Stay Up-to-Date On All Things Google With Our Ad Agency
It’s been a newsy summer for Google, and, because we leverage their advertising tools for our clients, we’re keeping you in-the-know about the latest from this tech giant.
Find out how marketers and businesses should best position themselves in light of Google’s third-party cookie delay, and what the tech giant’s antitrust lawsuits may mean for the future of advertising online.
Google Delays Third Party Cookie Deprecation
Earlier this year, we published an article that encouraged our clients to consider new ways to connect with their audiences in a cookie-less future. (Need a cookie refresher? Cookies are files sent to your browser after visiting a website that allow ads from that site to continue reaching you even when you move on to other sites).
Previously, Google claimed that by the second half of 2024, the cookies that tracked users from website to website would be “deprecated,” or removed from Google Chrome.
However, this summer, Google explained that it had yet to come up with a solution that satisfied both developers and regulators, like the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The CMA aptly explained that phasing out third-party cookies would benefit Google because even more advertisers would seek out their other ad services, like paid search. In the meantime, Google made privacy controls more widely available, while they continue to test alternatives to cookies.
For now, cookies remain a part of the digital marketing landscape. However, this back and forth has led to new insights about how digital marketing teams can improve their efforts, whether Google’s cookies stay or go.
What Marketing Teams Can Do About Cookies Now
Although marketers can continue retargeting efforts enabled by third-party cookies, one of the biggest pivots in preparation for a cookieless future still stands: learning how to reach your audience without them.
These recommendations allow you to continue capturing your audience to nurture a relationship when they visit your site:
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First-party data management: In a future that requires more than a heavy reliance on third-party data tracking through cookies, how can you grab leads on your own website? The data you collect there is “first-party” data, meaning users voluntarily gave you their information.
Consider lead generation forms, an e-book download, calculator tools, surveys, and other opportunities for users to interact. These customers are likely higher quality leads than what you may uncover by retargeting them on other sites, as they’ve already made an investment in your content.
- Omnichannel marketing: Heavy reliance on a single tactic, or even two, is not enough to get in front of users at every point in the decision-making process – sometimes called the marketing funnel. Instead, use paid social media ads, organic social posts, a professional and effective website design, paid search ads, and search engine optimization (SEO) to connect with customers everywhere they go online.
- Consider AI: Some AI tools provide data for more concentrated, effective retargeting, including those that help you design custom audiences based on visitors to your site. With these tools, you can better understand who is making an effort to connect with your business and focus on those users and lookalike audiences. LinkedIn and Meta also provide opportunities to better understand and reach audiences on social media with expert retargeting tools.
Our conclusion? The cookieless future has not yet arrived, so we recommend continuing to leverage third-party data as necessary, while developing additional strategies that complement and enhance your retargeting efforts. Advertising with Google continues to maintain its status as an effective investment for any business.
D.C. Court Says Google Has a Search Engine Monopoly
Is Google a monopoly? Or is it just users’ most preferred search engine? That was the question that District Judge Amit P. Mehta had to answer in August, while hearing the Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against Google.
Judge Mehta ruled in the DOJ’s favor, agreeing with their position that Google’s contracts with phone makers, including Apple, to use their tool as the preferred search method helps them benefit from ad revenue generated by their use. Google beats the competition, simply by outspending them to earn coveted phone contracts, which is considered anti-competitive business activity.
According to WIRED, here are some possible outcomes of this ruling:
- Google may have to stop splitting its ad revenue with companies who have products that default to Google Search, such as Apple, Mozilla, and Samsung.
- Providing a “choice screen” that notifies users of their search engine selection and gives them an option to change.
- Divesting parts of Google into separate companies, such as dividing Google Search from Google Ads.
- Forcing Google to share search algorithm technology with its competitors.
However, WIRED business writer Paresh Dave hints that Google may end up going down the route paved by Microsoft’s antitrust ruling in the 1990s, which amounted to an alteration in how they conducted business, but didn’t require a monumental breakup of the company.
We will continue to watch the next developments in the DOJ’s suits against Google, including another antitrust case that Google will face in the coming year.
Is Your Marketing Reactive Or Responsive?
Whether we experience further delays to Google’s third-party cookie deprecation or if their services change due to litigation, you have a choice to be responsive or reactive with your marketing strategy.
A reactive approach is an anxiety-driven pivot, where businesses and ad agencies with Google services scramble to find the fastest ways to shore up any perceived downsides to big changes in the tech world. When reactivity is driving the bus, you’re more likely to choose strategies informed by “the sky is falling” fears, than a measured, careful approach.
We recommend a responsive strategy, which is guided by patience, research, testing, and thoughtful consideration. A responsive approach explores multiple pathways that may be beneficial in the face of the unknown. Plans are set in place to explore strategic options informed by potential outcomes. Our teams commit to more training, more learning, experimentation, and staying as up-to-date as possible on the latest news concerning the tools they use.
Learn about the latest developments in digital marketing, advertising with Google, and more, in our resource library:
- “Voice Search Optimization as SEO Marketing”
- “Should I Block the ChatGPT Bot From Crawling My Website?”
- “How to Leverage AI In Your Marketing Strategy”
- “7 Ways to Build Authority With Google, According to an SEO Agency Leader”
Peter Mishler, senior digital copywriter at iFocus Marketing, is dedicated to using language to help clients find their audiences. He is the author of two books: a Kathryn A. Morton Prize-winning collection of poetry, from Sarabande Books (2018) and a book of reflections for public school teachers from Andrews McMeel Publishing (2021). His poetry has appeared in many national publications, including The Paris Review, and he is a contributing editor for Literary Hub. New to marketing, Peter taught English for 15 years.
