---
title: What does a pixel do? 🤔
slug: what-does-a-pixel-do
docTags: 
createdAt: 2024-10-25T00:04:26.269Z
---

The *obvious answer* to what does a pixel do is: **Send** **event data** to the ad platform. This is actually only a really small part of things thought! In fact, sending event data is probably the simplest part of a pixel. Most of the <u>***real***</u> work of a pixel is for <u>**identification**</u>**.**

Think about the following for a minute: What ad platforms do is use fancy algorithms to send people who want to make a purchase/signup/etc. on you website. To do that, they ***need&#x20;***&#x74;o know who watched which ad and what did they do afterwards. They saw your ad and then made a purchase? They need that info. Otherwise nothing works.&#x20;

:::hint{type="info"}
&#x20;The point of a **pixel** is to <font color="#3b9f0f">**send events**</font> and <font color="#3b9f0f">**Personally Identifiable Information**</font>**.&#x20;**&#x4F;ne without the other is <font color="#ff0000">***useless.***</font>
:::

With that in mind, if there's an event on your website, the pixel has to collect certain information about the individuals there. That information is:

- IP Address
- Device Identifier (IDFA for iOS and AAID)
- Potential Fingerprinting Elements (screen resolution, browser, device type, etc.)
- Email/Phone/User ID/Etc.
- Cookie identifiers (browser id & click id)

Naturally, the more specific the identifier is, the better. Furthermore, the *more* of them that a pixel collects, the better. In practice, the ones that *truly* matter will be the last 2. Of these, the first will have to be provided by you directly (after purchase/login/signup). But the last one is the most important one. The ***Browser ID&#x20;***&#x61;nd ***Click ID*** <u>*cookies*</u>.&#x20;