If you’ve been following developments in digital marketing over the last couple of years, you’ll probably have heard that Google is planning to remove support for third-party cookies from its Chrome browser. Depending on who you listen to, this is either going to revolutionise online advertising or bring about the end of digital marketing as we know it. Personally, I think both predictions are rather exaggerated, although there’s no doubt that the changes could have some fairly significant implications for businesses that rely heavily on tracking website visitors.
Google originally announced its intention to phase out third-party cookies back in January 2020, with the changes initially expected to take place within two years. However, the deadline has subsequently been pushed back several times, with Google announcing in July that it now intends to begin removing support during the second half of 2024. This gives advertisers a little more time to prepare, although it’s worth remembering that other browsers have already introduced similar restrictions.
What Exactly Are Cookies?
Before looking at what’s changing, it’s probably worth explaining what cookies actually do, because there’s a considerable amount of confusion surrounding the subject. Essentially, a cookie is a small piece of information that a website can store in your browser, allowing it to remember certain details when you return or move between pages.
For example, when you log into a website, cookies can help keep you logged in as you navigate between different sections. Ecommerce websites also frequently use them to remember which products you’ve added to your shopping basket, while analytics platforms use cookies to help distinguish between different visitors and sessions.
However, there’s an important distinction between first-party and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are associated with the website you’re visiting, whereas third-party cookies are associated with a different domain, often belonging to an advertising or tracking service.
It’s these third-party cookies that are causing most of the controversy, because they can allow advertising companies to recognise users as they move between completely unrelated websites.
Why Are Third-Party Cookies Being Removed?
Imagine that you visit a website selling televisions, spend a few minutes looking at a particular model and then leave without purchasing anything. Later that day, you visit a news website and suddenly find yourself looking at advertisements for exactly the same television.
This is an example of remarketing, and third-party cookies have traditionally played an important role in making it possible. Advertising networks can use information collected across participating websites to identify people who have previously expressed an interest in particular products and show them relevant advertisements elsewhere.
From an advertiser’s perspective, this can be extremely useful. Rather than showing advertisements to people who might have absolutely no interest in what you’re selling, you can concentrate on those who have already demonstrated some intention to purchase.
However, from a privacy perspective, there’s an obvious problem with companies being able to monitor somebody’s activity across large parts of the internet, particularly when that person might not fully understand what information is being collected.
Apple’s Safari browser has already been blocking third-party cookies by default since 2020, while Firefox introduced default protection against known third-party tracking cookies in 2019. Google Chrome is therefore something of a latecomer to the party, although its enormous market share means the changes will potentially have a much greater impact.
Will Google Analytics Stop Working?
This is probably one of the biggest misconceptions surrounding the proposed changes. Removing support for third-party cookies doesn’t mean that websites will suddenly be unable to use cookies at all, and it certainly doesn’t mean that Google Analytics will stop collecting information.
Google Analytics primarily uses first-party cookies to help identify visitors and measure their interactions with a website. These aren’t the cookies Google is proposing to remove from Chrome, although they can still be affected by browser privacy restrictions and users’ consent preferences.
The more significant implications are likely to involve advertising attribution and remarketing, particularly where advertisers rely on identifying the same person across multiple websites.
For example, if somebody sees an advertisement on one website before purchasing something on another, it may become more difficult to establish whether the original advertisement contributed to that sale.
This could make it considerably harder for advertisers to accurately measure the performance of certain campaigns, particularly those involving display advertising.
What Is Google Planning to Replace Them With?
Google has been developing something called the Privacy Sandbox, which aims to introduce alternative technologies that allow advertisers to reach relevant audiences without relying on traditional third-party tracking cookies.
One of the original proposals was called Federated Learning of Cohorts, or FLoC, which would have grouped users together based on their browsing behaviour. However, following criticism and concerns about privacy, Google abandoned that approach earlier this year and introduced a replacement called the Topics API.
The idea behind Topics is that Chrome could identify broad categories of interest based on the websites somebody visits, such as fitness, travel or technology, and share limited information about those interests with participating advertisers.
Rather than allowing an advertising company to build a detailed record of somebody’s browsing activity across numerous websites, the system is intended to provide more general information that can be used to display relevant advertisements.
Google is also developing other technologies to support remarketing and conversion measurement, although these are still being tested, and it remains to be seen how effective they’ll be compared with existing methods.
What Should Businesses Be Doing?
Personally, I wouldn’t recommend panicking or making drastic changes to your advertising strategy just yet. Google has already delayed the removal of third-party cookies several times, and there’s still considerable uncertainty about exactly how the replacement technologies will work in practice.
However, I do think businesses should start paying more attention to the information they collect directly from their own customers. First-party data, such as customer purchase histories, enquiry records and email marketing preferences, is likely to become increasingly valuable as traditional tracking methods become less effective.
It’s also worth making sure your Google Analytics implementation is up to date, particularly with the transition to Google Analytics 4 already underway. Google’s existing Universal Analytics platform is due to stop processing new data for standard properties in July 2023, so businesses that haven’t started preparing for the change should probably make that a priority.
Of course, collecting first-party information doesn’t mean you can simply ignore GDPR or the UK’s cookie consent requirements. You’ll still need to ensure that information is collected and used appropriately, regardless of which technology you’re using.
Is This Really the End of Cookies?
Ultimately, I think the phrase ‘the death of cookies’ is rather misleading. First-party cookies will continue to play an important role in how websites operate, and businesses will still be able to measure many of the activities taking place on their own websites.
What is changing is the ability of advertising companies to follow individual users across numerous unrelated websites, which has been a fundamental part of online advertising for many years.
Whether Google’s proposed alternatives will provide the same level of effectiveness remains to be seen, but I suspect the advertising industry will adapt, just as it has adapted to previous technological changes.
Personally, I think anything that gives people greater control over their personal information is generally a positive development, although there’s clearly a balance to be struck between protecting privacy and allowing businesses to advertise effectively.
In the meantime, I’d suggest concentrating on collecting useful information from your own customers, measuring your advertising performance as accurately as possible and keeping an eye on Google’s announcements.
After all, given how many times the deadline has already moved, I wouldn’t be particularly surprised if we’re still talking about the impending death of third-party cookies this time next year.