{"id":313,"date":"2026-08-22T18:27:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T12:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emailalias.io\/blog\/?p=313"},"modified":"2026-08-22T18:27:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T12:57:17","slug":"what-is-a-tracking-pixel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emailalias.io\/blog\/what-is-a-tracking-pixel\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is a Tracking Pixel?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>You open a marketing email, read it for a moment, and move on. Without you clicking anything, the sender now knows you opened it, roughly when, on what kind of device, and often from where. The thing that told them is a <strong>tracking pixel<\/strong>: a tiny, usually invisible image \u2014 frequently a single transparent dot one pixel wide \u2014 embedded in the message. When your app loads that image, it quietly reports back to the sender. These trackers are everywhere in modern email and on the web, powering everything from open-rate reports to ad retargeting, and most people never notice them. This guide explains what a tracking pixel is, how it works, what it can and cannot see, where these pixels show up, how they differ from cookies, and how to spot and block them \u2014 including how email aliases cut the whole problem down to size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<nav class=\"post-toc\" aria-label=\"Table of contents\">\n  <h2 class=\"post-toc__title\">Table of contents<\/h2>\n  <ol class=\"post-toc__list\">\n    <li><a href=\"#what-a-tracking-pixel-is\">What a tracking pixel is<\/a><\/li>\n    <li><a href=\"#how-a-tracking-pixel-works\">How a tracking pixel works<\/a><\/li>\n    <li><a href=\"#what-a-tracking-pixel-can-see\">What a tracking pixel can see<\/a><\/li>\n    <li><a href=\"#where-tracking-pixels-are-used\">Where tracking pixels are used<\/a><\/li>\n    <li><a href=\"#tracking-pixels-vs-cookies\">Tracking pixels vs cookies<\/a><\/li>\n    <li><a href=\"#how-to-spot-a-tracking-pixel\">How to spot a tracking pixel<\/a><\/li>\n    <li><a href=\"#how-to-block-tracking-pixels\">How to block tracking pixels<\/a><\/li>\n    <li><a href=\"#how-email-aliases-reduce-pixel-tracking\">How email aliases reduce pixel tracking<\/a><\/li>\n    <li><a href=\"#final-thoughts\">Final thoughts<\/a><\/li>\n    <li><a href=\"#frequently-asked-questions\">Frequently asked questions<\/a><\/li>\n  <\/ol>\n<\/nav>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What a tracking pixel is<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A tracking pixel is a small image file \u2014 classically a 1&#215;1-pixel transparent GIF or PNG \u2014 that a sender embeds in an email or a web page so they can tell when it is loaded. It carries no visible content; its entire purpose is to be fetched. Because your email app or browser has to download every image in a message to display it, loading that one invisible dot sends a request back to the sender&#8217;s server, and that request is the signal they are after. The technique is old and well documented \u2014 the same idea is known as a web beacon, pixel tag, or clear GIF, as described in Wikipedia&#8217;s overview of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Web_beacon\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">web beacon<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It helps to be clear about what a tracking pixel is not. It is not a virus or malware \u2014 it cannot run code on your device, install anything, or read files. It is just an image request, and the &#8220;tracking&#8221; happens entirely on the sender&#8217;s side by logging that the request arrived. That is also why it is sometimes called a spy pixel: it is silent, invisible, and included without any prompt or consent from the reader. Understanding it as a plain, ordinary image that happens to phone home is the key to understanding both how it works and why it is so easy to defeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How a tracking pixel works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To see how a tracking pixel works, follow the sequence step by step. The sender writes an image tag into the message that points at a URL on their own server, and that URL is unique to you \u2014 it usually contains an ID that identifies the specific recipient and campaign. When you open the message, your email client tries to render it and requests every image, including the invisible one. That request lands on the sender&#8217;s server carrying your unique ID, and the server logs it: this recipient, this message, opened at this time. The one-pixel image is returned so nothing looks broken, and the open has been recorded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\">\n  <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/emailalias.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/diagram-what-is-a-tracking-pixel.jpg?resize=1080%2C567&#038;ssl=1\"\n       alt=\"How a tracking pixel works: opening an email loads a hidden one-pixel image from the sender server, which logs the open, the time, and your device details\"\n       width=\"1080\" height=\"567\"\n       loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" \/>\n  <figcaption>A tracking pixel is a hidden image request: opening the message fetches the pixel from the sender&#8217;s server, which logs the open along with your IP address, device, and the exact time.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The reason the unique URL matters is that it turns an anonymous image request into a personal record. A single newsletter sent to fifty thousand people uses fifty thousand different pixel URLs, one per subscriber, so the sender can attribute each open to a named recipient rather than just counting anonymous hits. The same trick extends to links: many senders wrap every link in the email through a redirect on their own server, so a click is logged the same way an open is. Between the pixel and the wrapped links, a message you never consciously interacted with can generate a detailed timeline of your attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the web, the mechanism is identical but the trigger is a page load instead of an email open. A site or advertiser drops the same kind of invisible image \u2014 a web beacon \u2014 onto a page, and loading the page fires the request. This is how a web beacon can follow you across sites that share an advertising network: each page you visit quietly loads the network&#8217;s pixel, and the network stitches those loads together into a profile. The email version and the web version are the same simple idea, an image that reports home, aimed at two different moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What a tracking pixel can see<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Because the pixel is fetched by your own device, the request hands the sender several pieces of information for free. The most obvious is the open itself, with a timestamp \u2014 proof the message was rendered and when. The request also carries your <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/IP_address\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">IP address<\/a>, which reveals your rough geographic location and your internet provider, and your user agent, which names your device type, operating system, and email or browser software. Repeated opens are logged too, so a sender can see that you reopened a message three times over two days, or forwarded it to someone on a different network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>That you opened it, and when.<\/strong> The core signal: a timestamped confirmation the message was loaded.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Your approximate location.<\/strong> Derived from the IP address the image request came from.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Your device and software.<\/strong> The user-agent string names your OS, device type, and mail or browser app.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>How often you engage.<\/strong> Multiple opens, re-opens, and the gap between them all get logged.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Which link you clicked.<\/strong> When links are wrapped in redirects, each click is recorded alongside the open.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It is just as important to know what a tracking pixel cannot see. It cannot read the rest of your inbox, access your contacts, see other tabs, or capture what you type. It does not know your name unless the sender already had it and tied it to your pixel ID \u2014 which, for a service you signed up to with your real details, they usually did. And the location it infers is only as precise as your IP address allows, which is a neighbourhood, not an exact address. The pixel is powerful because of scale and stealth, not because any single request reveals very much. The privacy cost adds up across thousands of messages, not in any one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The location detail deserves a closer look, because it is the part that surprises people most. Since the request comes straight from your device, the sender sees the IP address you are connected through, and a rough lookup turns that into a city or region and the name of your provider or employer. Open the same message on your home connection, at the office, and on mobile data, and a diligent sender can watch your approximate whereabouts move. None of this is pinpoint, and a VPN or a proxy changes what the sender sees, but it is far more than most readers assume a plain marketing email could ever learn about them \u2014 and it is collected every single time an unblocked message is opened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Where tracking pixels are used<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Tracking pixels are not a fringe tool; they are built into most of the email and advertising you already receive. Some uses are mundane analytics, others are aggressive profiling, and a few are quietly personal. The table below maps the common places you will meet a tracking pixel and what each one is really measuring, and the paragraphs after it add the detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\">\n  <table>\n    <caption>Common places tracking pixels are used and what each one measures<\/caption>\n    <thead>\n      <tr><th>Where<\/th><th>How the pixel is used<\/th><th>What it reveals<\/th><\/tr>\n    <\/thead>\n    <tbody>\n      <tr><td>Marketing emails<\/td><td>Open tracking per recipient<\/td><td>Who opened, when, how often<\/td><\/tr>\n      <tr><td>Newsletters<\/td><td>Engagement and re-open rates<\/td><td>Which subscribers are active<\/td><\/tr>\n      <tr><td>Web pages and ads<\/td><td>Cross-site web beacons<\/td><td>Pages visited, retargeting profile<\/td><\/tr>\n      <tr><td>Sales and CRM tools<\/td><td>Per-open alerts to a rep<\/td><td>Real-time notice you read a pitch<\/td><\/tr>\n      <tr><td>Personal email add-ons<\/td><td>Read receipts on private mail<\/td><td>Whether and when a person read you<\/td><\/tr>\n    <\/tbody>\n  <\/table>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Marketing and newsletter senders are the biggest users. For them the pixel powers the open rate \u2014 the headline metric of every campaign \u2014 and drives decisions about subject lines, send times, and which subscribers to keep mailing. That use is broadly understood and, in the world of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Email_marketing\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">email marketing<\/a>, effectively standard. Sales and CRM tools take it a step further: a rep can get a desktop alert the instant you open their pitch, which is why a follow-up call sometimes arrives suspiciously soon after you read a proposal. The most surprising use is in ordinary personal email, where consumer add-ons quietly attach a spy pixel to messages so the sender gets a read receipt you never agreed to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the web, the same pixels feed the advertising ecosystem. A web beacon on a product page tells an ad network you looked at a specific item, which is why that item then follows you around the internet in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Behavioral_targeting\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">behavioral advertising<\/a>. Because many sites embed the same networks&#8217; pixels, those networks accumulate a cross-site picture of what you read and shop for. Whether it is measuring a newsletter, alerting a salesperson, or building an ad profile, the underlying tool is the same invisible image \u2014 only the intent behind it changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tracking pixels vs cookies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>People often lump tracking pixels and cookies together, but they do different jobs. An <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/HTTP_cookie\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">HTTP cookie<\/a> is a small file a website stores in your browser to remember you between visits \u2014 your login, your cart, your preferences \u2014 and it can be inspected, blocked, and deleted from your browser settings. A pixel stores nothing on your device; it is a one-way image request that reports an event the moment it loads. You cannot &#8220;clear&#8221; pixels the way you clear cookies, because there is nothing saved locally to clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The two are often used together on the web: a pixel fires to record an event and a cookie tags along to link that event to a persistent identity across visits. But in email the distinction really matters, because most email clients do not keep cookies at all, which leaves the pixel as the sender&#8217;s main way to know anything about you. That is good news for defence: since the pixel depends entirely on your client loading a remote image, controlling how images load \u2014 or stripping the pixels before they ever reach you \u2014 is enough to break it. Cookies need a different set of tools; pixels need only that one lever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The distinction is becoming more relevant, not less. As major browsers restrict and phase out third-party cookies, advertisers and marketers increasingly lean on web beacons and first-party pixels that do not depend on a stored identifier to work. A beacon fires an event the moment it loads, independent of any cookie, so it keeps functioning in exactly the places cookie-based tracking has been cut off. That shift is one reason it is worth understanding these hidden image requests now: the tracking that used to ride on cookies is quietly migrating toward the pixel, and the defences that stop images from silently loading are becoming the ones that matter most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to spot a tracking pixel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A tracking pixel is designed to be invisible, so you will rarely see one by looking at a message normally. The clues are indirect. If a sales email is followed by a call within minutes, or a &#8220;just checking in&#8221; note arrives right after you open a proposal, a hidden pixel is almost certainly reporting your opens. Marketing mail that seems to know whether you read the last five newsletters is doing the same. The behaviour, not the appearance, is the tell \u2014 the pixel itself is a transparent dot you would never notice among the layout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some categories of mail are safe to assume are tracked. Any message from a marketing platform, a newsletter tool, or a sales-outreach product almost certainly carries a beacon, because measuring opens is the entire point of those tools \u2014 you rarely need to check. Transactional mail such as receipts and password resets sometimes carries one too, though its purpose there is usually analytics rather than profiling. Ordinary person-to-person email is the case worth watching: a plain note from a colleague or acquaintance should not be reporting your opens, so if you have reason to think a specific individual is monitoring whether you read their messages, that is exactly where a tracker-detecting extension earns its place. For everything else, assuming a pixel is present and defanging it by default is simpler than auditing each message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to confirm one directly, you can look under the hood. Viewing the raw source of an email (most clients offer &#8220;show original&#8221; or &#8220;view source&#8221;) and searching for an image that is one pixel wide and tall, or an <code>img<\/code> tag pointing at a long tracking URL with an ID in it, will usually surface the pixel. Browser extensions and privacy-focused mail clients can also flag or count the trackers in a message for you. But for most people the practical answer is not to hunt for each pixel individually \u2014 it is to stop them working at all, which the next two sections cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to block tracking pixels<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Because a tracking pixel only fires when your client loads a remote image, the most direct defence is to stop images from loading automatically. Most email apps \u2014 Gmail, Apple Mail, Outlook, and others \u2014 let you turn off automatic image loading, so nothing is fetched until you choose to display it. With that setting on, a pixel sits dormant and reports nothing unless you deliberately load the images in a message you trust. Apple&#8217;s Mail Privacy Protection takes a different route, pre-loading images through a proxy so senders see a generic open rather than your real IP and timing, which blunts the signal for everyone using it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Turn off automatic image loading<\/strong> in your email app so no pixel fires until you allow it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Read in plain text<\/strong> where your client supports it \u2014 no images means no pixel at all.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Use a tracker-blocking extension or a privacy-first mail client<\/strong> that strips or neutralises known pixels.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Route mail through an alias that removes trackers<\/strong> before the message ever reaches your inbox.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Each of these has trade-offs \u2014 blocking all images can break the layout of mail you actually want to see, and plain text strips formatting \u2014 so most people mix them. For a full, step-by-step walkthrough of the settings in each major app, along with the extensions and services worth using, see our dedicated guide on <a href=\"https:\/\/emailalias.io\/blog\/how-to-block-email-trackers\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">how to block email trackers<\/a>. The remaining approach \u2014 stripping pixels upstream so they never arrive \u2014 is where an alias service does the work for you, and it is worth its own section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How email aliases reduce pixel tracking<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>An email alias is a separate forwarding address you hand out instead of your real inbox; mail sent to it passes through the alias service and forwards on to you, and you can switch it off whenever you like. That forwarding step is the ideal place to deal with a tracker, because the message is processed before it reaches your mailbox. At EmailAlias we strip known tracking pixels out of forwarded mail, so the invisible image is removed in transit and there is nothing left for your client to load \u2014 the sender never learns you opened the message. You get the content; they lose the signal. If aliases are new to you, our explainer on <a href=\"https:\/\/emailalias.io\/blog\/what-is-an-email-alias\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">what is an email alias<\/a> and the mechanics in <a href=\"https:\/\/emailalias.io\/blog\/how-email-aliases-work\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">how email aliases work<\/a> cover the basics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aliases also attack the problem from the other direction by breaking the identity link a tracking pixel relies on. A pixel is most valuable when the sender can tie your opens back to a named person, and that link is usually your real address given at sign-up. Hand each service its own alias instead and, even where a pixel survives, it maps to a throwaway-feeling address rather than to your primary identity. Because these are permanent forwarding addresses you control \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/emailalias.io\/not-disposable-email\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">not disposable inboxes<\/a> that expire \u2014 you keep the account and can retire any single alias the moment a sender turns into a nuisance, cutting off both their mail and their tracking in one click.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The practical setup takes a couple of minutes. Create a fresh alias for each newsletter, shop, or service using an <a href=\"https:\/\/emailalias.io\/email-alias-generator\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">email alias generator<\/a>, and let the service forward the cleaned mail to your real inbox. Pixels are stripped on the way through, your true address stays off the sender&#8217;s list, and any alias that starts attracting aggressive tracking or spam can be disabled without touching anything else you own. The free plan includes 10 aliases, which is enough to separate your most tracking-heavy signups, and you can see the full options on our <a href=\"https:\/\/emailalias.io\/pricing\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">pricing page<\/a> or start with the <a href=\"https:\/\/emailalias.io\/email-alias-service\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">alias service<\/a> directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Final thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A tracking pixel is a small piece of technology with an outsized reach: an invisible image that turns the simple act of opening an email into a data point about when, where, and how you did it. It is not malware and it cannot see your inbox, but multiplied across the thousands of messages you receive, it builds a quiet record of your attention that senders and advertisers value highly. The reassuring part is how little it takes to defend yourself. Because the whole scheme depends on your client loading a remote image, turning off automatic images, reading suspicious mail in plain text, or routing your mail through an alias that strips pixels upstream each breaks the chain. Give your next signup its own alias instead of your real address, and the most tracking-heavy mail you get arrives already cleaned \u2014 the easiest way to make the tracking pixel stop working for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"frequently-asked-questions\">Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n\n\n<div id=\"rank-math-faq\" class=\"rank-math-block\">\n<div class=\"rank-math-list \">\n<div id=\"faq-question-1787402770142\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">What is a tracking pixel in simple terms?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>A tracking pixel is a tiny, usually invisible image \u2014 often a single transparent dot one pixel wide \u2014 that a sender embeds in an email or web page so they can tell when it is loaded. When your app downloads that image to display the message, the request goes back to the sender&#8217;s server and is logged as an open. It carries no visible content and its only job is to phone home, which is why it is sometimes called a web beacon or spy pixel.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1787402780349\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">Is a tracking pixel dangerous or a virus?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>No. A tracking pixel is just an image request, not code \u2014 it cannot run programs, install anything, read your files, or access the rest of your inbox. The privacy concern is about surveillance, not infection: it lets a sender log that you opened a message, when, from roughly where, and on what device. It is invisible and added without your consent, which is why it raises privacy questions, but it cannot harm your device.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1787402790517\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">What information can a tracking pixel collect?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>When your device loads the pixel, the request reveals that you opened the message and when, your IP address (which gives an approximate location and your internet provider), and your user-agent string (device type, operating system, and email or browser app). Repeated opens are logged too. It cannot see your other emails, your contacts, or what you type \u2014 it only knows what a single image request exposes, which becomes significant across thousands of messages.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1787402808445\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">How do I know if an email has a tracking pixel?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>You usually cannot see one directly because it is transparent, but the behaviour gives it away \u2014 a sales call minutes after you open a proposal, or marketing that seems to know whether you read the last newsletter. To confirm, view the raw source of the email and look for a one-pixel image or an img tag pointing at a long tracking URL with an ID in it. Privacy-focused mail clients and browser extensions can also flag the trackers in a message for you.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1787402817789\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">How do I block tracking pixels?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>The most direct fix is to turn off automatic image loading in your email app, since a tracking pixel only fires when your client fetches the remote image \u2014 with images off, nothing is reported until you choose to load it. Reading in plain text removes images entirely, and tracker-blocking extensions or privacy-first clients strip known pixels. Routing mail through an alias service that removes trackers before delivery stops the pixel upstream, so it never reaches you at all.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1787402829853\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">Do email aliases stop tracking pixels?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>They help in two ways. An alias service can strip known tracking pixels from forwarded mail before it reaches your inbox, so the invisible image is removed in transit and the sender never learns you opened the message. Using a different alias per service also breaks the link a pixel relies on \u2014 even a surviving pixel maps to a throwaway-feeling address, not your real identity \u2014 and you can disable any alias in one click to cut off its mail and tracking together.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1787402926491\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">Are tracking pixels legal?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>In most places tracking pixels are legal, but privacy laws increasingly regulate them. Rules like the EU&#8217;s GDPR and ePrivacy Directive treat pixel tracking as processing personal data, which can require disclosure and, in some contexts, consent \u2014 which is why marketing emails carry privacy notices and unsubscribe links. Legality varies by jurisdiction and use, and enforcement is uneven, so the practical takeaway is to protect yourself directly rather than rely on senders to ask permission.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You open a marketing email, read it for a moment, and move on. Without you clicking anything, the sender now knows you opened it, roughly when, on what kind of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-email-alias"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/emailalias.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/og-what-is-a-tracking-pixel.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":287,"url":"https:\/\/emailalias.io\/blog\/how-to-block-email-trackers\/","url_meta":{"origin":313,"position":0},"title":"How to Block Email Trackers","author":"Troy Hunt","date":"July 17, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Most of the newsletters and marketing emails in your inbox are watching you read them. A single invisible pixel tells the sender the moment you open a message, roughly where you were, and what device you used \u2014 and you never agreed to any of it. 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