Third-party Cookie Alternatives

Discovering user identity is essential for advertisers to create personalized adverts and offer them to specific audiences. While being extremely useful for a long time, digital advertisers will soon need to discover new solutions. Because of the complete cookie ban that Google plans for 2022, it will be crucial to find new ways of targeting the online audience. Many companies are starting to search for cookie alternatives today to be prepared for what the future of digital marketing has in store.

What Are Online Cookies?

Everybody who uses the Internet has seen the majority of websites using cookies. All these sites have been actually asking user permission to use cookies over the past years. These cookies are essentially small files with information from these web pages stored on your PC or laptop. They include certain text, which can range from user IDs to any other data left by the site visitor. Cookies are created when you log onto the website and choose to save this information so you will not have to log in every time. Other website settings use cookies as well. If you clear the cookies accumulated in your browser, you will have to log onto every site once again and save preferred settings.

Thanks to cookies, advertisers can learn more about your preferences and create targeted adverts with products and services that will be useful for you. Each website can only use the cookies that you have created on its pages. For example, if you use an online shopping platform, the algorithm will be able to change according to your searches and offer the most fitting options.

Cookie Alternatives for Advertisers

Numerous alternatives to replace cookies when they are gone are already emerging. Some options are offered by Google itself with user security and convenience in mind. Here are some of the options that advertisers are starting to use already:

1. Birds APIs

Google did not simply announce the demolishing of cookies in 2022. This corporation offered another solution at the same time. Privacy Sandbox is a platform that will allow still gathering useful data for digital advertising but in a slightly different way than with cookies. There are certain security standards defined by Privacy Sandbox that will increase user safety and prevent personal data collection. There are different API options for advertisers to monitor the performance of their ads. Ad creators will be able to know if the user actually saw the advertisement and used it to buy a product or service.

These APIs are colloquially called Birds because both the original idea by Google and all other solutions by different companies are acronyms that sound like bird names. TURTLEDOVE API allows advertisers to use behavioral data based on user searches without collecting specific information on each user. Some other programming interfaces from this category include:

• Sparrow
• FLoC
• Dovekey
• Parrot
• Fledge
• Parakeet
• Pelican, etc.

2. Universal ID

This is a type of identifier that is commonly used by different websites alongside their own IDs. This technology works in a similar way with cookies but uses hashing identifiers in accordance with security regulations. In addition, this method works cross-platform, while cookies are only useful on the web. These identifiers use first-party cookies and emails or phone numbers left by users.

3. Data Pool

This solution resembles a data center where publishers and brands share their first-party information. This allows advertisers to gather safe and open information from publishers to manage their ads and create targeted advertising. This is a secure method that operates under safety rules and regulations. A mediator is needed to collect information from both sides and remain unbiased.

4. Contextual Targeting Solutions

Ads in this case are generated based on the keywords and phrases found on specific web pages. Info used for such targeting includes data offered by publishers, which are the devices used for browsing and the time of seeing these pages. Technology is used to make predictions on what web pages would be the most efficient to target and when.

This type of advertisement is more effective if your site has a specific theme and sticks to it, which attracts a niche audience. The publisher with diverse users might not find contextual targeting as useful. However, this is still a good strategy if you cannot receive any personal data from the user.

5. Identity Graphs

An average person uses four different devices every day. Combining this cross-channel data can be incredibly useful for advertisers. All kinds of information, from first-party cookies to email addresses and phone numbers, come together in a convenient graph.