Google announced this week it plans to kill the cookie completely by 2022.
On Tuesday, Justin Schuh, Google’s director of Chrome Engineering, wrote on the Chromium Blog:
Trials will start by the end of this year. The response was swift. Some digital marketing companies predicted doom, others hope, and many reported confusion.
So, why is Google Killing Cookies?
To make the web more private and secure for users.
What Are Cookies: A Brief Explanation
While most people have heard of cookies and are happy to accept them when they browse the web, not everyone understands the critical role they play in digital advertising.
Cookies store information about your website activity and browsing habits. While they can enhance the user experience, for example, first-party cookies save login information, they also have a negative reputation for overstepping privacy lines.
Third-party cookies:
So, when you are bombarded by ads for sunglasses after you have been browsing for a new pair, you can thank cookies.
What Does Google’s Cookie Decision Mean For The User?
Internet privacy has been a concern for some time now. Ever since the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, users have become more aware that their personal data can be accessed by companies they’ve never heard of and that they don’t trust.
So by phasing out third-party cookies, users will no longer be chased across the internet by advertisers they don’t want to have access to their data. In the meantime, Google and advertising companies have two years to figure out how to create less intrusive campaigns that are still relevant to the user.
There are still many unknowns, and Google’s reputation for gathering data on its users has raised questions about the true motivation behind this decision.
What do we think? Google doesn’t make rash decisions and its stated aim is to make information accessible and useful. Therefore, we believe Google has a plan and it will undoubtedly make finding what you need easier.
Watch this space.
