07 September 2009 | Author: M. Thomson SEO & Affiliate Consultant
HTML 5 is the next major overhaul of HTML, the main markup language used to power the World Wide Web. The working draft of HTML 5 was released late August 2009, which bigmouthmedia was keen to analyse. After digesting the proposed differences between HTML 4 and HTML 5, a certain area caught our attention with relation to digital marketing: hyperlink auditing.
Hyperlink Auditing
In the proposed draft of HTML 5, hyperlink auditing allows you to "attach" resources to a link which, when clicked, will ping a source(s). This enables the click to be tracked via the desired method e.g. dropping a cookie or sending a HTTP request. This may sound familiar affiliate marketers and it is a method that is made possible with the proposed ping attribute. The ping attribute can be assigned to a URL and contain URLs for external resources to be pinged, separated by a space.
The differences between existing tracking in affiliate marketing and the proposed method in the HTML 5 draft are:
a) redirects could be made redundant
b) the link can be made direct
c) and the new aspect - privacy is a core consideration
True to its name, hyperlink auditing may have been partially developed to allow users to vet or decide which third party tracking (cookies) are allowed. Within the proposed draft, it is apparent that your user-agent e.g. Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera etc. will have settings to adjust behaviour.
It is likely that users will be able to choose which third parties they accept, as well as choose to disable all third party requests and user-agents will indicate to users the implications of clicking the link. For example, in the status bar, it is proposed that a notification will be displayed advising the user that clicking on the following link will also cause secondary requests.
These proposed changes may have been brought into consideration to tie in with the EU's proposed amendments to the 2002 European Communities Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications, which is causing some concern for affiliate marketing here in the bigmouthmedia office. If our suspicions are correct, all tracking of links and affiliate activity will be openly disclosed to the user. Even affiliate networks that offer redirectless solutions would need to disclose.
Keen to get a better understanding, bigmouthmedia spoke to Ian Hickson, author and maintainer of the Web Applications 1.0/HTML 5 specification.
We asked Ian: "Would you be able to clarify whether ping and hyperlink auditing was in fact thought up as an alternative to tracking tags."
Ian kindly responded, saying: "Yes, that is one of the use cases that the feature is intended for."
Overall, from the HTML 5 draft, hyperlink auditing is not here to replace existing tracking methods, but is likely designed to act as an improved alternative. Removing the redirect from the tracking process improves user-experience, as there is no need to visit another host prior to the final landing page - resulting in faster load times. It is strongly believed this is one of the main considerations of the HTML 5 draft, along with privacy.
It's important, however, to bear in mind that HTML 5 is only in its draft stages, not conclusive. Hyperlink auditing may not even be part of the final release. If hyperlink auditing is present in the final version, bigmouthmedia believes it may affect affiliate marketing heavily, especially if enforced by the EU as described in 2002 European Communities Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications and supported by major browsers. Inevitably, every internet user would be disclosed to all tracking that occurs on links - a weird, but highly likely scenario. Let's wait and see what unfolds.
HTML 5 Draft: Hyperlink Auditing and how it will impact affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing has been around for many years and has proven to be a powerful marketing technique on the web. Over recent years, it has prospered to become a multi-million pound advertising stream - though there could be an upcoming bump in the road. Bigmouthmedia may have uncovered a kink in affiliate marketing's future progression, lying within the new proposed HTML 5 draft.HTML 5 is the next major overhaul of HTML, the main markup language used to power the World Wide Web. The working draft of HTML 5 was released late August 2009, which bigmouthmedia was keen to analyse. After digesting the proposed differences between HTML 4 and HTML 5, a certain area caught our attention with relation to digital marketing: hyperlink auditing.
Hyperlink Auditing
In the proposed draft of HTML 5, hyperlink auditing allows you to "attach" resources to a link which, when clicked, will ping a source(s). This enables the click to be tracked via the desired method e.g. dropping a cookie or sending a HTTP request. This may sound familiar affiliate marketers and it is a method that is made possible with the proposed ping attribute. The ping attribute can be assigned to a URL and contain URLs for external resources to be pinged, separated by a space.
The differences between existing tracking in affiliate marketing and the proposed method in the HTML 5 draft are:
a) redirects could be made redundant
b) the link can be made direct
c) and the new aspect - privacy is a core consideration
True to its name, hyperlink auditing may have been partially developed to allow users to vet or decide which third party tracking (cookies) are allowed. Within the proposed draft, it is apparent that your user-agent e.g. Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera etc. will have settings to adjust behaviour.
It is likely that users will be able to choose which third parties they accept, as well as choose to disable all third party requests and user-agents will indicate to users the implications of clicking the link. For example, in the status bar, it is proposed that a notification will be displayed advising the user that clicking on the following link will also cause secondary requests.
These proposed changes may have been brought into consideration to tie in with the EU's proposed amendments to the 2002 European Communities Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications, which is causing some concern for affiliate marketing here in the bigmouthmedia office. If our suspicions are correct, all tracking of links and affiliate activity will be openly disclosed to the user. Even affiliate networks that offer redirectless solutions would need to disclose.
Keen to get a better understanding, bigmouthmedia spoke to Ian Hickson, author and maintainer of the Web Applications 1.0/HTML 5 specification.
We asked Ian: "Would you be able to clarify whether ping and hyperlink auditing was in fact thought up as an alternative to tracking tags."
Ian kindly responded, saying: "Yes, that is one of the use cases that the feature is intended for."
Overall, from the HTML 5 draft, hyperlink auditing is not here to replace existing tracking methods, but is likely designed to act as an improved alternative. Removing the redirect from the tracking process improves user-experience, as there is no need to visit another host prior to the final landing page - resulting in faster load times. It is strongly believed this is one of the main considerations of the HTML 5 draft, along with privacy.
It's important, however, to bear in mind that HTML 5 is only in its draft stages, not conclusive. Hyperlink auditing may not even be part of the final release. If hyperlink auditing is present in the final version, bigmouthmedia believes it may affect affiliate marketing heavily, especially if enforced by the EU as described in 2002 European Communities Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications and supported by major browsers. Inevitably, every internet user would be disclosed to all tracking that occurs on links - a weird, but highly likely scenario. Let's wait and see what unfolds.
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