SEO
What Impact Do Tracking Pixels Have on Site Speed?
Conversion tracking is a fundamental part of successful PPC campaigns.
Given that the only way to track conversions is with conversion tracking pixels/code on your site, it makes sense to wonder what impact these codes have on site performance.
In this month’s Ask the PPC, Ralph from Deventer asks:
“Does the implementation of the Meta-pixel (Facebook) have a negative impact on the performance of a website (e.g. loading speed)?”
In answering Ralph’s question, we’ll take a look at the following issues:
- What are conversion tracking pixels?
- How do they impact site speed?
- What strategies can advertisers employ to mitigate site performance risk?
While the question was about Meta’s pixel, we will look at most major ad network tracking, as the lessons can often carry over to all ad networks.
With that said, if we miss a network and you have additional questions, please let us know and we’ll update the post.
What Are Conversion Tracking Pixels?
Conversion tracking pixels are snippets of code that help communicate what happens on the site post-click.
Advertisers only need to install them once per domain, accounting for individual conversion actions in the ad network.
Depending on the ad network, you may decide to use Google Analytics events for conversion tracking or the native ad network’s conversion tracking pixel.
The benefit of using Google Analytics conversion events is that it is the same source of truth your SEO team will be using, removing the risk of discrepancies.
Keep in mind though that some ad networks will need their own conversion tracking anyway for network-specific actions (calls, local actions, etc.).
How Do Pixels Impact Site Speed?
The actual impact individual pixels have on site speed is negligible.
Issues arise when redundant pixels are added or installed incorrectly.
Hard-coded pixels tend to slow down site speed more than those in Google Tag Manager (GTM).
A study by AnalyticsMania found that sites loaded about 10% faster using GTM to hold tracking pixels than those hard coding them.
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Image from AnalyticsMania.com, March 2022
By adding the pixels to GTM, you ensure more control over when the pixels fire and retain greater visibility of what’s installed.
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Image from AnalyticsMania.com, March 2022
While it’s true some tracking pixels might need to fire right away, most can be held back to the afterload.
Strategies To Mitigate Site Speed Risk
The most significant risk is redundant tracking pixels, which can drag down the site speed and potentially cause misfires in data collection.
It is crucial to set up regular audits of your tracking pixels, ideally once per month or quarter.
The most important things to check for are:
- Duplicate tags from old vendors.
- Tags from channels no longer being used.
- Redundant containers or tags.
Brands might opt to send all paid traffic to a subdomain, which often allows for easier site speed management.
Achieve this through more strategic calls to fire tracking.
While site verification doesn’t directly impact site speed, failing to do so can result in unusable pixels.
Verify the pixel within the first few weeks of account set-up to avoid the vicious cycle of installing and uninstalling.
Final Takeaways
Tracking pixels don’t really impact site speed on a noticeable level.
Human error can cause problems. However, you can mitigate most problems through GTM.
Have a question about PPC? Submit via this form or tweet me @navahf with the #AskPPC hashtag. See you next month!
More resources:
Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal
SEO
Surfer SEO Unveils New Semrush Integration
Surfer SEO has a new growth management tool that includes backlink data provided by industry leader, Semrush.
Here’s what the integration means for users.
Surfer SEO
Surfer SEO is a machine learning tool used by SEOs to conduct keyword research, create content strategies, and generate AI outlines.
Companies such as Square, ClickUp, and Shopify use the tool, in addition to over 15,000 other brands and agencies.
Semrush
Semrush is an enterprise SEO tool marketers use to audit websites, conduct competitor analysis and develop content strategies.
IBM, TESLA, and Amazon are just a few companies using it, in addition to more than 10 million marketing professionals.
Starting today, Surfer SEO will use Semrush’s backlink data to expand Grow Flow task recommendations.
Grow Flow
Grow Flow is like your friendly SEO AI assistant.
Described on the Surfer website as an “AI growth management platform,” the tool provides a few SEO tasks each week to help you stay on track — and not get lost in the overwhelming amount of information that comes with learning SEO.
For example, it may recommend adding keywords (GSC) that a website is ranking for but not explicitly speaking to in an article.
Or, the tool may recommend where to add internal links.
Screenshot from Grow Flow, June 2022It can also recommend new content topics that users can open in a content editor at the push of a button.
Screenshot from Grow Flow, June 2022The integration with Semrush comes into play in the Grow Flow recommendations.
Once you connect Surfer to the freemium Semrush account, you unlock new tasks.
Screenshot from Grow Flow, June 2022Voila – a list of referring domains every week pulled from your competitors!
Screenshot from Grow Flow, June 2022Manually researching a competitor’s backlinks is a considerable drain on internal resources. Thanks to this integration, you’ll discover new opportunities automatically.
An Industry First
Until now, Semrush has not integrated with an SEO company.
Historically, Semrush has only integrated with Google Products like Search Console and Analytics, and social media networks like Facebook and Twitter.
It’s also worked with task management tools like Trello and Monday.com – but never a direct SEO competitor.
Semrush’s “SEO writing assistant” feature is a direct competitor to Surfer’s “SEO Content Editor”: one of its most popular features.
So, why partner and offer this fantastic AI assistant to search marketers – for free?
I asked Tomasz Niezgoda, Surfer SEO’s Marketing Executive and Partner, how this partnership came to be.
“Pretty straightforward,” he said. “Semrush reached out to us with a proposition to integrate Surfer inside their marketplace [and] after some time, we decided to give it a shot and started working on this integration.”
From the beginning, Semrush felt like this would be a successful integration because it was applying its backlink data in a customer-oriented way.
“For Semrush, it’s a very meaningful integration. It allows Surfer SEO users to gain valuable link building insights and knowledge, which is crucial for ranking their content,” said Eugene Levin, President, Semrush.
What This Means
Two major SEO competitors are working together to create a free tool for small business owners and entry-level marketers to develop weekly best practices.
Matt Diggity, CEO and Founder at Diggity Marketing, calls the tool “Simple. Efficient. Automated.”
“You get the list every week and gain immediate insights [into] which referrals your competition is getting. Then, you can start working on your own link-building strategy straight away.”
The two giants hint that combining Semrush’s backlink data with the machine learning power of Surfer is only the beginning.
“We like each other,” said Niezgoda. “Maybe it’s just the first integration that’s coming.”
Featured Image: Screenshot from Grow Flow, June 2022
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