Google is clearing plans for targeted advertising as it eliminates the use of browser cookies, saying in a new blog post on Wednesday that it will not use other methods to find users “around” the internet after terminating cookie support in Chrome.
Last year, the company said it would end support for third-party cookies, which fuel much of the digital advertising ecosystem, in its Chrome browser within two years of January. 2020. Instead, Google says it will only use “privacy-preserving technologies” that rely on methods such as anonymity or data collection.
The blog post from David Temkin, director of product management for ad privacy and trust, states that the company has been getting questions about whether Google will “join others in the ad tech industry who are intend to replace third-party cookies with other usage level identifiers. “Ad tech players have been working on marketing techniques that balance users’ privacy while maintaining personalization in advertising after they can no longer use cookies.
“Today, we make it clear that once third-party cookies are dismantled, we will not build other identifiers to track individuals while they are being browsing the web, and we don’t use them in our results, “says Google.
Cookies are small pieces of code that websites deliver to a visitor’s browser, and hold around as the person visits other sites. They can be used to track users across multiple sites, to target ads and to see how they are performing. Google said last year that it would end support for these cookies in Chrome once it had figured out how to address the needs of users, publishers, advertisers and devices. created to reduce labor levels. The company said it intends to do so within two years, in early 2022.
To do so, Google launched its “Privacy Sandbox” campaign to find a solution that will both protect users ’privacy and allow content to remain free on the open web. In January, Google said it was “extremely optimistic” about the progress of its cookies replacement proposals, and plans to begin testing one ad with advertisers in Google Ads next quarter. That suggestion in particular, known as “Federated Learning of Cohorts,” would largely place people in groups based on similar browsing behavior, meaning that there would only be “cohort IDs” and not individual user IDs. half used to target them.
Google says this is about how its own advertising products work, and not limiting what can happen to Chrome with third parties. The company said they would not use Unified ID 2.0 or LiveRamp ATS in their advertising products but would not talk specifically about a single campaign.
ID 2.0 is a unified enterprise that a number of leading ad-tech companies work together, which would rely on stripped and circulated email addresses from users who give their consent. The public company LiveRamp also has a so-called “Guaranteed Traffic Solution,” which they say involves users choosing to take control of their data, and on the other hand, Brands and publishers are able to use that data.
Temkin says in the post that other providers could “offer a level of user identity for tracking ads across the web that we don’t – like PII graphs based on people ‘s email addresses.”
“We do not believe these solutions will meet consumers’ expectations of privacy, and will not withstand rapidly changing regulatory constraints, so they are not a long-term sustainable investment,” The blog post says. “Instead, our web products will be powered by privacy-preserving APIs that prevent individual tracking while still delivering results to users. advertising and publishers. ”
Google had briefed several top advertisers and organizations on the post by Wednesday, including George Popstefanov, founder and CEO of digital group PMG.
Popstefanov said in an email that while this is a dynamic move “we have been preparing for it for a while.”
“Following last year’s announcement to remove third-party cookies, many of our clients have moved quickly to build their data infrastructures and invest in their CRM, to accelerate their first – party data, “he said.” The important thing is that consumer behavior is not fundamentally shifting, it’s just our ability to detect and measure behavior as we used to. the importance of strategic planning and vision is more important than ever for understanding audiences and how we can connect at the right times and in ways that are relevant to the context. “
He said he believes Google is motivated to design its products and solutions to solve for the new reality.
“Marketers are already diversifying their spend in more areas up and down the funnel, so Google will be obligated to make its solutions attractive to brands and to support the investments and influence of marketers. , “he said.
Alec Stapp, director of technology policy at the Institute for Advanced Policy, named Google news a step in the right direction for consumer privacy. The group has secured funding from Google and other key technical players, Protocol said last year.
“However, companies – even very large ones – can only do so much on their own,” he said in an email. “Policymakers need to step in and formalize rules that protect user privacy while being aware of not burying users in an endless array of pull-in screens. “
Jon Halvorson, global VP of customer experience Mondelez International, said the decision is consistent with customer feedback about what they want and expect. He said the company will be doing some testing in “FLoC” and will be building it into business plans for this year.
“We don’t think it can be a secret or an accomplishment, advertisers and both have to ask for,” he said in an email.