As any software team that has been perfecting their product for many years, we are proud of the work we’ve done. Keitaro became a gold-standard advertising tracker with unmatched customization, built-in features, and an unparalleled level of security.
Here, we’ve decided to unite all of the information on the past major iterations of Keitaro Tracker.
Keitaro 7
The version when Keitaro became a full-on ad tracker.
What changed?
Campaigns
- Groups were renamed to campaigns.
- The “Track conversion” option was removed; conversion is now always tracked.
- Deleted campaigns were moved to the archive and removed from reports (fully deleted after 2 months).
- Billing the campaign option was added (in the “Other” menu). Costs sum was divided into the number of visitors for the chosen period and applied to each report.
- A ”Campaign Connection Help” page was added. It demonstrated the ways to link Keitaro to landing pages, doorways, and advertising networks.
- A short link to campaigns was available in the Search section.
Flows
- Deleted flows were moved into the archive but stayed in reports (fully deleted after 1 month).
- Filters were added to the list.
- Visitor number restriction filter (per day, per hour, and total) was added. Worked both with MySQL and Redis.
- A “Connection type“ filter was added.
- A ”Provider” filter was added (if Maxmind ISP was installed).
- The “Empty referrer” filter was added.
- Timetable tab was moved to ”Timetable” filter.
- The uniqueness filter was divided into ”Uniqueness by Cookies” and ”Uniqueness by IP.”
- “Exclude” mode was added to the filters by keyword and uniqueness.
- The “Monitoring” column was removed from the flow table. Monitoring history could be checked by clicking the green Monitoring icon.
Postbacks
- Currency conversion through Google Currency Convertor was added.
- Postbacks with leads were accepted. Their conversion was calculated separately and not included in revenue and profit.
- Rebills were accepted. The tid (Transaction Id) parameter had to be transmitted in the postback.
- extra_param_1…7, present in the ”Conversion” table, were also accepted with filtering and sorting options available.
Conversion
- New columns added: tid, original status, revenue, cost, profit, country, region, city, browser, OS, sub_id_1…4.
- Conversion (leads/sales), costs, revenue, profit, and ROI calculations were added.
- New parameters to indicate how status should be determined: “sale_status” and “lead_status.” The old “status” parameter was a pseudonym for “sale_status.”
Reports
- The ”Statistics” page was renamed to ”Reports”.
- The ”Sales” page was renamed to ”Conversion”.
- The ”Visitors” page was renamed to ”Visitor specification”.
- New reports were added: mobile carriers, providers (if Maxmind ISP was on), device type, connection type, regions, and states, ”Sub ID 1…4”.
- Column settings in reports were added.
- Export to HTML was added.
- New parameters added: leads, sales, conversion (Leads), conversion (Sales), revenue, costs, profit, ROI, EPC.
- Detailed reports for a period of several days were available, including export to CSV and HTML.
Performance
- Visitor data storage was now available in files (as an alternative to Redis).
- When traffic was processed, only necessary visitor characteristics were determined. All others were defined when the cron was launched.
- Code in filters was optimized.
Visitor Tracking
- A new campaign type (”Tracking”) was added.
Maxmind ISP and Connection Type Database Support
- Maxmind Connection Type and Maxmind ISP database support were added.
Settings
- The ”Storage for traffic processor” option was added.
- Currency settings were added.
- Editing of an additional IP bot list was added.
- Pseudonym editing for get-parameters was added.
Automatic Diagnostics
- Disabled cron check.
- File access check.
- Installer availability check and open configuration.
Technical Changes
- This version was non-compatible with PHP 5.2.
- Uniqueness was determined by cookies, considering the indicated validity period in campaign settings.
- Significant changes in database structure.
Other Changes
- The “Archive” page was added.
- Interface language options were moved to the upper menu.
- The lower bar was removed. Time settings were moved to the Settings page (“Other” tab).
Keitaro 8
The version when Keitaro Tracker started to look like it does now and became useful for all PPC specialists.
What changed?
UI and Pages
- UI was updated.
- New pages were added for Campaigns, Traffic Sources, Landing Pages, Affiliate Networks, and Offers.
- The page “flows” was updated, with stats moved to the right side.
- A new page “Profile” for user settings was added.
- A new customizable Dashboard was created.
- Hotkeys were added (press “SHIFT+?”).
- The sidebar became toggleable.
Reports
- Reports were updated with a new report builder.
- A new page, “Trends,” for creating trend charts, was added.
- A new page, “Exported Reports,” for viewing and downloading exported reports was added.
- Values of Revenue, EC, and ROI were separated by conversion status.
- New columns: creative_id, ad_campaign_id, external_id were added.
- New metrics and dimensions were added.
- New campaign reports were created.
Lead Tracking and Conversions
- Compatibility with upsells (rebills) was implemented.
- The count of Sub IDs and Extra Params was increased to 10.
- A new cost method, CPM (cost per 1000 clicks), was added.
- New offer payout methods, CPC and CPA, were introduced.
- Option “Auto” for campaign settings to get cost value from query param was added.
- Multi-step conversions were implemented.
Admin API
- A new Admin API providing access to all features through REST/JSON API was introduced.
- New User API keys were created.
Campaigns and Flows
- Flow creation was updated.
- New flow schemas: “Action”, “Redirect”, “Landing Pages”, and “Offers” were introduced.
- New filters: “Browser version”, “OS version”, Sub ID N, Extra Param N, ad_campaign_id, external_id, creative_id were added.
- “URL Builder” for URL fields was updated.
Banners Mode
- The campaign mode “Banner rotator” was removed.
Tracking Script
- Campaign mode “Tracking” was removed.
- Compatible with multi-page landing pages.
- Parameters sub_id_1..10 and extra_param_1..10 could be updated.
Users and Authorization
- New user access rule settings were introduced.
- The hash method was replaced with sha256.
- Cookies encrypting was added.
Keitaro Editions
- Keitaro v8 had two editions: Basic and Pro. Pro features included Users management, Admin API, custom actions, and macros.
Other Changes
- Page “Logs” was added.
- “Visits” was renamed to “Clicks”.
- cli.php was updated.
Keitaro 9
A new user interface and additional improvements were introduced.
What changed?
User Interface and Performance
- A new user interface with faster performance was introduced.
- Easier management of big bots IP lists was implemented.
Campaigns
- A RevShare cost model was available.
- The number of sub ids was increased to 15.
- Costs could be renewed based on sub id 1..15, source, ad campaign id, and creative id.
Flows
- Switching between the ways of putting values in filters was added.
- “Clone” and “Shift” actions were removed.
Landing Pages
- A universal tracking script was added.
- PHP-files prohibition option was introduced.
- Actions were made available for landings.
- Postback could be sent via a pixel without sending a subid.
Offers
- Multiple countries could be entered for offers.
Other
- All metrics could be enabled on the Dashboard.
- IP2Location databases became compatible.
- The settings structure was updated.
- Extra Params were disabled by default.
- Click Client became compatible with binding visitors to flows.
- PHP 5.4 and 5.5 became incompatible.
API of Extensions
- Custom macros, filters, and redirects formats were changed.
Admin API
- New entry points were added.
Keitaro 9.1
The one that improved speed.
What changed?
Updates
- New buttons for fast-filtering reports by black-and-white lists were added.
- A new entry-point /clicks/clean for Admin API was introduced.
- User info was added in the traffic log.
- Validation to check filter max length was added.
- Entry-points /flows/disable and /flows/enable were added.
- Templates selector in the affiliate network form showed full list.
Keitaro 9.4
The version that changed the way you work with landing pages and offers.
What changed?
Local Offers
- Allowed uploading zip-archives to a tracker.
- Use {offer} macros instead of a target URL in an index file was introduced.
- CURL became a “Preload” offer type.
Conversion Cap
- Allowed substituting the offer automatically when the daily limit was reached.
Keitaro 9.6
The one before the ultimate version 10.2 was released.
What changed?
Performance Upgrade
- Transfer to the RoadRunner engine for higher performance was implemented.
- Enhanced compatibility of HTML and PHP landing pages.
Multiflow Cron
- Cron job was performed in multiflow mode.
Admin API Documentation
- Fully rewritten and worked on Swagger.
Additional Improvements
- Automatic cleaning of file cache after configuration upgrade was added.
- New Maintenance > Integration page was introduced.
- Better compatibility of big dumps for import was achieved.
And we’re not done yet. You can find the Updates for Keitaro 10 version in this Blog and Changelog. And keep an eye out for the Beta Channel Changelog. It shows everything that we’re cooking up at the moment that will be introduced in the Stable version of the Keitaro Tracker.
