From 30 March 2020 parallel tracking will be mandatory for all video campaigns, in order to increase mobile site speed.
What is parallel tracking?
Parallel tracking is a useful tool that brings visitors directly to a landing page upon clicking whilst measuring the ad click in the background using third-party trackers. In comparison, users are redirected by Google’s traditional click tracking, which as a result slows down the time it takes for a page to load.
What are the benefits of parallel tracking?
Users are taken to your landing page immediately upon clicking your ad, whilst URL tracking requests are processed in the background, which makes pages load much more quickly. This is especially useful for those on slower networks who will be able to reach landing pages several seconds faster.
What does parallel tracking mean for conversions?
As a result of more visitors reaching and engaging with your site quicker due to a faster load speed, bounce rate is improved, which can lead to an increase in conversions from Google campaigns. As an example, according to Google, a one-second increase in page load time can decrease conversions by 20%.
Is parallel tracking completely new?
Parallel tracking is already mandatory for all Search, Shopping and Display campaigns on Google, and has been since 30 October 2019.
How much quicker is parallel tracking than traditional click tracking?
With parallel tracking in place, the process of clicking an ad reduces by three huge steps – cutting out the click tracker loading, the tracking URL loading and any additional tracking URLs loading. This means a more seamless post-click landing page experience for the user, who is also more likely to convert.
How to turn on parallel tracking:
- Sign into your Google Ads account.
- In the navigation menu, click “All campaigns”.
- In the page menu, click “Settings”.
- Click “Account Settings”.
- Click “Tracking”.
- Click the switch next to “Parallel tracking” to turn it on.
Google research shows the following facts about the impact of shortening page load time:
- As page load time increases from 1 second to 3 seconds, the probability of a prospect bouncing increases by 32%.
- As page load time increases from 1 second to 5 seconds, the probability of a prospect bouncing increases by 90%.
- As page load time increases from 1 second to 6 seconds, the probability of a prospect bouncing increases by 106%.
- As page load time increases from 1 second to 10 seconds, the probability of a prospect bouncing increases by 123%.