The point of cookies, from a digital standpoint, is to essentially act as a preference and placeholder when it comes to website configuration. Things, such as login details, what has or hasn’t been recently added to your shopping cart, as well as what you may have recently viewed or searched for are all stored as a cookie and remain even after you’ve left the website.
The big issue with cookies isn’t so much that they record this information, but that third-party business can use this recorded information to determine the best way in which to advertise products to you. This is through behavioral profiling as well as product retargeting.
In this overview, we’ll go over the different types of cookies and how those cookies store and use your information.
How Many Types Of Cookies Are There?
A Cookie acts as a single text file that is used to store user data when visiting a store, making it easier for that website to retain information on what was and was not done during their previous visit. Over the years, as advertisement companies have used these cookies to target ads toward users, there has been considerable pushback against them. Currently, two major types of cookies exist first-party and third-party cookies.
What Are First-Party Cookies?
First-party cookies are cookies specifically made by the website that a user is currently using. These cookies cover things like shopping cart entries, password log-in information, items searched for, etc. Generally, these cookies are seen as a positive inclusion to the user experience, as they ensure the user doesn’t have to constantly log into a website or repeatedly have to punch in their credentials whenever they leave a web page or deal with an internet interface.
Depending on what’s required, first-party cookies may need to be further expanded on to help with the advances in website technology. Headless CMS are incredibly effective for expanding and personalizing a website so that it can include proper first-party cookies in a thoughtful and useful way for the user’s betterment.
What Are Third-Party Cookies?
Third-party cookies, unlike first-party cookies, are made and developed entirely by different third-party entities – more often being advertisement companies. As with first-party cookies, third-party cookies are meant to track your activities while on a website. The difference is that, rather than use that information specifically to improve your user experience, it is instead used to market relevant and targeted ads specific to you and the data it has collected.
While there is an argument that can be made in favor of third-party cookies, their inclusion brings about an important question of privacy and tracking specifically for marketing products to a user.
The End Of Third-Party Cookies
It has been announced that, in 2023, Google is planning to end all support for third-party cookies. This isn’t all. Already, public outcry has grown, and new website browsers and search engines, like Brave and duckduckgo, are coming on the scene with promises of drastically reducing, if not outright eliminating any first and third-party cookies one may have stored on a website. In addition, even Apple has begun to extend their Intelligent Tracking Protection (ITP) to the iOS 15 as well as the macOS Monterey.
All of these things speak to a gradual, yet eventual, removal of third-party cookies altogether. And, while many are and should rejoice in this news, it will take the revamping of websites entirely to ensure advertisers and marketers will successfully be able to present target-specific products to customers.
To learn how you can personally begin this process and fully personalize your website, visit Zesty.io for more information.
