The Gist
- Impact on paid advertising. Google cookies continue to play a critical role in paid ad targeting and effectiveness.
- SEO data precision. Google cookies improve the precision of SEO tools by providing accurate user behavior data.
- Insights into user engagement. Leveraging Google cookies allows for deeper insight into user preferences, which increases SEO performance.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock — and hey, if that’s your thing, you do — you’ve heard that Google has decided NOT to write off Google cookies (third-party Chrome cookies) after all. There has been no shortage of articles written about what this news means for advertisers; however, this article is about what the decision means when it comes to SEO, be it via organic or paid.
Steve Winter, founder and president of ASTOUNDZ, says he doesn’t see much change when it comes to organic, but the same can’t be said for paid.
“On the organic side of the world, the cookie world doesn’t really affect us,” says Winter. “But on the advertising side, it’s definitely a big change that we now have to deal with.”
Regardless of organic vs. paid, Google’s decision has consequences.
As we all know, for almost four years they have been warning us about the eventual phasing out of these crucial tools from the Chrome browser. This news might be less worrying if it was Firefox or another browser.
But let’s face it: Google Chrome dominates with a whopping 65.68% of the global browser market share, according to Statcounter, and much of that dominance depends on the continued use of Google cookies.
This also means that it has the lion’s share of third-party cookies. So Google’s initial threats had us all on edge.
But then, in what can best be described as a surprising twist, Google decided not to pull the plug on third-party cookies — at least not yet. The announcement of Google cookies was brief and cryptic, leaving many of us wondering: Why did they change their minds?
Why Google stores cookies: The reasons behind the decision
The obvious question that I mentioned earlier is why? Why, after so many starts and stops, so many warnings about a world without cookies, did Google essentially decide not to care? Here are five reasons why I think they made this decision.
- Impact on advertising revenue: Eliminating third-party cookies may harm the effectiveness of ad targeting, which is Google’s primary revenue stream. Or as Paul Staten, CEO of Upward Engine/SEO Werkz bluntly puts it, “Google has a financial incentive to make sure cookies stay in place. They’re an advertising platform, and they’re a money maker.”
- Industry pressure: Advertisers and publishers resisted strongly, worried that their campaigns would suffer without these third-party cookies.
- Technical transition: The shift to new technologies like Privacy Sandbox APIs has been slower than Google expected.
- Legislative control: Regulators, notably the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), raised concerns about the anti-competitive nature of Google’s privacy sandbox.
- Research results: Studies such as the IAB Tech Lab gap analysis indicated that the proposed alternatives to third-party cookies would not fully support current digital advertising practices, causing major disruptions.
So while advertisers breathe a sigh of relief, what does this mean for the world of SEO?
Related article: How advertisers and marketers are responding to Google’s cookie pivot
SEO Gains from Google Cookies: Revealing the Hidden Benefits
Audience preference data is gold for SEOs. Platforms like Ahrefs, SEMRush, and Rand Fishkin’s Sparktoro provide insight into what your target audience enjoys, the influencers they follow, and the sites they frequent.
These tools often rely on data from data aggregators and clickstreaming platforms, such as Comscore, SimilarWeb, StatCounter and Datos, along with their machine learning algorithms.
Historically, these platforms have used Google cookies to collect extensive data about web traffic and user behavior patterns. They track users across different websites to build a profile of their online activities. Considering these aspects, Google’s decision not to end support for third-party cookies in the Chrome browser may be a boon for the SEO industry.
This is mainly because understanding audience preferences helps you tailor your SEO strategy to align with what your audience loves, ensuring they spend more time on your site and engage with your content.
More engagement means better rankings. Google’s search ranking factors, which include the “navboost” ranking system (which was exposed during the recent Google API leaks), favor sites where users linger and interact. By using third-party cookies to understand and accommodate user preferences, you can improve your website’s search results.
Receiving near-accurate data from these tools and platforms is critical to the four pillars of SEO success:
1. Keyword targeting and content creation
“Knowing what your audience is interested in can help you identify the right keywords to target,” says Dileep Thekkethil, director of marketing for Stan Ventures. (Editor’s note: the author works at Stan Ventures). “For example, if third-party cookie data shows an increasing interest among your audience in white-label SEO solutions, you can optimize your content with sustainability-related keywords or even start a new vertical under your agency that supports the renewed interest in target audience.”
These insights also help brands create content that resonates with your audience, increasing the chances of higher search rankings.
2. User Experience Improvements
Understanding user preferences includes website design and user experience (UX). If the data shows that users prefer video content, you can optimize your site to include more videos, increasing engagement and satisfaction.
In a nutshell, third-party cookies are essential for creating personalized, user-centric experiences. They help you understand what your audience wants and ensure your site delivers, significantly boosting your SEO efforts.
3. Backlink opportunities
Insights gained from tools that use third-party cookies can help identify potential influencers and partners relevant to your audience.
Imagine you are working on an SEO campaign for an eco-friendly product. Using Sparktoro, you may discover that your target audience follows certain influencers who promote sustainable living.
Building relationships with these influencers can generate valuable mentions and backlinks that directly impact website visibility. This is also one of the successful methods used by YouTube channels and podcasters to identify guests who are most followed by their target audience.
For example, if an influencer writes a blog post about how agencies make money and includes quotes or mentions from your agency, it not only brings direct traffic, but also increases your site’s authority in search engines. This can lead to higher brand visibility and trust building.
4. Competitor analysis
Third-party cookies play a crucial role in market competitor analysis, which in turn is done using tools such as SEMRush and Ahrefs. This allows marketers to gain insight into competitor performance and strategies.
Third-party cookies enable marketers to monitor user interactions on competing websites. This includes understanding which pages users visit, how long they stay and which content they interact with the most. These insights from tracking competitor performance can be applied directly to refine SEO strategies.
Related Article: Google Won’t Opt Out of Chrome Web Cookies Tracking After All
The Future of Google Cookies in SEO: What’s Ahead
Although there is a growing concern about third-party cookies infringing on users’ privacy, phasing them out entirely is not a decision that a search engine like Google can make without revenue loss consequences. This is especially true since the majority of Google’s revenue is generated through ads.
However, for those in the SEO space, it is important to focus on methods of generating first-party cookie data through direct user engagement, such as email subscriptions, surveys, and on-site interactions.
For this to work effectively, the focus should be on bringing more people to websites by creating content that is relevant to the audience based on search intent. This can greatly help reduce reliance on third-party tools for tracking-based insights.
Since it is an age where Google is ubiquitous across all digital platforms, marketers are of course obliged to use so-called new privacy-friendly technologies and frameworks such as Google’s Privacy Sandbox. Although the perceived purpose of this tool is to provide useful data to marketers while protecting user privacy, Google is trying to protect its hegemony in the digital world by these means. Either way, ensure transparent data practices and obtain user consent for data collection to build trust and comply with regulations like GDPR and CCPA.
So while Google’s decision to keep Google cookies is a win for advertisers, it’s also a big plus for those in the SEO community. We need to make the most of these tools to continue providing first-class data that helps you produce an experience that keeps users coming back for more.
So, in a nutshell, Google’s decision not to end support for third-party cookies in Chrome can be a boon to the SEO industry as it helps you tailor your SEO strategy to match what your audience loves and ensures that they spend more time on your site and engage with your content.
So until we have support for third-party cookies, let’s make the most of it by trying to deliver a highly personalized experience to the target users.
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