Cookieless World And How Can Marketers Prepare For It

What are cookies, and how do they work

In internet language, cookies are short strings of text containing information about a user’s navigation. The data is stored in web browsers (like Safari and Edge). This information consists of user preferences, login credentials, and so on. Whenever you log in to an online store, for example, and return to it a few days later without having to log in again, these are cookies in use. 

The cookies’ journey looks like this:

1. When someone opens a website, cookies are stored in the browser.
2. The website collects this data from the browser.
3. This data is stored on the website’s servers.

In the image below, these three steps are shown in more detail.

Websites use stored cookies to facilitate users’ navigation and accessibility. But cookies do more than help users seamlessly access websites; they also work for vendors and marketers as they collect users’ data to tailor digital advertising campaigns. Cookies are accessed by websites and third-party services that manage advertisements — and this has everything to do with the present cookieless world. To fully understand the topic, we must first talk about cookie types.

There are two main types of cookies based on the trust relationship between users and services: first-party cookies and third-party cookies. We explore them next.

First-party cookies

First-party cookies are collected by the website that the user is currently visiting and re-used by the very same website. They usually help with user experience optimization, remembering login, language preference, and the items left in the cart. 

So, when a website collects first-party cookies, it means that on the next visit, it retrieves the cookies to remember preferences, login, or activity.

Third-party cookies

Third-party cookies are users’ data that are transferred from the primary website to third-party services — external companies or platforms that are not directly affiliated with the website. For example, it can be advertising networks like Google Ads and Facebook Ads, marketing automation platforms, or analytics providers. These services use cookies to interfere with the user’s navigation in the future as they use collected information to show segmented advertisements. 

Of course, websites must disclose the use of third-party cookies, this is regulated by privacy laws, such as the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in the EU and the CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) in the U.S. That is why you constantly see pop-ups like the one below:

What is the difference between first-party cookies and third-party cookies?

The main principal difference between first and third-party cookies is the reason for their collection. 

Primarily, cookies are used to enhance users’ experience. Their role is to provide a better and more friendly web experience. Yet, when a third party accesses people’s data, the purpose of cookies broadens to collect and use personal information that individuals are not entirely aware of. Usually, people are not wholly conscious of the items in personal data consent agreements with websites or read privacy policy agreements. So the first-party cookies benefit usability and accessibility, while the third-party cookies support intrusive interventions on users’ web navigation by driving advertising into their experience.

What does a cookieless world actually mean

The increasing complexity of regulations and privacy concerns now restricts how businesses can gather and utilize customer data. For communication organizations, this means they need to leave the cookies tracking as an opt-in or opt-out option in the users’ hands. But for consumers and marketers, it means something else.

Let’s see what a cookieless world means: 

For consumers

For internet users, a cookieless world means privacy, autonomy, and control over personal data. In practical terms, we gain the freedom to opt out of data tracking. But it is also important to know that our navigation is affected, as with more control, we face more actions — accepting cookies or not, defining privacy settings, and saving it — which means an irregular, or not so seamless, navigation experience. 

Imagine that every time you open your favorite service, you have to accept a consent request, log in, set your preferences (like language or content), and — perhaps the most frustrating part — discover that all those “I’ll save for later” items in your shopping cart are gone. Another drawback here is the loss of personalized content. While the amount of data your go-to online store collects about you might seem scary, for some, the prospect of scrolling through thousands of product pages instead of seeing “just for you” recommendations might be even scarier.

For marketers

A cookieless world means something different for marketing professionals. Living without supporting third-party cookies leads to a new reality: we need to rethink the digital marketing strategy, business strategy, and how we view campaigns’ performance. Take precise targeting and retargeting capabilities, for example. Cookies used to be informants for marketers, giving insights into user behavior and preferences. Without them, marketers lose some of that laser-focused precision. There is the bright side, as always, though. You might gain an opportunity for more authentic connections and a chance to stand out in a sea of generic ads.

Why did Google try to phase out cookies?

Concerns about user privacy, legal demands, and the need to make the web more user-friendly have led Google to announce that it will stop supporting third-party cookies in Chrome browser by 2025.

Still, ads generate the majority of Google Ads revenue. So, removing third-party cookies without a suitable replacement would be detrimental to the company’s bottom line. So, Google launched the Privacy Sandbox. This is an initiative that includes various tools to help advertisers get a better understanding of users without compromising private data. Sandbox includes different solutions, like:

• Topic API: A Mechanism that allows tracking users’ general interests while not disclosing particular web moves, like sharing which apps or websites users used. Those interests (which Google calls “topics”) are based on the user’s habits and activities. Topics can include broad terms like “Fashion” or “Sport”.
• FLEDGE: This service allows advertising not to individual users but to groups of users based on their interests. FLEDGE divides users into categories, while the device they are using decides which ads to show. 
• Attribution reporting: A tool for tracking marketing performance and customer journey across different channels. Basically, this tool tracks users’ interaction with certain ads and then calculates this interaction’s value based on the weight you gave for a different touchpoint (for example, clicking on the ad or opening an email).

All of that allows websites to anonymously store user preferences, providing personalization without invasive tracking. All of these features were supposed to bring us to the cookieless world. But in July 2024 Google announced its decision to keep third-party cookies while putting other restrictions in place, like the need to ask for explicit user permission for tracking the data. While this might seem like good news, keep in mind that the situation might change, and marketers should have different strategies in place even with the end of third-party cookies. 

We will see some alternatives in the following section.

Tips for marketers on preparing for a cookieless future

We might refer to cookieless strategies as elements of the future, but in fact, people have been living in a cookieless context in some parts of the world for years now — Europe, for example. In 2018, with the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), companies and organizations had to adapt to new rules regarding which data they collect, how long they are allowed to store such data, and so on. So, how can marketers operate? 

Use first-party data collection

We can always count on first-data collection, of course. This one has not changed. With data provided by first-party cookies, it is possible to arrange some strategies that take into consideration that specific type of data. For users, it seems more privacy-friendly and helps them feel more at ease — they trust the certain website to remember their preferences, not some corporate giant with unspecified (or, in some cases, very specific) goals.

Look into zero-party data

Zero-party data is a term created after concerns about the cookieless web were raised. It refers to all data that customers voluntarily provide — through quizzes, polls, surveys, and all sorts of interactive elements we can find on a webpage. That way, you have users’ consent and good will to collect information about them. But bear in mind that might not be enough, and it is not recommended to act as if the cookieless world doesn’t exist. The old strategies might not work without the new amount of collected third-party cookies.

There are other ways to gather consumers’ data that don’t depend on cookies at all (consented or not), like offering newsletter subscriptions and other loyalty programs that allow you to collect your consumers’ data with their consent. Thus, you collect data using a permission-based email marketing strategy.

Use alternative identifiers

In a world without cookies, other identifiers provide a variety of choices for gathering user data. Your company’s objectives, the degree of customization needed, and your privacy commitment will all influence how alternatives are designed anonymously for storing data. That is when you use alternative identifiers. Identifiers are tokens that address specific users, like hashes and are utilized to anonymize data in use. Some alternative identifiers would be:

• Browser fingerprinting. Gathers device and browser data like screen resolution and installed fonts to provide a distinct identifier for every user. Individual browser versions, screen sizes, and language choices help returning guests without cookies be identified.
• Cohort-based identifiers. It groups users according to their common interests or activities rather than tracking individual people. Google’s Topics API groups users based on their web surfing behavior into a “fitness enthusiast” cohort that advertisers may target.
• Publisher-provided identifiers. Publishers collect first-party data from users and share it with advertisers in a privacy-compliant way. A news website shares anonymized data about readers interested in “tech news” with advertisers for targeted campaigns.
• Privacy Sandbox APIs. Google wants to substitute privacy-friendly measuring and targeting technology for monitoring cookies. Advertisers can use the Topics API to find whether a person is interested in “science” depending on past web browsing activity, therefore avoiding tracking users’ activities.

Be transparent

Make it very apparent that your platform intends to collect the user’s data, and then request the user’s agreement to do so. When you are transparent with your customers, you are showing that you respect their freedom, privacy, and autonomy.

How expert marketers are navigating the cookieless world

We asked several marketers about their strategies for the cookieless world and the benefits they see with first-party data. Their responses are actually full of hope and promise:

Experts are investing in SEO, content, and communities

If marketers can agree on one thing, it’s that content is king — and that king is here to save the day. In fact, driving sales through it is an old and proven strategy. No wonder marketers around the world are focusing more on creating valuable and educational content, as well as user-generated content.

Here’s an example from the real estate industry that Mike Wall, CEO of EZ Sell Homebuyers, shared with Selzy:

Social media, thematic forums, and local groups are not the only options here. Another highly effective approach is website optimization, blogs, and newsletters to attract customers through good old search engines.

Maurizio Petrone, Founder & CEO of PressHERO, shared his experience:

Experts are looking for new technical solutions

The phasing out of cookies doesn’t mean all is lost. Here’s an example from Robbin Schuchmann, Co-founder of EOR Overview. As Robbin told us, he shifted to server-side tracking to get more accurate data instead of relying on browser-based tracking.

So, when the Overview newsletter signup tracking broke down in August 2024, this new data collection method helped fix the issue.

Here’s another completely different approach: exploring new ways to interact with customers. Rodney Moreland, Founder of Celestial Digital Services, highlights that without cookies, the focus is shifting toward building authentic brand-consumer relationships. This means an optimization of user experience, personalized interactions, and other engagement strategies. While marketers can no longer rely on bundles of third-party data, they can turn to technology, particularly AI, for support.

Final thoughts

Advertisers and publishers must be creative and sort out new strategies to measure the success of campaigns and target audiences under cookieless rules. As a marketer, you might think this is an imposed challenge and that things can be harder now. But if you think as a user who is exposed to data exploitation by third-party stakeholders whose interest is in profit and not in your rights, you can taste the benefit of a cookieless world. And having a “Plan B” in place can be more important now.