Google made two major announcements on Thursday. One of them impacts advertisers who use third-party measurement systems. The other affects advertisers who haven’t converted their sites to HTTPS till now.
Parallel tracking will be needed from October 30
Google has been working on numerous initiatives to enhance landing-page loading times, especially on mobile. Parallel tracking is one of these methods. It was introduced last year and made available this year. Parallel tracking will be needed for all advertisers who utilize third-party click measurement systems this autumn, Google announced on Thursday.
Parallel tracking helps to quicken landing-page loading times by separating tracking parameters from landing page URL. Instead of loading the tracking URL, AdWords click tracker and any redirects before the user views landing page. The user can go to landing page while tracking functionality loads separately.
From October 30, 2018, parallel tracking will be required for all AdWords accounts. In order to get a jump start, you can now choose in your Search Network and Shopping campaigns. And even if you don’t want to turn it on today, you should start talking with click measurement provides to make sure that they are ready for such a change. By doing so, you can ensure that your click measurement system isn’t disrupted. Once you have confirmed that your click measurement system is already compatible, you can opt in from “Settings” page of your account-level in “Tracking” section.
Security: Focus on HTTPS
You want visitors to have a safe experience every time they come to your website. However, too many brands still utilize unencrypted HTTP for sending users to their landing pages. This is the major reason why Google strongly supports HTTPS encryption, the industry standard for ensuring the integrity and security of data traveling between browser and website. Since last year, Chrome has marked an increasingly big set of HTTP pages aren’t secure. Starting in July 2018 with release of Chrome 68, Chrome shall mark all HTTP pages as “not secure”.
On Thursday, Google stated that it has taken many steps for advertisers for managing the transition:-
- Enabled HTTP Search and clicks to be automatically redirected to HTTPS when it “knows that your website favors HTTPS. This will start rolling out from June 11.
- Launched Ad version history to let advertisers update landing page URLs from HTTP to HTTPS without readjusting performance statistics.
- In the weeks to come, Google will start warning to advertisers in AdWords when they are utilizing HTTP addresses for landing pages.
