View source for Web beacon

A '''web beacon''' is an object embedded in a [[web page]] or [[email]], which unobtrusively (usually invisibly) allows checking that a user has accessed the content.

Common uses are email tracking and page tagging for [[web analytics]]. Alternative names are web bug, tracking bug, tag, or page tag. Common names for web beacons implemented through an embedded image include tracking pixel, pixel tag, 1×1 gif, and clear gif.

When implemented using JavaScript, they may be called JavaScript tags.

There is a work in progress to standardize an interface that web developers can use to asynchronously transfer small HTTP data from the User Agent to a web server that call it simply beacons (in the context of web development) which can be used to send data to a web server prior to the loading of the document without delaying the load and affecting the perception of page load performance for the next navigation.

== See also ==

* [[Online advertising]]
* [[Tag management system]]
* [[Web analytics]]

== External links ==

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_beacon Web beacon] @ Wikipedia

[[Category:Internet]]