As a small or medium sized business owner in Lancaster County, PA, you’re focused on putting the right advertising in front of the right audiences. So, you’ve likely heard something in the news about third-party cookies being eliminated this year by Google Chrome. It’s important to have your finger on the pulse of these important changes – but it can be hard to get a full understanding of the details and how this will affect the marketing of your business.
This article will answer some of the questions you may have regarding third-party cookie elimination, what it is changing, how it can impact you, and what you can do to continue to advertise to the right people.
What are digital cookies?
According to Harvard Online, cookies are “little text files of information with small pieces of data (such as passwords or usernames) that are created by and stored within a web browser. These files identify your computer and can be accessed by the website at a later time, usually predetermined by the specific site.” These cookies are used by Google to report on how you’re using the site. Third-party cookies, specifically, track a user’s browsing behavior across sites. Advertisers and marketing companies use this data to show personalized ads and products to the correct audiences.
What has been the function of third-party cookies?
According to Adtelligent’s article, “How Third-Party Cookies Elimination Affects Programmatic Ecosystem,” third-party cookies have been the base for programmatic advertising since 1994. Their main functions include:
- Personalized ad targeting
- Cross-site retargeting
- Social buttons posting
- Third-party services placements (such as chatbot)
- Impressions measuring to user actions
- Detailed analysis of user behavior
With multiple functions, third-party cookies have been a staple for advertising for decades now. But with increased concerns about privacy, it has now become necessary to find other ways to deliver well-targeted digital advertising.
Why are third-party cookies being eliminated?
Third-party cookies are being eliminated because of the changing privacy landscape online. Since identifying and tracking individuals across the web using third-party cookie tracking is intrusive, regulators and legislators have been trying to find a way to address this issue for the last two decades.
Because governments and web users are demanding more privacy and transparency regarding their online behaviors and control over how their data is being processed around the internet, many new privacy laws around the world have been introduced to help protect user privacy and secure their data.
This is not a sudden decision, but rather a response to the growing concerns about privacy. Google’s decision to eliminate third-party cookies on Google Chrome is leading the charge of this effort to address privacy concerns. However, the transition, according to the blog post, “The End of Third-Party Cookies & What It Means For Digital Marketing,” is “partly motivated by marketing dynamics, including the rise of ad blockers and users’ preference for more privacy, and partly by strategic business decisions aimed at controlling the advertising ecosystem by leveraging first-party data.”
The Google Chrome web browser, which is the most commonly used browser, is planned to phase out third-party cookies by the end of 2024. Safari, Edge, and Firefox users are not facing this same deadline. While Chrome does make up over 65% of web traffic usage, it’s not a complete end to third-party tracking. If you use Safari, Edge, Firefox, you still may be subject to third-party tracking cookies.
Are first-party cookies being eliminated?
No. According to Cookie Information, “first-party cookies are often associated with short lived session cookies and essential cookies for website functionality, but first-party cookies can also be cookies used for tracking and analytics purposes. It is a common misconception to equate first-party cookies with mere short-lived essential cookies.”
Cookie Information also explains that, “third-party cookies, on the other hand, are often used for cross-site tracking, allowing third-party services to track users across multiple websites for targeted advertising and analytics. This cross-site tracking capability, in combination with being set from another domain, is the critical difference that distinguishes a third-party cookie from a first-party cookie.”
How is this changing the digital advertising landscape?
When third-party cookies are eliminated, websites will no longer be able to use these cookies to track users across different sites. As mentioned earlier, first-party cookies will still exist. However, user consent will be required unless the cookie is essential for the website’s functionality, according to the article, “Prepare for a Cookie-Free Future: Everything You Need To Know About Third-Party Cookies in Chrome.” The elimination of third-party cookies from Chrome is part of a broader initiative by Google to develop a privacy sandbox with open standards for user tracking while safeguarding privacy using new browser APIs.
This shift to privacy, while giving users more control over privacy and data, is significantly impacting the digital advertising landscape. With an increased emphasis on first-party data, business owners and marketers need to work harder to gather first-party data directly on their sites, which means providing users compelling reasons to give you their data.
In general, as captured in the DigiDay article, “‘It’s going to make our jobs harder’: Effects of Google’s third-party cookie fallout compound for marketers,” the job of marketers has completely shifted under these new regulations, with marketers looking ahead to new, adaptive strategies to continue to target messages to the right audiences with less data to pull from.
How does this affect my business in Lancaster?
As a small business owner who relies on marketing to gain a wider audience and more customers, it’s important to realize how third-party cookies impact your business.
As mentioned above, third-party cookies have been an important part of digital advertising, with many different functions. The good news is that every advertiser in the world is facing these challenges, and the elimination of third-party cookies will likely translate to new innovations that will improve advertising options while also respecting user privacy.
How will your business be impacted? According to an article by Lotame, here are a few of the key ways:
- Redefining Targeting Strategies: The conventional methods of tracking and targeting will be significantly limited, as marketers will no longer be able to leverage third-party cookies to create targeted advertising campaigns based on users’ browsing behaviors. In thinking of your marketing, you will have to shift your focus toward alternative targeting strategies so you are still reaching an effective audience, and LNP Media Group will be able to help your business with this.
- Increased Reliance on First-Party Data: First-party data has become even more important, with the elimination of third-party cookies, so your marketing approach should shift accordingly. You should think about investing more in direct customer engagement channels, like email marketing, loyalty programs, and customer feedback platforms for valuable marketing insights. This shift to first-party data will also necessitate more engagement strategies to collect such data.
- Exploration of New Technologies and Platforms: When one strategy goes away, it’s inevitable that new innovations will arise to take its place. New platforms and technologies for tracking and targeting will be on the horizon, so it’s important to be aware of what is up-and-coming and what makes sense for your business to integrate into its marketing strategy for the best ROI. Connecting with LNP Media Group experts will help you be aware of the newest innovations and developments.
- Diversification of Marketing Strategies: Diversifying your targeting strategy is more important than ever. The elimination of third-party cookies is a good reminder to not put your entire marketing approach into one single solution. Having a more diverse marketing strategy going forward means you will be even more prepared for future developments in digital marketing. As the elimination of third-party cookies shows, whether changes are gradual or unexpected, a spirit of adaptability is necessary for effective marketing.
- Increased Focus on Privacy: It’s important to realize that the shift to privacy-focused alternatives is indicative of a shift across the marketing landscape. Marketing strategies will succeed when they align with this shift to respecting users’ privacy, which may lead to more transparent marketing approaches overall. A new and improved marketing approach is one that does not disregard the value of user privacy.
- Cross-Site User Tracking Shift: If you use Google Analytics to track traffic trends on your website, you’ll find that the cross-site user tracking will become more challenging. According to Sellforte, the elimination of third-party cookies will impact the accuracy of cross-site user behavior analysis, so you’ll need to reduce your reliance on this data in Google Analytics.
To sum it all up, in this video, “What you need to know about third-party cookie depreciation” features Sam Dutton, developer relations engineer with the Chrome team, and Erin Walsh, a developer relations engineer with Android, as they break down some of these important points.
What can I do to target consumers in new ways?
Now that you have a better understanding of what third-party cookie elimination means for you and your business in Lancaster, you are probably thinking about next steps and how you can target consumers in new ways. This change in advertising also presents an opportunity – to rethink how you are approaching advertising, what innovations you can lean into, and how you can use experts to support your overall goals.
First up: you’ll want to connect with the digital marketing experts at LNP Media Group. In addition to keeping you up-to-date on important changes, innovations, and opportunities, our team will be able to strategize and target the audience segments most important to your business, in a variety of ways:
- Contextual advertising: When you put ads alongside relevant, trusted content, like on org, LancasterOnline.com, or the LNP newspaper, you can reach the people who will be interested in the topics that are also relevant to your business.
- Geofencing: This is an important tool that will remain available, as it relies on mobile and device tracking. Our blog post, Geo-Targeted Mobile Advertising, will help you gain further understanding of the benefits of geofencing. Basically, geofencing is precise location targeting of consumers, which helps us create a laser-focused campaign audience for your business. This is done through tracking GPS services that target specific relevant locations of events or other businesses where your target audience will gather. With geofencing, you can reach your targeted audience and present them with relevant and engaging offers and information. Contact LNP Media Group to learn more about how geofencing can change your advertising game today.
- Customer Match Audiences: Used for everything from increasing brand awareness to driving conversions, Customer Match lets you use your own customer data to reach and reengage with your customers, and people who are similar to your customers, across Google search, the shopping tab, Gmail, YouTube, and display, according to Google. This tool can be incredibly valuable for targeting the right kind of customers.
- Google Ads FloCs. Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) is a new way for advertisers and sites to show relevant ads without tracking individuals across the web. Google developed FloCs with the purpose of protecting individuals’ privacy by placing them in large groupings of thousands of people with similar recent browsing activity, without any of them being individually identified. In the current state of digital advertising, targeted digital advertising with FloCs will remain a privacy-approved option.
The elimination of third-party cookies is certainly an adjustment for advertisers and marketers everywhere, but it is not necessarily a negative shift. When you have the LNP Media Group team in your corner, you’ll feel equipped to face this change, and any other major changes, with the right advertising tools to continue to find success for your Lancaster business.
This is an interesting time in the digital advertising world, and it’s important to continue to adapt, be flexible, and stay ahead of the game amid the many changes. Contact us at LNP Media Group today, and we’ll work alongside you to create solutions that work for your advertising and marketing goals.
TL;DR:
Google Chrome is eliminating third-party cookies in 2024, meaning that previously available user targeting data will no longer be available to digital marketers. Connecting with experts at LNP Media Group will enable your business to find new avenues to reach your target audience.