Google Plans to Drop Third-Party Cookies

Data privacy is one of the biggest forces of change in the digital landscape right now. From GDPR, to CCPA, how companies are able to collect data, and more importantly an individual’s right to understand how their data is collected, is making waves that won’t fully die down until we see the final ramifications of this shift in data.

One particular shift comes in the form of Google announcing that by 2022, third party cookies will no longer be supported in Chrome.

What Does This Mean for Digital Advertisers?

In August of 2019, Google announced the Privacy Sandbox with the goal of creating standards to enhance privacy on the web. This open source initiative will help make the web more private and PPC advertisers will have to play in this sandbox, and its restrictions, moving forward.

Currently, an AdTech platform places a third-party cookie on a user’s browser/device when an advertisement is requested from their platform. This allows them to identify users, track their behavior, and attribute actions to specific ads and advertisers. Many digital marketers rely on these cookies as a critical piece in the planning, activation, and measurement of ads, but this practice will be no more once Chrome shuts down this support.

Not All is Lost

The behavioral data that these third-party cookies could provide advertisers may be going by the wayside, but before you start to panic, there are still effective techniques that can be used. For example, you will still be able to choose ad placements based on keywords or other contextual data that is relevant to your audience.

Understanding your audience and where they digest information is going to be critical as well. Specific placements or media buys with industry publications, news sources, and the like will still allow you to target your specific potential customers

Who Wins in the End?

Google, of course, will improve its place in the advertising realm with this shift, but giant brands like Facebook and Amazon will also likely see boosts from this move. As the data they collect on their substantial user-base is all first party, they will still be able to provide advertisers with a valuable space to tap into their ideal audience.

Paid Search is essential for generating immediate traffic from important keywords (rather than only relying on third-party cookies) and the best results come from collaboration. Our SEO & PPC specialists work together to evaluate those important keywords. Together they analyze keyword selection, current rankings, user intent, competition, and conversion rates to build PPC campaigns that do more with less. So, let’s get to work.