Google followed through on its decision to abandon cookies.
Well, maybe “opt out” is too strong to describe Google’s removal of third-party cookies. Stopped tracking 1% of Chrome browser users to display content based on features discovered in this tracking.
Estimates put global Chrome users at 3.2 billion people, so Google just blocked cookie access for about 32 million—that’s more than the population of Texas.
Are you ready for this Cookiepocalypse? Or in the UK, Biscuitpocalypse?
We asked CMI Chief Strategist Robert Rose to open this cookie and read the fortune for marketers. See or read:
What is a cookie?
Before you start impacting a cookie-free world, let me give you a quick cookie 101 class. A cookie is a small file that contains data about the user — or, more specifically, the device the person uses to browse the Internet. This unique identity can tell other websites about where the user has been, the products they’ve searched for, the searches they’ve made, etc.
Some Internet users find cookies useful. They allow them to stay logged in to websites without re-entering their username and password, personalize content and remember user preferences.
But most people don’t realize that there is a difference between first-party cookies and third-party cookies. The website the user is viewing provides first-party cookies. Third-party cookies allow marketers, for example, to follow users with an ad for the same product a hundred times on different websites.
So Google’s move is really about demoting the third-party cookie as it relates to advertising. If you feel like you’ve already heard this news, you have. You’ve heard it for at least a decade.
In 2013, Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox restricted cookies from third-party advertisers. A few years later, Microsoft and other browser providers followed suit. But they represent the minority of internet users.
Google’s Chrome has over 60% market share. So his recent steps are taking the cookie world down a lot faster.
What happens as the cookies crumble?
The world of advertising and marketing is about to change fundamentally, not just for large media buys that cross thousands of publishing platforms. B2B will feel the impact, interrupting all the work over the years to match Google search advertising with B2B marketing and social platforms. It affects your search engine marketing optimization and what people see when they visit your sites.
Preliminary data indicates that non-cookie Google Chrome users earn about 30% less revenue than those with cookies. It’s just harder to target your audience without their cookies.
These early results fit my hypothesis that much of the hype around cookies and data targeting was smoke and mirrors. My case was influenced by my reaction to receiving targeted ads for things I bought or researched and decided not to buy.
However, the data prompt a more important proposition. Marketers, especially in B2B industries, should see this as a tangible sign to become more proactive and intentional about acquiring, using and measuring first-party data.
See this as an increasingly important opportunity to learn more about your customers so you can deliver better content, build and build deeper relationships, and ultimately serve them more competitively than other platforms competing for their attention.
When I talk to my non-marketing friends, they have no idea they could opt out of cookies for years. And as Google and others restrict the use of cookies, they still won’t care. They’ll just think the web got less creepy.
How do marketers dine on data?
Marketers should be concerned about removing the third-party cookie. If you respond in a similar way to the industry’s clumsy handling of customer privacy — by putting big pop-ups in users’ faces and making them tap their heels four times to go back to Kansas — guess what? Your customers will blame you for overbaked cookies.
How you handle the acquisition of customer data and the management of that data is not a legal issue. It’s not a technology problem. It won’t be solved by making it harder for your customers to have personal and relevant digital experiences.
The problem requires you to lean into your content strategy. What digital experiences can you create that will motivate audiences to give you their information so you can deliver more value to them over time?
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
