Preparing for a Cookieless Future

In February of 2020, Google announced that they’d be phasing out third-party cookies in all Chrome browsers by 2022. Early this year, Google also mentioned that they wouldn’t be building “alternate identifiers to track individuals as they browse across the web, nor will we use them in our products.” Essentially, Google is putting an end to the tracking of individual internet users.

This move only applies to Google’s Chrome browser, but given the significant majority of the search and browser market controlled by Google, this move will affect marketers and advertisers in every vertical. 

Why Is Google Getting Rid Of Cookies?

Digital consumers have become much more focused on privacy in recent years, and Google hasn’t been immune to the trend. In their initial announcement blog post, Google spelled out their reasoning:

Users are demanding greater privacy — including transparency, choice, and control over how their data is used — and it’s clear the web ecosystem needs to evolve to meet these increasing demands.

Google also addressed the idea of blocking cookies altogether, as many browsers have done, but such a blunt approach to cookies undermines the ad-based model of thousands of websites. If advertisers can’t target adequately, ad revenues will drop across the web and websites will no longer have the operating income to stay afloat.

What You Need to Know

First of all, it’s not time to press the panic button just yet. Google is only stopping support for third-party cookies, so the first-party cookies that track basic data about your website’s visitors will stay intact.

With first-party cookies, you’ll be able to see what your visitors do, how often they visit your site, and other basic analytics around which you can build a basic profile and marketing strategy.

What you’re losing is third-party cookies, which are generated by sites other than your own. Those cookies follow visitors from site to site, telling you their browsing habits, the purchases they’ve made, and the interests they’ve shown across other sites. This is exactly the kind of personalized tracking that Google has decided is too intrusive to individual privacy.

To many, this move isn’t a surprise. The GDPR, passed in 2019, ruled that all EU web users must actively consent to cookies when they use a website, which is why you’ve seen such a dramatic uptick in popups asking you to do just that. For months afterward, Google Analytics reported unusually low numbers as blocked cookies prevented web visits from registering.

Finally, it’s important to note that Google won’t stop tracking people entirely. Rather, Google is banking on the intelligence and accuracy of their Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) technology, which tracks patterns of interests and behaviors between like-minded groups of people. Essentially, Google has discovered that they don’t need to track individual people when they can draw statistically significant conclusions about groups based on relatively broad information.

What Marketers Should Do

Like I said earlier, don’t panic. Third-party cookies have been on the way out for several years now, and versatile brands will find a way to adapt. For example:

• Start looking into ways to better leverage first-party data. Use the best analytics software you can to draw patterns and conclusions about your users that you can use to target them in the future.
• Steer away from an ad-first model. Paid advertising is a viable part of an integrated marketing strategy, but it’s by no means the other piece of the puzzle. Make an effort to lean more on your other channels and strategies. Doing so will make the impact of those lost paid ads much smaller.
• Focus on your community. You don’t need to track your users if you can bring them directly to you, so ramp up your community interaction efforts through email and social media. The stronger a bond you can build with your existing users, the further your reach will extend.
• Remember that content is king. Organic SEO won’t be affected by this move at all, so stay focused on creating useful, relevant, timely content that your users and buyer personas will want to consume.

Marketing is a constantly moving target. The phasing out of third-party cookies is a significant shift in the way marketing is done, but it’s not an entirely surprising move. As with all major changes in the marketing landscape, this is a big opportunity for many brands. Focus on staying agile, nimble, and true to your core beliefs, and you’ll find new ways to reach the people that need you.