Let the Cookie Crumble

The future of cookieless refers to the recent shift away from using third-party cookies for a variety of purposes. But why does that matter? While you may already know what cookies are, you may not know how often they’re used or the privacy concerns they pose. As user privacy and security have become more important on the Web, Google, Firefox, and other big Web players have begun abandoning certain cookies altogether.

Google’s plan to eliminate third-party cookies from its Chrome browser by 2022 is bad news for many digital advertisers. While this may be a victory for user privacy, it also creates a lot of uncertainty for website owners and marketers who use third-party cookies to track individual users and display relevant ads.

For Marketers

Digital marketing will see some of the biggest impacts of a cookie-free future, as advertisers primarily use third-party cookies to deliver targeted ads. The accurate effect of network marketing has been plagued by cookie-related technical defects. For advertisers, network marketing may not always reach the target customer groups they expect.
Cookies can only identify devices, not “real people.” Cookies are browser-based, but it is possible that more than one person can use them on a single device, which can skewer the accuracy of the targeting. Digital marketing will see some of the biggest impacts of a cookie-free future, as advertisers primarily use third-party cookies to deliver targeted ads.

Cookies can enable sites to track the number of visits, last visit time, and path of visitors to the site. Cookies can tell online advertisers the number of times that their ads have been clicked so that they can more accurately deliver their ads. Cookies can help sites count users’ personal information to achieve a variety of personalized services.

In order to improve advertising effectiveness and user experience, media, whether portal websites or advertising networks, will record users' browsing behavior patterns through cookies (generally known as "first-party cookies," which are directly issued by the websites users browse and generally accepted by users) to estimate users' preferences. and show users what they’re interested in.

For Users

These are just a few of the ways cookies can be used in marketing. They also help users navigate websites more smoothly. These include the ability to write down your password (imagine the pain of having to enter your account and password every time you check it), remember preferences such as formatting and language, and even the ability to add items to your shopping cart on an e-commerce site that involves cookies.

Privacy is probably the biggest issue surrounding third-party cookies—and the biggest reason many brands and companies are getting rid of them. Third-party cookies pose a number of privacy concerns. The biggest problem for most people is tracking user behavior without knowing it. Here, advertisers and other third parties (malicious or not) have long been able to store cookies in users’ browsers. Although laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) now require consent to cookies, many users simply click on these prompts out of habit or convenience. As a result, third-party cookies remain a widespread problem regardless of GDPR compliance.

For users, a cookie-free future is mostly good. Since many browsers and websites have abandoned cookies altogether, users can browse with confidence that their cookies and sessions are not being used for malicious activity. With the extension, websites will no longer be able to use cookies to track user activity or create intrusive user profiles. All things considered, a cookie-free future looks very promising for most people who browse the web.

If a cookie-free future can teach us anything, it’s that nothing matters more than user privacy. The cookie-free future is here, and there has never been a better time for marketers and website owners to make the transition. While a cookie-free future promises many benefits for privacy and security, it can be difficult for many people who already use cookies to market and target customers.