What are third-party cookies

Third-party cookies are all cookies that are not collected by the website operator but by a third party. If you visit a website for the first time, the web server normally generates an internal cookie. This is a first-party cookie. It stores all necessary user settings and entries. When you return to the site, this internal cookie serves to retrieve settings and other information, such as login information. This improves the user experience. Third-party cookies, on the other hand, are in a website operator’s server. They primarily record user behavior and the visitor’s path through the Internet in order to later create a user profile. Here are some pointers on what third-party cookies are and how to consider them in your SEO strategy.

The concern with third-party cookies

If your business operates in the digital ecosystem, you already know that cookies can be a real pain in the ass. One of the biggest concerns is user privacy. The widespread use of cookies means that data is being shredded across websites, devices, apps, etc. From the user’s perspective, it is difficult to understand who is doing what with their data. And if third-party cookies are involved, things get even more complicated.

E-commerce prefer first-party

Collecting data around actions taken on your e-commerce site directly improves  your knowledge of your visitors and future customers, what they like, what they click on. Once you know all this information, you can use it to increase your margins, highlight the right products, cross-sell, etc. Proprietary cookies allow you to know the habits of your visitor or customer on your site and to adapt your offer to that particular person. In fact, you can start recommending products tailored to each person on each page.

Is this the end?

In August 2019, Google, whose Chrome browser has a market share of about 70% in 2021, announced the launch of its “Privacy Sandbox” project, which aims to limit the use of cookies for advertising and to propose a series of technical solutions to keep the advertising features that require cookies today. This announcement was followed by a commitment from Google to stop supporting third-party cookies in Chrome in 2023.

Remember: A third-party cookie will be used to collect data about a user. This data will then be analyzed and used.