Rocket Fuel Pixels
This document shows how to instrument Rocket Fuel Inc (RFI) pixels into sites or ads.
Contents
Rocket Fuel Pixels .................................................................................................................................................................. 1
Implementing pixels ................................................................................................................................................................ 1
Pixel versions........................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Image Non-Secure............................................................................................................................................................... 2
Image Secure....................................................................................................................................................................... 2
Javascript Non-Secure ......................................................................................................................................................... 2
Javascript Secure ................................................................................................................................................................. 2
Cache busting .......................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Common cache busting macros .......................................................................................................................................... 3
Passing data values in pixel calls ............................................................................................................................................. 4
Third-party Certification ......................................................................................................................................................... 4
Technical Contact .................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Implementing pixels
Pixels can be implemented directly into the HTML of the page, at the bottom of HTML code of the page. If the site is
using pixel management solutions (aka ‘parent’ or ‘container’ pixels) like DART Floodlight or Atlas UAT, then pixels
should be implemented into their respective containers. This is especially important for conversion pixels, to insure that
Rocket Fuel’s view of conversions matches that of the parent pixel.
Pixel versions
There are four versions of Rocket Fuel pixel: Javascript and GIF Image, each with secure and non-secure version. Secure
vs. Non-Secure choice is determined by the type of the page the pixel is instrumented into. HTTP pages such as landing
page will use non-secure pixels and HTTPS pages such as purchase confirmation page will use secure version.
Confidential Rocket Fuel Inc., 350 Marine Parkway, Suite 220, Redwood Shores, CA 94065, Fax (650) 595-1274
Javascript allows more data to be collected than Image versions: collects referrer URL information when implemented
inside iFrames and enables rich set of parameters to be passed with the pixel call.
Image Non-Secure
Here is an example of Rocket Fuel non-secure image pixel. It has three parameters – account ID (rb=3), action ID
(ca=1991) and cache buster (&ra=%n).
<!-- Begin Rocket Fuel Conversion Action Tracking Code Version 7 -->
<img src='http://1991p.rfihub.com/ca.gif?rb=3&ca=1991&ra=' height=0 width=0
style='display:none' alt='Rocket Fuel'/>
<!-- End Rocket Fuel Conversion Action Tracking Code Version 7 -->
Image Secure
Here is an example of Rocket Fuel secure image pixel. It has three parameters – account ID (rb=3), action ID (ca=1991)
and cache buster (&ra=%n).
<!-- Begin Rocket Fuel Conversion Action Tracking Code Version 7 -->
<img src='https://1991p.rfihub.com/ca.gif?rb=3&ca=1991&ra=' height=0 width=0
style='display:none' alt='Rocket Fuel'/>
<!-- End Rocket Fuel Conversion Action Tracking Code Version 7 -->
Javascript Non-Secure
Here is an example of Rocket Fuel non-secure Javascript pixel . It has two parameters – account ID (publisher:3) and
action ID (conversionID:1991). To support browsers with Javascript turned off, the pixel also contains noscript part,
identical to image pixel version.
<!-- Begin Rocket Fuel Conversion Action Tracking Code Version 7 -->
<script type="text/javascript">var cache_buster =
parseInt(Math.random()*99999999);document.write("<img
src='http://p.rfihub.com/ca.gif?rb=3&ca=1991&ra=" + cache_buster + "' height=0 width=0
style='display:none' alt='Rocket Fuel'/>");</script>
<noscript><iframe src='http://1991p.rfihub.com/ca.html?rb=3&ca=1991&ra='
style='display:none;padding:0;margin:0' width='0' height='0'></iframe></noscript>
<!-- End Rocket Fuel Conversion Action Tracking Code Version 7 -->
Javascript Secure
Here is an example of Rocket Fuel secure Javascript pixel. It has two parameters – account ID (publisher:3) and action ID
(conversionID:1991). To support browsers with Javascript turned off, the pixel also contains noscript part, identical to
image pixel version.
<!-- Begin Rocket Fuel Conversion Action Tracking Code Version 7 -->
<script type="text/javascript">var cache_buster =
parseInt(Math.random()*99999999);document.write("<img
src='http://p.rfihub.com/ca.gif?rb=3&ca=1991&ra=" + cache_buster + "' height=0 width=0
style='display:none' alt='Rocket Fuel'/>");</script>
Confidential Rocket Fuel Inc., 350 Marine Parkway, Suite 220, Redwood Shores, CA 94065, Fax (650) 595-1274
<noscript><iframe src='https://1991p.rfihub.com/ca.html?rb=3&ca=1991&ra='
style='display:none;padding:0;margin:0' width='0' height='0'></iframe></noscript>
<!-- End Rocket Fuel Conversion Action Tracking Code Version 7 -->
Cache busting
Individual user browsers store local copies of HTML code and images they have previously accessed. Large Internet
service providers (ISPs) often cache frequently accessed content on their own proxy servers. This is known as caching.
On subsequent requests for the same URL, browsers use cached copy to minimize data transmission and increase speed.
Thus subsequent requests are not visible to the ad or pixel servers. For example if the user comes to a page with a
Rocket Fuel pixel on July 1 for the first time, browser will request the pixel from Rocket Fuel server
(http://1991p.rfihub.com/ca.gif?rb=3&ca=1991) and then will cache the pixel. When the user visits the same page with
the same browser again on July 15, the pixel will not be requested from the server and will instead be served from local
cache. Thus Rocket Fuel “will not know” that the user visited the page on July 15, only on July 1.
To defeat caching, a value that is different every time is inserted dynamically into the URL, making it look to the browser
as new URL every time and forcing it to request the pixel from the server every time. Such value is known as cache
buster. It could be a timestamp to the precision of milliseconds. Continuing from the previous example, the first time the
user visits the page, the request will be (http://1991p.rfihub.com/ca.gif?rb=3&ca=1991&ra=20110701_08:00:00.000).
The next time the user visits the page the URL will be different due to different cache buster value and will thus be
forced to request from the server again (http://1991p.rfihub.com/ca.gif?rb=3&ca=1991&ra=20110715_08:00:00.000).
Common cache busting macros
More often cache busters are random values generated by the code on the page pixels are instrumented into or
generated by macros in ‘container’ (aka ‘parent’) pixels such as DART Floodlight. When page is served, these macros are
replaced by the actual values. Here are the most common container pixels and their cache busting macros:
Container Pixel
Cache busting
macro
Rocket Fuel pixel with cache busting
DART Floodlight
%n
http://1991p.rfihub.com/ca.gif?rb=3&ca=1991&ra=%n
%RAND%
http://1991p.rfihub.com/ca.gif?rb=3&ca=1991&ra=%RAND%
Atlas UAT
24/7 Real Media OAS
%%REALRAND%% http://1991p.rfihub.com/ca.gif?rb=3&ca=1991&ra=%%REALRAND%%
Confidential Rocket Fuel Inc., 350 Marine Parkway, Suite 220, Redwood Shores, CA 94065, Fax (650) 595-1274
Passing data values in pixel calls
Rocket Fuel pixels support general purpose array of key value pairs that can be utilized for passing any data in pixel calls.
For example, the following pixel passes Order Amount and Number of Items inside PageTags array:
<!-- Begin Rocket Fuel Conversion Action Tracking Code Version 7 -->
<script type='text/javascript'>var
rfiPub={ver:7,publisher:3,conversionID:1991,pageTags:"orderAmount:REPLACE_ME_WITH_YOUR_ORDER_
AMOUNT,orderItems:REPLACE_ME_WITH_NUMBER_OF_ITEMS"};var rfiAds=new Array();</script><script
type='text/javascript' src='https://rfihub.pantherssl.com/js/bcC.js'></script>
<noscript><iframe
src='https://1991p.rfihub.com/ca.html?rb=3&ca=1991&ca=1814&pc=orderAmount%3AREPLACE_ME_WITH_Y
OUR_ORDER_AMOUNT%2CorderItems%3AREPLACE_ME_WITH_NUMBER_OF_ITEMS' border='0' frameborder='0'
vspace='0' hspace='0' scrolling='no' marginheight='0' marginwidth='0'
style='display:none;padding:0;margin:0' width='0' height='0'></iframe></noscript>
<!-- End Rocket Fuel Conversion Action Tracking Code Version 7 -->
REPLACE_ME_WITH_YOUR_ORDER_AMOUNT and REPLACE_ME_WITH_NUMBER_OF_ITEMS placeholders are replaced
with clients’ macros that expand to the actual values at run time.
Third-party Certification
Rocket Fuel is certified by and has been successfully instrumented into all major third-party ad servers:

Atlas Universal Action Tag (UAT)

DoubleClick Floodlight

MediaPlex
Technical Contact
Account Manager
Jessica Lilly
jlillly@rocketfuelinc.com
Confidential Rocket Fuel Inc., 350 Marine Parkway, Suite 220, Redwood Shores, CA 94065, Fax (650) 595-1274