In response to recent privacy controversies, Google announced plans for a privacy-focused website.
To improve web browsing privacy, Google has recently pledged that it would make third-party cookies in Chrome obsolete. Google has a new set of technical solutions, which replaces the annoying tracking system that Safari and Firefox have used for a while.
Google assures that the privacy-focused new web will meet the needs of advertisers, users, and legislators – not just promoting greater privacy, but transparency, choice, and control over web data.
What’s the problem with cookies?
Google recognizes that this is not sustainable, and has responded to the privacy concerns of lawmakers and consumers by blocking third-party cookie access completely.
Websites that rely on advertising for income are negatively affected by the removal of cookies. It encourages opaque tracking techniques like fingerprinting and other forms of privacy, which in turn reduces control and user privacy.
Device fingerprinting, which is an intrusive practice, collects small details of user activity to create a unique user profile. This profile is similar to the cookies system that aims to identify the person who uses it. Fingerprinting can be used to bypass ad blocking and to identify users who have deleted their cookies. This profile is created by using browser settings, not cookies. It uses the user’s browser settings, such as IP address, browser extensions and fonts, plugins, and fonts. Fingerprinting is harder to detect than cookies and user profiles are more difficult to delete.
Google’s latest set of technologies is the ” Privacy Sandbox“, which consists of five Application Programming Interfaces. The Privacy Sandbox uses browser-based machine learning and other non-invasive methods to group users with similar interests. Advertisers can promote relevant ads based on the demographics and interests of this group without having to track them.
Google hopes that the Privacy Sandbox won’t break existing infrastructures of websites that use cookies. It will continue to collect data that is useful to advertisers but it will avoid using unethical and invasive tracking devices.
Google says digital marketers don’t need to rely anymore on user tracking to achieve success. “People shouldn’t have to agree to be tracked across the internet to receive the benefits of relevant ads. Digital advertising offers performance benefits, and advertisers don’t have to track individual consumers on the internet.
The Privacy Sandbox does not invade user privacy but instead promotes a healthy, ad-supported internet. Google plans to implement the Privacy Sandbox using out-of-the-box strategies for their existing web technologies within two years.
Google released information and testing results for one of their APIs. They refer to it as “FLoC”, or Federated Learning of Cohorts. FLoC is a Chrome extension that will launch before the end of this year. FLoC is a browser extension that prevents individual user tracking. It also implements anti fingerprinting measures in order to discourage the use of such deceptive or intrusive techniques.
Google has begun to transition to an ad-supported website. Chrome introduced a new system in February 2021 that restricts cross-site tracking. Cookies that do not include a SameSite label are considered first-party use and cookies marked for third-party use must be accessed via HTTPS.
In the announcement post, Justin Schuh, Chrome Engineering Director wrote that third-party cookies will be more secure until the release of the full operating system.
Google’s Corrupt History and Public Privacy Invasions: A Look at Google
Google has been involved in several privacy-related controversies, including the misuse of user intellectual properties, violations of user privacy, and manipulations of search results to drive advertisements. These three recent Google controversies can serve as the basis for Google’s privacy-focused strategy.
The US Justice Department sued Google in October 2020 over claims that Google’s search and advertising violated federal antitrust laws. These antitrust claims and the multibillion-dollar lawsuit against Google alleging that Google uses exploitative monopolistic methods.
Google is accused of using questionable business practices to protect its market share in online searches. This includes paying billions of dollars to be the default search app on smartphones and a variety of other devices.
Additionally, Google was featured in UK news headlines as the UK Government sued Google’s YouTube platform for “knowingly violating privacy law in the country” by tracking children online.
YouTube is accused of violating data privacy laws in the UK Data Protection Act, and Europe’s GDPR. YouTube is said to have illegally harvested the data of “millions of children” for the purpose of targeting ads.
The bad PR does not stop there.
Google recently got into trouble with Australia’s Government when it threatened to withdraw all search services from Australia because of the News Media Code. This code aims to establish an equal relationship between tech giants and news publications.
Google must pay news outlets to share their original content via its search engine. This is a first in the world. Google was worried about the Code as it would establish a new standard for news information distribution. Google would have to pay all media outlets in the world for their original news material if the bill was signed.
Google decided to leave Australia and not comply with the request. We must not forget that Google departed the Chinese market in 2010. Google is free to do whatever they want at any moment.
Users and legislators are demanding more control over the use of their data. Google was forced to adopt new strategies under this pressure to improve its privacy policies.
Google is the most popular search engine and internet browser in the world, but it is so far removed from its users that it could be called the “boomer generation” of search engines. Google’s business model remains the same old school, with paid ads and data mining still dominating the search engine.
Google finally took action to address users’ complaints. They know that if they don’t they will soon lose their huge market share.
What does this mean for advertisers?
Google Chrome’s new updates will undoubtedly shake up the digital advertising industry. Chrome is a significant digital presence, with a 69% desktop market share and a 40% mobile share worldwide.
Good news: Google expects that the strategy will take at most two years to implement. They also stated they are open to collaboration with advertisers to ensure all stakeholders can benefit from the new system. Digital marketers in NYC and business owners have plenty of time to prepare for major changes.
Miami digital marketing agencies will need to find other ways to collect user data, especially since third-party tracking has been removed.
Award-Winning Digital Marketing Agencies are here to help! Experienced digital marketers expect first-party tracking and closer partnerships with publishers to be the best solutions. These avenues, although more difficult to implement will allow advertisers to continue targeting specific audiences with advertisements.
There are huge opportunities for early adopters of Google’s new technologies. Businesses of all sizes will require digital marketers in Phoenix to help them navigate the increasingly complex digital world by 2022.
Strategic decisions are hard to predict, and it is impossible to expect any strategy to succeed. It would be hard to predict where promotional funds will be spent to make the most of digital media campaigns. New avenues open up new possibilities that were not possible in the old ways of thinking.
Many experts believe a future landscape without third-party cookies will lead to better transparency, higher ROIs, more significant attribution for the Las Vegas internet marketing industry, and better consumer privacy.
Google’s testing team has claimed that the FLoC mechanism can increase conversions by up to 95% compared to cookies’ ability to reach affinity and in-market audiences.
Every business owner should be aware of the potential changes in digital advertising. Because the digital landscape can change in an instant, there are many complexities to multifaceted systems and third-party cookies. This is especially true for small business owners.