**Important Note: On February 22, 2024, Google will end support for Spotlight activities and conversions as part of the third-party cookies phased deprecation. This means conversion tracking will no longer be available for your Stack Overflow advertising campaigns.**
When you think about which groups of consumers are clicking ads on the internet, you might assume that developers and technologists are not at the top of the list. Your assumption would be correct. But there’s a good reason why.
When developers visit sites like Stack Overflow, they are looking to solve an immediate problem and get back to work. This is why we don’t see them engage with advertising in the same way even a more traditional IT decision maker will.
However, we’ve found that if a developer sees an ad on Stack Overflow that piques their interest (get best practices for creating developer-friendly ads here), they’re likely to take steps to research that company or product on their own. The good news is that you can take advantage of this opportunity by setting up proper attribution mechanisms in your marketing efforts on Stack Overflow. That’s why we recommend using conversion tracking (an activity pixel) on your banner advertising campaigns.
Now, you’re probably wondering how conversion tracking works. Fortunately, it’s not complicated. It simply means placing a pixel (also known as an activity tag) on a conversion page, such as a ‘Thank You’ page. Once the user lands on that page, the pixel “fires” and will allow you to attribute that conversion to your advertising campaign on Stack Overflow. The pixel does not track user information or any actions they take on your landing page.
To learn more about conversion tracking and exactly how to set up a pixel, read our article, How do I set up a conversion pixel?, or contact your Stack Overflow Customer Success Manager for help getting started.