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer

Reason 2: The page has no backlinks

Backlinks are one of Google’s top three ranking factors, so it probably comes as no surprise that there’s a clear correlation between the number of websites linking to a page and its traffic.

Pages with more referring domains get more trafficPages with more referring domains get more traffic
Pages with more referring domains get more traffic

Same goes for the correlation between a page’s traffic and keyword rankings:

Pages with more referring domains rank for more keywordsPages with more referring domains rank for more keywords
Pages with more referring domains rank for more keywords

Does any of this data prove that backlinks help you rank higher in Google?

No, because correlation does not imply causation. However, most SEO professionals will tell you that it’s almost impossible to rank on the first page for competitive keywords without backlinks—an observation that aligns with the data above.

The key word there is “competitive.” Plenty of pages get organic traffic while having no backlinks…

Pages with more referring domains get more trafficPages with more referring domains get more traffic
How much traffic pages with no backlinks get

… but from what I can tell, almost all of them are about low-competition topics.

For example, this lyrics page for a Neil Young song gets an estimated 162 monthly visits with no backlinks: 

Example of a page with traffic but no backlinks, via Ahrefs' Content ExplorerExample of a page with traffic but no backlinks, via Ahrefs' Content Explorer

But if we check the keywords it ranks for, they almost all have Keyword Difficulty (KD) scores in the single figures:

Some of the low-difficulty keywords a page without traffic ranks forSome of the low-difficulty keywords a page without traffic ranks for

It’s the same story for this page selling upholstered headboards:

Some of the low-difficulty keywords a page without traffic ranks forSome of the low-difficulty keywords a page without traffic ranks for

You might have noticed two other things about these pages:

  • Neither of them get that much traffic. This is pretty typical. Our index contains ~20 million pages with no referring domains, yet only 2,997 of them get more than 1K search visits per month. That’s roughly 1 in every 6,671 pages with no backlinks.
  • Both of the sites they’re on have high Domain Rating (DR) scores. This metric shows the relative strength of a website’s backlink profile. Stronger sites like these have more PageRank that they can pass to pages with internal links to help them rank. 

Bottom line? If you want your pages to get search traffic, you really only have two options:

  1. Target uncompetitive topics that you can rank for with few or no backlinks.
  2. Target competitive topics and build backlinks to rank.

If you want to find uncompetitive topics, try this:

  1. Enter a topic into Keywords Explorer
  2. Go to the Matching terms report
  3. Set the Keyword Difficulty (KD) filter to max. 20
  4. Set the Lowest DR filter to your site’s DR (this will show you keywords with at least one of the same or lower DR ranking in the top 5)
Filtering for low-competition keywords in Ahrefs' Keywords ExplorerFiltering for low-competition keywords in Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer

(Remember to keep an eye on the TP column to make sure they have traffic potential.)

To rank for more competitive topics, you’ll need to earn or build high-quality backlinks to your page. If you’re not sure how to do that, start with the guides below. Keep in mind that it’ll be practically impossible to get links unless your content adds something to the conversation. 

Reason 3. The page doesn’t match search intent

Google wants to give users the most relevant results for a query. That’s why the top organic results for “best yoga mat” are blog posts with recommendations, not product pages. 

It's obviously what searchers want when they search for "best yoga mats"It's obviously what searchers want when they search for "best yoga mats"

Basically, Google knows that searchers are in research mode, not buying mode.

It’s also why this page selling yoga mats doesn’t show up, despite it having backlinks from more than six times more websites than any of the top-ranking pages:

Page selling yoga mats that has lots of backlinksPage selling yoga mats that has lots of backlinks
Number of linking websites to the top-ranking pages for "best yoga mats"Number of linking websites to the top-ranking pages for "best yoga mats"

Luckily, the page ranks for thousands of other more relevant keywords and gets tens of thousands of monthly organic visits. So it’s not such a big deal that it doesn’t rank for “best yoga mats.”

Number of keyword rankings for the page selling yoga matsNumber of keyword rankings for the page selling yoga mats

However, if you have pages with lots of backlinks but no organic traffic—and they already target a keyword with traffic potential—another quick SEO win is to re-optimize them for search intent.

We did this in 2018 with our free backlink checker.

It was originally nothing but a boring landing page explaining the benefits of our product and offering a 7-day trial: 

Original landing page for our free backlink checkerOriginal landing page for our free backlink checker

After analyzing search intent, we soon realized the issue:

People weren’t looking for a landing page, but rather a free tool they could use right away. 

So, in September 2018, we created a free tool and published it under the same URL. It ranked #1 pretty much overnight, and has remained there ever since. 

Our rankings over time for the keyword "backlink checker." You can see when we changed the pageOur rankings over time for the keyword "backlink checker." You can see when we changed the page

Organic traffic went through the roof, too. From ~14K monthly organic visits pre-optimization to almost ~200K today. 

Estimated search traffic over time to our free backlink checkerEstimated search traffic over time to our free backlink checker

TLDR

96.55% of pages get no organic traffic. 

Keep your pages in the other 3.45% by building backlinks, choosing topics with organic traffic potential, and matching search intent.

Ping me on Twitter if you have any questions. 🙂



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Firefox URL Tracking Removal – Is This A Trend To Watch?

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Firefox URL Tracking Removal - Is This A Trend To Watch?

Firefox recently announced that they are offering users a choice on whether or not to include tracking information from copied URLs, which comes on the on the heels of iOS 17 blocking user tracking via URLs. The momentum of removing tracking information from URLs appears to be gaining speed. Where is this all going and should marketers be concerned?

Is it possible that blocking URL tracking parameters in the name of privacy will become a trend industrywide?

Firefox Announcement

Firefox recently announced that beginning in the Firefox Browser version 120.0, users will be able to select whether or not they want URLs that they copied to contain tracking parameters.

When users select a link to copy and click to raise the contextual menu for it, Firefox is now giving users a choice as to whether to copy the URL with or without the URL tracking parameters that might be attached to the URL.

Screenshot Of Firefox 120 Contextual Menu

Screenshot of Firefox functionality

According to the Firefox 120 announcement:

“Firefox supports a new “Copy Link Without Site Tracking” feature in the context menu which ensures that copied links no longer contain tracking information.”

Browser Trends For Privacy

All browsers, including Google’s Chrome and Chrome variants, are adding new features that make it harder for websites to track users online through referrer information embedded in a URL when a user clicks from one site and leaves through that click to visit another site.

This trend for privacy has been ongoing for many years but it became more noticeable in 2020 when Chrome made changes to how referrer information was sent when users click links to visit other sites. Firefox and Safari followed with similar referrer behavior.

Whether the current Firefox implementation would be disruptive or if the impact is overblown is kind of besides the point.

What is the point is whether or not what Firefox and Apple did to protect privacy is a trend and if that trend will extend to more blocking of URL parameters that are stronger than what Firefox recently implemented.

I asked Kenny Hyder, CEO of online marketing agency Pixel Main, what his thoughts are about the potential disruptive aspect of what Firefox is doing and whether it’s a trend.

Kenny answered:

“It’s not disruptive from Firefox alone, which only has a 3% market share. If other popular browsers follow suit it could begin to be disruptive to a limited degree, but easily solved from a marketers prospective.

If it became more intrusive and they blocked UTM tags, it would take awhile for them all to catch on if you were to circumvent UTM tags by simply tagging things in a series of sub-directories.. ie. site.com/landing/<tag1>/<tag2> etc.

Also, most savvy marketers are already integrating future proof workarounds for these exact scenarios.

A lot can be done with pixel based integrations rather than cookie based or UTM tracking. When set up properly they can actually provide better and more accurate tracking and attribution. Hence the name of my agency, Pixel Main.”

I think most marketers are aware that privacy is the trend. The good ones have already taken steps to keep it from becoming a problem while still respecting user privacy.”

Some URL Parameters Are Already Affected

For those who are on the periphery of what’s going on with browsers and privacy, it may come as a surprise that some tracking parameters are already affected by actions meant to protect user privacy.

Jonathan Cairo, Lead Solutions Engineer at Elevar shared that there is already a limited amount of tracking related information stripped from URLs.

But he also explained that there are limits to how much information can be stripped from URLs because the resulting negative effects would cause important web browsing functionality to fail.

Jonathan explained:

“So far, we’re seeing a selective trend where some URL parameters, like ‘fbclid’ in Safari’s private browsing, are disappearing, while others, such as TikTok’s ‘ttclid’, remain.

UTM parameters are expected to stay since they focus on user segmentation rather than individual tracking, provided they are used as intended.

The idea of completely removing all URL parameters seems improbable, as it would disrupt key functionalities on numerous websites, including banking services and search capabilities.

Such a drastic move could lead users to switch to alternative browsers.

On the other hand, if only some parameters are eliminated, there’s the possibility of marketers exploiting the remaining ones for tracking purposes.

This raises the question of whether companies like Apple will take it upon themselves to prevent such use.

Regardless, even in a scenario where all parameters are lost, there are still alternative ways to convey click IDs and UTM information to websites.”

Brad Redding of Elevar agreed about the disruptive effect from going too far with removing URL tracking information:

“There is still too much basic internet functionality that relies on query parameters, such as logging in, password resets, etc, which are effectively the same as URL parameters in a full URL path.

So we believe the privacy crackdown is going to continue on known trackers by blocking their tracking scripts, cookies generated from them, and their ability to monitor user’s activity through the browser.

As this grows, the reliance on brands to own their first party data collection and bring consent preferences down to a user-level (vs session based) will be critical so they can backfill gaps in conversion data to their advertising partners outside of the browser or device.”

The Future Of Tracking, Privacy And What Marketers Should Expect

Elevar raises good points about how far browsers can go in terms of how much blocking they can do. Their response that it’s down to brands to own their first party data collection and other strategies to accomplish analytics without compromising user privacy.

Given all the laws governing privacy and Internet tracking that have been enacted around the world it looks like privacy will continue to be a trend.

However, at this point it time, the advice is to keep monitoring how far browsers are going but there is no expectation that things will get out of hand.

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