{"id":9628,"date":"2022-02-04T02:30:08","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T02:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/04\/what-is-the-impact-of-google-prefetching\/"},"modified":"2022-02-04T02:30:08","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T02:30:08","slug":"what-is-the-impact-of-google-prefetching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/04\/what-is-the-impact-of-google-prefetching\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the Impact of Google Prefetching?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As the trend of anonymized email open data ramped up in 2021 with Apple\u2019s launch of <\/span>Mail Privacy Protection<\/span><\/a> and SendGrid\u2019s launch of <\/span>Apple Open Identifier<\/span><\/a>, there\u2019s been more interest in the anonymization of open data, specifically around Google prefetching opens. This post explains what Google prefetching is, how to detect prefetching, and what Twilio SendGrid\u2019s plans are to flag prefetching in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is Google prefetching?\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

Prefetching is a technique for speeding up operations by beginning a fetch function whose result is expected to be needed soon. This means an email is sent to this recipient during an active\/open web session. The inbox provider loads all images immediately before the web UI displays the email.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Google has been prefetching images to allow for faster image loading for a while. We first reported this behavior in 2013, and you can read more about our initial findings <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>. Since then, we have not seen any significant increases in prefetching opens. Through our research of the past six months, we found that Gmail prefetching accounts for roughly 2% or less of total email opens month over month.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How is Google prefetching different from Apple Mail Privacy Protection?\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

In September 2021, Apple updated their mail app to allow users to have more control over their data privacy. You can read more about our findings and how to identify this behavior in your sending <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>. Ultimately, Apple\u2019s mail app similarly causes prefetch opens when the security feature is enabled for Apple mail users.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both Apple and Gmail are using prefetching in both of these cases, but they are doing so to serve their mailbox users differently. Therefore, we advise senders to look at the impact of prefetching from Gmail and Apple differently.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n