http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1081939
What is pixel tracking?
Pixel tracking, as in direct traffic measurement?
There are some sites out there that can help you keep track of your traffic. One example of this is Google analytics , another is Quantcast . These sites use a single pixel to measure your traffic.
Unlike alexa, that relies on a spyware toolbar, direct measurement is a lot more reliable. Its also a lot better to use direct measurement when selling advertising. The numbers on those charts I linked to are real numbers, not estimates. My traffic is measured by a single pixel, with a tracking code around the pixel.
Unless you use direct traffic measurements, you are giving your advertisers estimated numbers. I can tell my advertisers that I get 1.8 million page views a month, and over 40,000 uniques visiting monthly - and that is directly measured, not estimated.
This way the affiliate programs know "exactly" how much traffic you get.
http://www.google.com/support/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=174090
Here's how to add the asynchronous snippet to your site:
- Find the asynchronous snippet for your profile
The tracking code is profile-specific, so you can only access it from the Profile Settings screen for that profile. Go to Analytics Settings and click "Edit" next to the profile used for your site. In the Profile Settings page, click the "Check Status" link. You'll see something similar to the code snippet below, whereXXXXX-YY
indicates the profile ID for your Analytics account.
<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
</script> - Copy and place the code snippet
Once you find the code snippet, copy and paste it into your web page, just before the closing</head>
tag * . If your website uses templates to generate pages, enter it just before the closing</head>
tag in the file that contains the<head>
section. (Most websites re-use one file for common content, so it's likely that you won't have to place the code snippet on every single page of your website.)For the best performance across all browsers we suggest you position other scripts in your site in one of these ways:- before the tracking code snippet in the <head> section of your HTML
- after both the tracking code snippet and all page content (e.g. at the bottom of the HTML body)
- Verify and customize
Verify that your tracking code contains the correct web property ID for your profile (it should if you copied it from the Profile Settings screen). Double-check that the tracking snippet installed on your website matches the code shown in the profile. For more details on verifying your setup, see Verify your setup .
Add any customizations back in using the asynchronous syntax. The Usage Guide and Migration Examples (English only) on Google Code provide many examples of customizations with asynchronous tracking.
* One of the main advantages of the asynchronous snippet is that you can position it at the top of the HTML document. This increases the likelihood that the tracking beacon will be sent before the user leaves the page. It is customary to place JavaScript code in the <head>
section, and we recommend placing the snippet at the bottom of the <head>
section for best performance.