How Facebook Pixel works

For those familiar with advertising, the pixel is the easiest thing to get. For those just starting out, it’s another one of the many confusing and intimidating things to deal with before you can even begin.

1 Apr 2020

Useful articles

First, what is a pixel?

A pixel is a special piece of code that allows you to track people’s behavior on your site. The data collected can then be used in a variety of ways.

Do you use Google Analytics? The information you see in your dashboard is likely based on data collected through the Google Analytics pixel.

Facebook, like other advertising platforms, has its own pixel. Once installed, the pixel helps you track who came into your store, what products they saw, how long they stayed on a particular page, whether they added items to their cart or bought, and much, much more. It will then help you personalize your ads on FB based on what each customer is doing in your store.

So if you have a Facebook pixel installed, you can easily target customers at different stages of their buying journey with relevant Facebook ads.

How the Facebook pixel works

The Facebook pixel is coded with several predefined events (website behavior patterns). Each time a user initiates one of these events, the pixel collects and sends data to Facebook.

Here’s an example. Let’s say I had to visit a T-shirt store. The moment I get to the homepage, the pixel determines that I was browsing the homepage and sends that data to Facebook. From that point on, the pixel will track all of my activity on the site, including the products I browse, the time I spend on each one, and more.

Keep in mind that Facebook retains this data for 180 days, so you have quite a bit of opportunity to segment and then target your site users accordingly. I’m sure you’re now starting to understand how powerful an advertising tool Facebook pixel is.