In case you are not aware, there has been a change in Google Chrome's system, and they are planning to get rid of the third-party cookies and to have only first-party cookies. This whole action will have an impact on a lot of things such as user experience and, therefore, affiliate marketing. In this article, we will be talking about:
- what these third-party cookies are,
- what has changed right now,
- and how they will impact the industry of affiliate marketing.
What Are Cookies
Right now, we have two types of cookies. The first type that you might be familiar with and you hear all the time about it is first-party cookies. First-party cookies are what make your browsing experience of a certain website easier by storing your data from a website. For example, when you sign in to a website or you login into a website, there is a little checkmark that says "remember me" or a little pop-out by your browser that you can save your username and password with. That is the first-party cookie.
You have definitely seen the box popping up on Google Chrome asking you whether you would like to save your password. This is a simple example of that.
Another great example of first-party cookies is when you are shopping in an online store, and the website will remember the items and products that you put into your car for shopping. So without first-party cookies, the experience of the users from a website would have been a mess because every time they were going to visit the website they had to re-log, or they could not have a cart to buy items, and they had to buy all their products one by one.
Third-party cookies, on the other hand, are not too noticeable in your daily work, but they are a big matter in the world of affiliate marketing. Third-party cookies are your actions and behaviors getting stored when you do an action. How they work is by following Javascript or the pixels. An example of third-party cookies is when you like a photo on Facebook, these third-party cookies will remember what picture you liked. That said, you can probably guess why these third-party cookies are important to affiliates.
The reason for it is because they are fundamental to many ad targeting applications or social media spying tools, and without third-party cookies, you cannot track users and study their behavior. Many affiliate marketers use ad targeting and spy tools, the removal of third-party cookies, is definitely going to have an impact on affiliate marketing.
Why Are Third-Party Cookies Getting Banned
A quick question out of context would be why these third-party cookies are getting banned, and the answer to it is because of more security. Third-party cookies are a strong tool for data miners, and because the browsers including Google Chrome, want more privacy and security for their users, they will ban Third-party cookies.
What Will Change For Affiliates
As we mentioned before, tracking users and their behaviors will not be possible without third-party cookies, so the affiliates who have a strategy based on tracking data and observing user behavior will be in a little bit of trouble because this way will no longer be doable. Affiliates cannot do target advertising.
Does Banning of Third-Party Cookies Mean the End of the World
Excellent news for affiliates, banning third-party cookies is not that much of a big deal as it seems to be. Of course, there are some cases that some affiliates might take a hit for this, but we live in a modern world where everything changes quickly. Using third-party cookies is a very outdated technique and many companies right now, do not use third-party cookies but first-party cookies, so there will be nothing to worry about. The affiliate market can and will adjust to first-party cookies a lot quicker than you think, so if you are worried, do not be. There are better, and more advanced ways for affiliates to use. In fact, no affiliate even cares that these cookies are getting removed because using third-party cookies is already at its end and there are a lot of alternatives for third-party cookies that do not violate the privacy of users.
The Solution and Alternative Ways for Tracking
Networks are already using first-party cookies, and there are a lot of other tracking ways such as CIAM (Customer Identity Access Manager), server-to-server tracking. Companies such as Xandr, are looking for ways to track users while using first-party data. Some other companies such as Neustar, are also making it possible to track users in a way that does not even need cookies.
How Will The Future of Affiliate Marketing Looks Like
Affiliate Marketing is a money-making industry for everyone, and companies such as Google would never do something to hurt this industry. Believe me, the removal of third-party cookies is useful for the affiliate marketing industry.
Here is a prediction, in the future, affiliates do not need to track customers because the customers will be driven to them. How is that possible? Just like Youtube, using advanced algorithms and A.I., affiliates no longer need to track down users, and the users themselves will come to affiliates based on the content they create. A.I. technologies will collect the data, and using algorithms, they will drive traffic towards you. Less trouble for affiliates, and a safer and more secure world for everyone.
OK not like this.
Conclusion
So, third-party cookies will go away, but as we said, there is nothing to worry about. This is in fact, a step towards the future and a better affiliate industry. Some people might take a hit from this, but this is all because they are not updated, or they are trying to handicap themselves. The affiliate industry is one of the finest industries that exist in the year 2022, and it will adjust to this new situation very fast. If you do something that heavily relies on third-party cookies, you better stop because not only is it hard, but it will be removed shortly. The impact of this removal will definitely be in a positive way.
