What Should Marketers Know About Google Backtracking On Third-Party Cookies “Kill”
As Hannah Montana once said, everybody makes mistakes, everybody has those days! This seems to be the spirit Google emulated when they announced that they would backtrack on their long-time decision to ditch third-party cookies.
On 22nd July 2024, CNBC reported that this decision essentially boils down to Google’s feeling that the marketing industry was not ready for this change.
Hold up, but before that..what are third-party cookies?
What Are These Third-Party Cookies That Aren’t In Bakeries?
Believe it or not, these third-party cookies are tracking you everywhere!
Third-party cookies are little pieces of data that get stored on your device by websites other than the one you’re currently visiting. They’re often used by advertisers, social media platforms, and analytics companies to track what you’re doing online and to build a profile of your browsing habits. Here’s how they work:
How They Work
Setting the Cookie: When you visit a website, it might include content from other companies, like ads or social media buttons. These companies can set their own cookies on your browser.
Tracking You Across Sites: As you hop from site to site, these third-party cookies can track your activity across different websites. This helps the companies figure out what you’re interested in.
Building User Profiles: By collecting this data, they can create detailed profiles of you, which they use to show you ads that are more likely to catch your eye.
When it comes to advertising, third-party cookies enable advertisers to track users across different sites, allowing them to build detailed profiles of user interests and behaviour. This is crucial for creating targeted advertising campaigns that can reach specific audiences more effectively.
By collecting data on user preferences and browsing history, third-party cookies allow advertisers to personalise ads, making them more relevant to individual users. This can lead to higher engagement rates and improved ad performance.
Did Google really respect your privacy?
Why Did Google Initially Want to Abandon Third-Party Cookies?
Google initially planned to phase out third-party cookies due to significant privacy concerns. These cookies have been criticised for enabling invasive tracking of users, leading to a push for stronger privacy protections and increased regulatory scrutiny.
As an alternative, they came up with a more privacy-focused alternative to cookies. The company launched its “Privacy Sandbox” initiative in 2019 to develop a solution that would protect user privacy while ensuring content remained freely available on the open web.
In 2020, Google announced its intention to stop supporting third-party cookies once a solution that worked for users, publishers, and advertisers was found, initially targeting early 2022 for the launch of this new alternative.
One of the proposals was called “Federated Learning of Cohorts” (FLoC), which involved grouping people based on similar browsing behaviours, so only “cohort IDs,” not individual user IDs, would be targeted.
Google had previously expressed strong confidence in the progress of its proposals. However, the company has repeatedly delayed phasing out cookies, citing feedback from the advertising industry regarding the changes’ impact, which could potentially lead to less effective ad campaigns.
Why did Google Change its Mind?
Hey, don’t we all need a deadline extension?
On top of the yet-to-be-developed Privacy Sandbox, there was also considerable opposition from digital advertising companies and regulators who were concerned about the impact of removing third-party cookies on their business models and user tracking capabilities.
Finding an effective replacement for third-party cookies that balances user privacy with the needs of advertisers has proven difficult. Google acknowledged the challenges in developing and implementing alternative technologies that can provide similar functionality.
Digital Marketers, Should You Worry?
You can heave a sigh of relief if you’re in the marketing industry! The decision to retain third-party cookies allows more time to adapt to future changes and explore alternative strategies for user tracking and advertising.
Well, there you have it, cookies or not, you can always expect Demojo to bring you the freshest from the oven when it comes to marketing news. Stay tuned for more marketing news!