What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files that are stored in your browser. These text files store information that can be used for a variety of purposes. This includes things such as tracking, but also your user experience, for example.
A common misconception about cookies is that they are inherently bad and are only used to track you on the internet. Cookies also ensure that your preferences are saved, for example.
For example: If you accept cookies on a website and visit the website again the next day, you will not need to accept the cookie notification again because a cookie has already been placed.
The difference between third-party and first-party cookies
So now we know that cookies are used to store information in your browser, but what is the difference between third-party and first-party cookies?
First-party cookies
These cookies are placed by the website you are visiting.
For example: You visit a website, add some items to your shopping cart, and the website stores the information from your shopping cart in a cookie. This means that the items will still be in your shopping cart the next day when you visit the website again.
Third-party cookies
These cookies are placed by a "third party," so all cookies placed by a domain other than the website you are visiting are third-party cookies.
For example: Reward's website embeds a YouTube video, YouTube then places cookies in your browser to measure which videos you have watched and which you have not.
Consequences of the disappearance of third-party cookies
The end of third-party cookies is now truly imminent, as Google Chrome will also be blocking them. But how exactly will this affect your company's tracking/marketing?
The disappearance of Universal Analytics
This is a change that you couldn't ignore last year. With the disappearance of Universal Analytics, UA was dependent on third-party cookies, which is why Google Analytics 4 was introduced. This new version of Google Analytics no longer uses third-party cookies.
Advertising platforms have less data to target
Are you currently still targeting predefined audiences on Facebook and Google? These audiences are mainly populated by data collected using third-party cookies. Now that these cookies are disappearing, the quality of these audiences is declining significantly, meaning you can no longer rely on them for your search engine marketing.
What to do about the disappearance of third-party cookies
The data that advertising platforms used to collect for you is becoming increasingly poor in quality. Do you want to stay ahead of the competition and get the best results from your ads? Then it is important that you make optimal use of your own first-party data by training the algorithms of advertising platforms.
Track and improve offline conversions
At your company, final conversions do not always take place on the website. Take the process of requesting a quote, for example: a visitor requests a quote via the website, receives this quote, and then approves it. However, the actual conversion takes place offline, when the quote is approved. By feeding these offline conversions back into your advertising platforms, you can not only gain insight into actual revenue, but also optimize the algorithm for more valuable requests.
Measuring telephone conversions with call tracking
Many companies often overlook telephone conversions, even though these often result in interesting inquiries. By measuring these calls using call tracking, you can measure 100% of the calls from your advertisements. You can also distinguish between calls that generate results and calls that have no value.
Optimal measurement with Server Side Tagging
Server-side tagging is a first-party tracking solution in which the data is processed by your own first-party server. Instead of sharing data directly with third parties, you control which data is shared with advertising platforms. This measurement method allows you to measure up to 20-30% more compared to traditional tracking methods. In addition, you can expand your server-side implementation with server-side tracking, which allows you to measure 100% of your conversions.
At Reward, in addition to SEA and SEO, we also specialize in tracking and are happy to help you deal with the upcoming changes caused by the disappearance of third-party cookies.
