Google sets Aus to tracking cookies

05.03.2021 – Google explains: There will be no cookies nor “alternate identifiers” to track people on the web.

By Dominic Grohlmann

The industry is already warning: Google
The announcement that third-party cookies will not be allowed in its Chrome browser in the future is, strictly speaking, a repeat of a statement from January 2020. However, on Wednesday of this week, Google found it necessary to confirm that statement again . “We would like to say it again today very clearly: After the gradual disappearance of third-party cookies, we will not develop any alternate identifiers to track people while browsing the Internet, nor will we use them in our products either.” She said in a letter from the company on its website.

The following outcry from the industry shows just how important this clarification is: Large parts of the marketing industry are still clinging to the idea that it must also be possible in the future to follow users personally online using cookies (or similar methods).

In this regard, Google’s clarification should primarily be understood as a wake-up call. “ Other browser apps like Mozilla’s Firefox or Apple’s Safari have long started to prevent profiling and custom tracking. Daniel Churchowitz, an IT expert at Google AdWords, explains Smarketer
. “Now Google is bending to the growing demands for more privacy for users on the Internet.”

Beware of new tracking methods

Even if Google submits solution proposals at the same time, such as aggregate
And groups with aliases with similar interests (FLoC), advertisers and website operators should keep their eyes peeled for more solutions, says the expert. “Because it is not clear yet whether the alternative technologies of the tech giant will meet the requirements of data protection officials or will prove themselves in practice.”

At the same time, the current legal status of third-party cookies often results in the loss of advertiser data. If the user does not consent to the use of cookies when visiting a website, not only targeting data, but also important performance parameters will be lost. There are actually tracking technologies that make a username completely pseudonymous, but at the same time it gives the advertiser the most important KPIs for their ads.

Konrad Feldman, CEO of the advertising platform Quantast
, You think Google wants to protect its own apps above all with the decision and wants to go to Walled Gardens. “Google’s decision to distance itself from its industry-wide identity initiatives is bad news for publishers and content creators.”, He says. “What they’re doing is leveraging their cash cows and ads on the Search Network and YouTube, which are unaffected by this step. Because the open internet makes it more difficult to effectively serve ads, or even measure ad effectiveness, more ad dollars are in the coffers of the tech giants.” Flowing – at the expense of the free and open Internet.