How to prepare your marketing strategy for a cookieless future

The cookieless future is no longer a concept — it’s here. While Google paused its full phase-out of third-party cookies in Chrome in 2024, other major browsers like Safari and Firefox have already eliminated them. That means marketers can’t afford to wait.

However, the cookieless future doesn’t mean there won’t be cookies of any kind in use. It just means that third-party cookies and their sometimes indiscriminate tracking will be phased out. While marketers have long relied on the data third-party cookies collect, it has often been collected with questionable consent or without any consent at all. The data is also often of lower quality and needs to be aggregated with other data sources to be useful and profitable.

As we say goodbye to third-party cookies, let’s delve into the resulting changes in requirements, the impact of this shift, and how to future-proof your marketing strategy.

What is a cookieless future?

A cookieless future refers to the shift away from using third-party cookies. This change doesn’t mean the end of cookies altogether; first-party cookies will still play a vital role for marketers. But this change marks a departure from invasive tracking practices that compromise user privacy.

In a cookieless future, marketers will rely more on zero-party data, which is explicitly shared by users, first-party data, which is collected directly from user interactions, and consent-based technologies. It also involves new methods like contextual advertising and privacy-enhancing technologies.

A  cookieless future is not the end of digital advertising. It’s the beginning of a smarter, more privacy-conscious era where trust and transparency must be central to strategy.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files stored on a user’s browser that help websites remember user preferences, login status, and behavior. There are two primary types:

• First-party cookies: These are set by the website the user is visiting, and are typically used for essential site functions and analytics.
• Third-party cookies: Domains other than the one the user is visiting set these cookies, which are mainly used for cross-site tracking and ad targeting.

Marketers have long relied on third-party cookies to build audience profiles and run retargeting campaigns. However, these cookies often collect data without meaningful user consent, which raises concerns about transparency and privacy.

Why are third-party cookies being phased out?

Third-party cookies have long been a staple of digital advertising because they enable cross-site tracking, behavioral targeting, and detailed user profiling. However, they’ve come under scrutiny due to privacy concerns and their lack of transparency.

Browsers like Safari, Firefox, and Brave started blocking third-party cookies by default as early as 2017. Google Chrome is now moving in this direction, though more cautiously. Rather than enacting an outright ban, Google is phasing out third-party cookies gradually and introducing alternatives through its Privacy Sandbox initiative. These include technologies like the Topics API and Protected Audience API, which are designed to reduce fingerprinting and support advertising use cases that preserve privacy.

This shift is not just a browser-led initiative, it’s also driven by global data protection laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). These data privacy laws mandate greater transparency, accountability, and user control over personal data.

This movement reflects a broader shift toward user empowerment and ethical data use. Marketers must now explore cookieless tracking solutions that prioritize trust, transparency, and privacy compliance.

The impact of a cookieless future on marketers

The shift away from third-party cookies is reshaping digital marketing. Since marketers have long relied on these tools, they now face a series of challenges that demand adaptation.

Reduced audience visibility and segmentation

Without third-party cookies, it’s harder to identify user interests across websites. This limits marketing teams’ ability to create detailed audience segments and reach people based on behavior across platforms. 

The shift to first-party and zero-party data means marketers need to rely on information users choose to share. While this data is more limited, it tends to be more accurate and useful. That means even with less of it, you can still gain meaningful insights.

Personalization becomes more challenging

Personalization used to rely heavily on tracking users’ past behavior across the web. Now, that level of insight requires users to directly share preferences or interact meaningfully with your brand. If you don’t have a strategy to collect and act on this kind of data, personalized content and ads will be less effective. 

Measurement and attribution are disrupted

Standard attribution models built on third-party data no longer work. It’s harder to see how users move between devices or platforms before converting, which makes it difficult to measure the impact of different channels. Fortunately, there are privacy-compliant ways to fill these gaps, like using anonymized data, modeled conversion paths, and newer tools that help estimate performance even when tracking is limited.

Growing need for trust and transparency

People are more aware than ever of how their data is collected and used. Thanks to changing regulations and rising expectations, users now want clear explanations and meaningful benefits in return for sharing their data. If a brand can’t offer that, or doesn’t appear trustworthy, users are more likely to opt out or take their business elsewhere.

Shift from volume to strategy

The outdated approach of collecting as much data as possible and figuring out how to use it later is no longer acceptable. Today, marketers need a more deliberate strategy. Ask users what they want to hear from you, how they want to be contacted, and what they’re comfortable sharing. Direct communication supports privacy compliance and results in better data and stronger engagement.

How to prepare for a cookieless future

Preparing for Google’s cookieless future presents an opportunity to build more sustainable, Privacy-Led Marketing strategies.

A foundational step is strengthening the collection and use of first-party and zero-party data. First-party data comes from user interactions with your digital properties. Zero-party data is information users voluntarily share, such as preferences or interests, which means it is highly accurate and based on trust.

Marketing teams must revise their marketing and advertising strategies to prioritize these sources. Doing so may include updating consent mechanisms with tools like Consent Management Platforms (CMPs) that support privacy compliance and allow for clear, customizable user choices.

Beyond data collection, marketers’ broader digital strategy must evolve. Contextual targeting — which might look like placing sports-related ads on a fitness blog — offers a non-invasive alternative to behavior-based advertising. Companies should also explore privacy-enhancing technologies that provide insights without compromising individual privacy.

The goal is not just to adapt to a cookieless future, but to lead with a marketing approach that builds trust. That means offering clear value exchanges, following ethical data practices, and committing to responsible, long-term data use.

Strategies for data collection in a cookieless world

In a cookieless future, data collection must be more intentional and privacy-conscious. Marketers need strategies that prioritize consent and transparency from the outset to build a foundation of trust while still enabling effective personalization.

Zero-party data is shared proactively by users through channels like surveys, preference centers, and feedback forms. Because this data comes directly from the source, it tends to be more accurate, reliable, and effective for segmentation and personalization. Encouraging users to share this data requires offering clear value exchanges, such as more relevant content or product recommendations.

First-party data, collected through direct interactions like purchases, logins, and website behavior, is equally important. Loyalty programs, gated content, and tailored user experiences are effective ways to gather this data while reinforcing engagement and brand affinity.

Marketers are also increasingly adopting data clean rooms to enable secure collaboration with partners like platforms or publishers. These environments use techniques like hashed identifiers to match audiences without sharing raw data, enabling insights while preserving user privacy.

CMPs are also helpful to collect data transparently and in compliance with privacy regulations. CMPs give users clear choices and control over how their data is used. Customizing consent experiences through layered information, region-specific settings, and accessible design can boost opt-in rates and strengthen confidence in your brand’s data practices.

By aligning data collection strategies with user expectations and evolving privacy standards, marketers can build a more resilient and trusted foundation for personalization in a cookieless world.

Implementing cookieless tracking solutions

Implementing cookieless tracking solutions can help you retain campaign measurement and user insights while respecting privacy norms. These solutions prioritize consent, transparency, and secure data handling.

These solutions are built around consent-first frameworks. That means data collection must be legally compliant and ethically sound, goals that align with both regional laws and user expectations. These frameworks require clear user permissions before any data is processed or activated, and are increasingly supported by mechanisms built into CMPs.

Server-side tagging also plays a key role. It shifts data processing from the user’s browser to secure, cloud-based servers, reducing reliance on browser-stored identifiers that are often blocked or restricted. This approach improves data accuracy, control, and resilience.

“Server-Side Tagging is a mechanism where tracking tags — pixels, scripts, analytics events — are managed and executed on a server-side environment rather than directly in the user’s browser.”
— Tom Wilkinson, Senior Marketing Consultant

Similarly, event-based measurement focuses on tracking meaningful user interactions, such as clicks, video views, scroll depth, or form completions, within your digital properties. These first-party events, captured with user consent, offer actionable insights without relying on third-party tracking.

To fully embrace these solutions, marketers can integrate tracking with a CMP and Customer Data Platforms (CDPs). CMPs manage permissions and help ensure user choices are respected across systems. CDPs centralize consented user data, enabling personalization, segmentation, and analytics that stay privacy-compliant.

Cookieless attribution and measurement

Effective campaign measurement in a cookieless future demands new attribution models, as traditional multi-touch models that rely on third-party cookies become less viable.

One of the most promising alternatives is predictive modeling. This method uses machine learning algorithms to analyze patterns in available data and forecast likely user behaviors and conversions. By referencing variables like past interactions, demographics, and contextual signals, predictive models can estimate the likelihood of specific actions, such as a purchase or an engagement. This approach works without requiring cookies or personal identifiers, relying instead on aggregate data and privacy-safe signals.

Conversion modeling is being prioritized by platforms like Google. It estimates conversions that cannot be directly observed using privacy-safe signals. This approach is central to Google’s evolving measurement tools. In fact, Google supports this shift with tools such as Google Consent Mode, Enhanced Conversions, Server-Side Tagging, and Customer Match. These technologies are designed to maintain insight integrity while aligning with shifting privacy standards.

Media mix modeling (MMM) offers another approach. It evaluates the impact of various marketing channels based on aggregated data, helping marketers allocate budget effectively even without individual user tracking.

Another emerging approach is server-side tracking (SST), which shifts data processing from the user’s browser to the server. This can improve data accuracy, mitigate signal loss from browser restrictions or ad blockers, and support compliance with privacy regulations.

Usercentrics’ server-side tracking solution is built with these priorities in mind. It enables organizations to maintain essential measurement capabilities in a privacy-conscious, configurable environment—without relying on third-party cookies.

Cookieless advertising

Let’s not forget the phase out of third-party cookies. Fortunately, there are cookieless advertising options that still deliver results. 

One method is contextual advertising, which uses the content of a web page, rather than user behavior, to determine ad placement. By aligning ads with the content on the page, this approach supports both relevance and privacy, making it a natural fit for the cookieless era.

Identity solutions are also emerging to bridge the personalization gap. Technologies like Unified ID 2.0 and platforms such as LiveRamp use encrypted, email-based identifiers to enable privacy-conscious targeted advertising. These tools help preserve capabilities like personalization, audience segmentation, and frequency capping without relying on invasive tracking methods.

Another alternative is cohort-based targeting through tools like Google’s Topics API. This tool groups users based on shared interests rather than individual behavior. This method maintains a degree of audience targeting while protecting user anonymity.

As targeting methods shift, advertisers will also need to rethink their creative strategies. Without behavioral data to guide personalization, success will require a deeper understanding of context and the ability to craft messaging that fits naturally within the surrounding content.

Aligning marketing and privacy teams

To thrive in a cookieless future, marketing teams need to embrace Privacy-Led Marketing strategies and technologies. Data privacy compliance cannot be an afterthought, it must be integrated into campaign planning, technology selection, and performance reporting.

Strategies should focus on:

This shift enables not only regulatory compliance but also better engagement, higher-quality insights, and more resilient data strategies.

What’s next in a cookieless world?

The shift away from third-party cookies is a turning point in how businesses approach privacy, compliance, and user trust. Regulations like the GDPR, the ePrivacy Directive, and others are driving the need for more transparent data practices, and browsers are enforcing these changes with stricter tracking limitations.

So what’s next?

Companies will need to adapt by building stronger first-party data strategies, investing in technologies that prioritize the user’s privacy first, and integrating solutions like a CMP to support ongoing compliance. We can expect to see a growing focus on contextual targeting and consent-based personalization.

Organizations with a global footprint will also need to understand how regional laws intersect with platform-level changes, and plan for a future where privacy isn’t an obstacle but a competitive advantage.