Google deletes third-party cookies

No, we do not mean tasty chocolate cookies! We are talking about browser cookies!
You have probably heard a lot about it for different reasons, there are different types, but today we will focus on the third-party ones.

These are cookies that are installed by visiting our site, but using computer systems that we do not have direct control of. For example, when we use Google Analytics or the Facebook pixel, we install cookies on our visitors’ computers. However, they aren’t directly connected to us, as we use domains other than our own (and which we do not own); we send data to servers other than ours and allow access to data to others besides us.

Google Analytics, for example, uses the domain “google-analytics.com” to install cookies and processes data on its servers. Facebook, on the other hand, installs cookies that it uses to study the behavior of surfers even outside of Facebook.com. Third-party cookies are therefore those managed by someone other than us and are used every time we use a service managed by third parties, for this reason they are called third-party cookies.

Google has let us know that by the end of 2022 it intends to delete third-party cookies from Chrome, the browser developed by Google itself. There are other browsers, such as Safari, that for years have blocked third-party cookies, but trackers resort to other methods and new technologies that make it possible to track users in a similar way.

Despite this, it always reminds you that the request for consent of cookies has now become a fundamental and mandatory requirement for data protection. Your site, despite the end of third-party cookies, must still request and obtain the explicit consent of users to be considered in line with the law.

You may be wondering what are the reasons that drive Google to make this change: the answer is in Chrome’s privacy and the company’s willingness to increase the security of its users.

According to Justin Schuc, director of Google Engineering for Chrome: “This is our strategy to redesign web standards, to make it the default for privacy. There has been a lot of attention on third party cookies because they certainly are one of the tracking mechanisms, but this is just a tracking mechanism and we call it that because it is what people pay attention to”.

Google’s project is much larger than the simple abandonment of third-party cookies in the Chrome browser. It wants to create a privacy platform with transparent standards for tracking users, giving the possibility to protect their personal data. This initiative is part of the project called “Privacy Sandbox“, thanks to which a series of open standards can be developed to fundamentally improve privacy on the web.

Okay, but what does that mean for online activities?
Obviously this change will bring changes in online advertising, not only for users, but also for publishers and advertisers. As mentioned before, users gain more control over their personal data, which means less personalised advertisements and less linked to their online behaviour. For publishers and advertisers instead, this change will bring many difficulties for some online activities such as retargeting.
Google’s simulation suggests that 64% less advertising revenue could be generated as a result of the inability to use retargeting campaigns, considered to be among the most widely used in strategic communication plans.

For this reason, the suggestion is to invest more in advertising related to the content of the website rather than focusing on user behavior, which brings the adv to activities of years ago. It will therefore be necessary to study new ways to attract users to their platform and find new ways to transform potential leads into customers.

Oh no! Third-party cookies are not the only systems that allow tracking, there are many other technologies used today for a constant tracking of users on the web, such as:

• Local Storage,
• IndexedDB,
• Web SQL.

It seems that Google is aiming to use new APIs for browsers, such as trust tokets, or recognition signals to understand who is really reliable in terms of privacy. Despite this it’s very easy to bypass these tokers and still get to determine the identity of a user on the various sites: the only solution would be to stop the support of third-party cookies and all other tracking technologies.

Authentication and first party cookies
Alternatives focus on first-party cookies, which will become increasingly important. Through these we aim to deepen the knowledge with its users, to establish a relationship with them and encourage greater sharing of information and thus improve the online experience.

ADH – Ads Data Hub
It is a tool provided by Google, which allows companies to succeed by focusing on privacy.
The goal is to gather all the data needed to achieve better results in a single place, in compliance with regulations. The collected data is then uploaded in bigquery, where they become accessible to all and allow you to make purchase analysis and understand user behavior.

Consent Mode
This feature allows Google tags (analytics and advertising) to adjust their behavior based on user consent. Consent Mode sends the complete information (complete with navigation data), only if the user has consented to the use of cookies, otherwise it sends a blank signal.

Google Analytics 4
Google Analytic in the new version, includes new capabilities to improve cross-device and cross-platform user identification. New features include the function to measure data effectively and in compliance with regulations.

Customer Data Platform (CDP)
A Customer Data Platform (CDP) is a tool that combines and organizes customer data across a variety of contact points. CDPs collect and structure data in real time into individual, centralized customer profiles.

Google had planned to stop this January, but recently announced a postponement. It seems he needs more time to find effective and sustainable solutions to ensure privacy without compromising the digital marketing activities of companies.
In fact, companies have to implement new digital marketing strategies to continue to offer a quality user experience, but having less and less data to customize their adv according to the user’s tastes.
Although the deadline for this change has been moved a few months, it is good to start experimenting with new methods and find the best and most effective solution for your needs.