In the world of web analytics, there is a low-hanging fruit that has not caught everyone’s eye yet, and that is how browsers themselves are responding to the world of digital analytics vendors & technologies, which may even have little-to-no privacy benefits ranging to also vendors who place privacy on their top stop.
Apple’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention (A long player may be said) and a newly growing Privacy Sandbox initiative which still pends Q1 2025 to fully be in effect. In this blog, we will cover;
We enter an era of no 3rd party cookies, but before we enter into the discussion with Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative and Apple’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention, there are some web practices that should already be adopted by a website owner, especially, for those in the GDPR and CCPA region and to those countries where privacy initiatives are in speed:
The tide has been turning for some time now. While the complete phase-out of third-party cookies with Google's Privacy Sandbox may not be in effect until Q1 2025, both Apple and Google have been releasing updates for years that chip away at traditional tracking methods.
Apple's Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) has been progressively restricting third-party cookie functionality since its introduction in 2017. Similarly, Google's Privacy Sandbox has been evolving through various trials and iterations, foreshadowing the limitations we can expect in the coming year. This gradual rollout highlights the ongoing nature of the privacy battleground.
The rollout of these changes from Apple and Google seems to be directly linked to significant drops in campaign performance. Looking at your campaign data over the past two and a half years, there are sharp declines in effectiveness right after each new release. This has resulted in a situation where nearly half of the internet population is no longer available for targeting. It is surprising how silent everyone has been about these major changes. Agencies, publishers, even vendors – no one seems to be addressing the impact.
These changes are a big blow to campaigns that depend on borrowed data (3rd party data) and remind people about your stuff (re-targeting). Apple's Safari browser gave the cookie the boot after just a day, making it impossible to keep those reminders going. Currently, if you are paying to show ads to people who already visited your site, they are only seeing them on Chrome.
To understand the impact of these changes on our most beloved web browsers, of course, our two favorite companies headline the change: Google with Privacy Sandbox, and Apple with Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP).
In the past, website tracking relied heavily on third-party cookies that we gave consent from every website’s own consent banner. These cookies followed users across the web, allowing advertisers to build detailed profiles and target them with highly specific ads. However, this raised privacy concerns as we all know now.
The Topics API aims to replace this intrusive tracking method. Instead of cookies tracking individual users, Topics categorizes users into broad interest groups based on their recent browsing history.
Websites can then target advertising based on these groups, delivering relevant ads without revealing a user's specific browsing behavior. This offers a balance between user privacy and relevant advertising.
Here are some new features that developers of the ad platforms and website owners might be interested in, such as what Google calls "Private Advertising” APIs.
Topics API of all gets all our attention, leaving our user identifications and placing us into topics:
Or the Attribution Reporting API, which in practice, sounds a lot like Apple’s SkAdNetwork (SKAN) for IOS apps, which we all know, disrupted IOS marketing to its core with IOS 14. Take a look here, a blog post from Julian Juenemann explaining what IOS14 had as an impact.
Here is what it claims:
The Attribution Reporting API gives access to different types of insights with two types of reports that can be sent to an advertiser or a third-party ad tech provider. These two types of reports can be used simultaneously and are complementary.
At first glance, The Private Aggregation API shares many similarities with the Attribution Reporting API. Attribution Reporting is a standalone API designed to measure conversions, whereas Private Aggregation is built for cross-site measurements with APIs like the Protected Audience API and Shared Storage. Both APIs produce aggregatable reports that are consumed by the Aggregation Service back-end to generate summary reports.
Attribution Reporting associates' data gathered from an impression event and a conversion event, which happen at separate times. Private Aggregation measures a single, cross-site event.
The chrome://topics-internals page is available in Chrome on the desktop once you enable the Topics API. This displays topics for the current user, topics inferred for hostnames, and technical information about the API implementation. You can always also have the ability to opt out, which is nice, and very privately respected indeed.
As Google has now pushed out the release date for Privacy Sandbox from Q4 2024 to Q1 2025, the current timeline stands like this:
Launched in 2019, the Privacy Sandbox is an industry-wide effort led by Google to develop recent technologies that balance user privacy with the need for relevant advertising and content personalization. Here is a breakdown of its core objectives:
As we have discussed what changes we will be expecting with Privacy Sandbox, ITP, or Intelligent Tracking Prevention, is Apple's multi-pronged approach to limiting website tracking within the Safari web browser.
It is a constantly evolving beast, so let us dissect its current effects on website tracking:
Thankfully, ITP does not directly impact first-party cookies, which websites set on their own domain. These cookies are still functional for storing user preferences and session data within the specific website.
Here's where things get interesting. ITP enacts a two-tiered system for third-party cookies, significantly impacting website tracking capabilities:
Blocking Tracking Technologies: When a user activates private browsing mode in Safari, ITP throws up a virtual fortress. It actively blocks various tracking technologies commonly used by websites:
Limiting Information Access: ITP makes it significantly more challenging for websites to track users across the web. Here is how:
If you are wondering where in real life we can see hints of ITP, you might be familiar with the reference below:
ITP is constantly evolving. Apple regularly updates its privacy features, and future versions might introduce even stricter limitations on website tracking. As a website owner or marketer, staying informed about the latest ITP developments is crucial to adapting your data collection strategies and ensure compliance with user privacy expectations.
We have established the limitations of traditional cookie-based tracking and the need for a privacy-centric approach. Enter server-side tagging, a game-changer in the world of web analytics.
But how does it work, and can you implement it yourself?
Instead of relying on browser-side scripts and cookies, server-side tagging leverages your server infrastructure to collect and manage user data. Here is the basic flow:
Setting up server-side tagging requires some technical expertise.
If you are ready to enhance your web analytics and privacy practices, we are here to help. Whether you need expert advice, tailored solutions, or want to explore how we can support your success, do not hesitate to reach out. Given the ever-evolving way of browsers, server-side is a hope to reach the next level of data collection in this new third-party cookie era.
Marketers need to stay ahead of these changes to keep their data collection and campaigns on point. With third-party cookies on their way out and privacy-focused tools like Apple’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) and Google’s Privacy Sandbox coming in, it's time to adjust your strategies to stay effective and compliant.
Apple and Google's privacy updates have already caused a drop in campaign performance. If you're relying on third-party data and retargeting, it’s time to rethink your approach as these methods won't be as effective anymore.
Privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA are getting stricter, so aligning your practices with these laws is more important than ever. Using Consent Management Platforms (CMPs) and getting clear consent from users can help build trust and keep you compliant.
Even though third-party cookies are being phased out, first-party cookies are still good to go. By using server-side tagging and other privacy-focused tracking methods, you can keep your data accurate and respect user privacy.
New tools like Google’s Topics, Protected Audience, and Attribution Reporting APIs offer fresh ways to target and measure ad effectiveness without compromising privacy. Marketers should get to know these technologies to stay ahead. Not relevant to the web, even though Apple is making headways in IOS with Ad Attribution Kit moving forward too. Privacy Sandbox is set to be introduced to Android apps as well.
To conclude, the way we track website visitors is changing. Browser updates like Apple's ITP and Google's Privacy Sandbox are making it tougher to rely on third-party cookies. This means marketers have to adapt.
Focus on what you can control, like first-party cookies and server-side tagging. New tools from Google aim to target users and measure ad success in a privacy-friendly way. Embrace change, learn about these innovative technologies, and your campaigns will keep on cruising. By respecting user privacy, you can still get valuable data and keep your marketing on point.