Hm. Does that mean G### is planning to disregard their own (that is, GA) cookies?

THAT'S not likely! :)

>mitigate damage
I'm not 100% sure what you mean. It depends upon what you're doing, or wanting to do.

The test that is currently running is a small percentage of Google Chrome Users. The down side is that Chrome has the vast majority of users world-wide, and according to Statcounter, in 2023-2024, Chrome had around 65% of the market, with Safari at around 18% and Microsoft Edge (Chrome-based) at around 5%, with the others making up the difference.

It's also worth noting that privacy is an issue which, around the world, there are various consumer privacy laws which are starting to impact every business wanting to track stats for their sites.

There's a helpful piece written by Google back in 2020 which is well worth a read on "Patterns and relevancy: Connecting with customers in a ‘cookieless’ world "
Do remember, this is written by Google, and they hold a lot of cards.
[thinkwithgoogle.com...]

In addition, Google, for some time, has been pushing GA4, and that still means they hold the cards, as well as being the banker.

Hi engine, thank you for your considered response. And your link which I read.

I am an ignoramus where cookies are concerned, and other things :) I see Google closing something we might have been using to track activity on and around our website. I don't know initially if it will affect our web marketing, or if we use third-party cookies or not? Possibly not.

We do Google and Bing Ads and organic and track our general website activity in a fairly unsatisfactory way on GA4.

However I am starting to get speculative emails telling me this is happening and that I should do something, but I don't know if it will affect us or if I do in fact need to do anything..? Hence this thread!

Hi Mark,

Here's another good piece from Google with some explanations and timelines.
[developers.google.com...]

It's the cross-site tracking which is really the problem with the privacy. You can still use cookies for your own purposes, but with the usual cookie warnings and acceptance, such as helping users log in, and their regular logins, etc. For Google, and any big site tracking users across sites it's the privacy issue.

HTH

Getting back to the OP's question, the most obvious implication of Google's (more specifically, Chrome's) deprecation of third-party cookies is that average ad rates are likely to decline.

On the other hand, some browsers--most notably, Safari--have deprecated third-party cookies for some time now, so if you've got a site that gets a lot of iPhone users, some of the drop in ad rates due to the sunsetting of third-party cookies has already been priced in. (My site, for example, often gets more traffic from Safari than from Chrome.)

.. average ad rates are likely to decline.

As a buyer of ads from Google and Microsoft that could help me.
Assuming you mean CPC Ad rates will decline?

Assuming you mean CPC Ad rates will decline?

I was referring to ad rates in general. (CPC is just one piece of the pie.)

Most major browsers have offered options to stop cross-site third party for years. It is interesting that Chrome has waited this long to offer the same service.

I see it as a positive development because it will improve user privacy and security by decreasing tracking across the internet.

Google advises: "Don't forget to set up enhanced conversions"

Yes it is happening, but what is the meaning of this change?

I think part of my problem is that I have a job which covers other areas also. I am not exposed to the lingo as much as I might be and sentences like the following just don't seem to make so much sense to me now :)

Build a strong foundation for measuring your ads with enhanced conversions. Delaying could impact the performance of your ads, including your conversion measurement.

And don't forget all advertisers must make their website's cookies compliant with Consent Mode V2, before the end of March 2024 or they may be banned from advertising. I wonder if Google will actually ban people from Adwords for not having a compliant cookie mode?