Google Topics: the new proposal to replace cookies

Both people and buying habits have changed over time. Today, people are more empowered in the digital world, but for marketers a new era is about to begin. Google delayed the decision as it continues to work on proposals that will replace them. This year, the company announced Google Topics after the failure of FLoc. We tell you what all this is about.

Although cookies seem like a tremendous violation of privacy, the truth is that they are also functional to make our browsing more intuitive. For example, cookies are responsible for reminding your email platform who you are and what language you speak; the same with your social networks. In that sense, they fulfill their objective: personalizing your online experience.

There are different types of cookies: those essential for the operation of a website, which belong to the website and store relevant data such as login, purchase history or your items in the cart. On the other hand, there are third-party cookies, which are not generated or managed by the sites you visit, but belong to external servers and are stored in their servers. These ones provide information about user behavior, such as their interests, the sites they visit, how much time they spend on each digital channel, their browsing history and more personal data such as location, age, gender, devices from which they access.

Cookies are a very valuable tool for digital marketing. They help them reach their target audience and offer them what they are interested in, appear in the channels users use most, and communicate according to their behavior. However, the controversy that weighs on these cookies is in the use of this information.

This is very specific data. Cookies are stored in servers and contains sensitive information of each user. Based on that, audiences are segmented. For example, user X, 24 years old, located in the north of Mexico City, with a device valued at USD $250, with an estimated time of 5 hours on the internet, who visits sites such as Amazon, You Tube and tech blogs; he is also interested in Lego toys. Then this user is segmented into large audiences that share one or more of their characteristics. The path of cookies goes from the particular to the general and, based on that, the marketing departments create their strategies.

However, the fast paced growth of the digital world and the developing awareness of private information use has changed people’s consuming and browsing behavior. Today, society is more aware and informed about the importance of the information that is stored in the digital world and has many reservations regarding its privacy. People have become digitally empowered and demand improvements in this area, but without losing the benefits of customization. Will this be possible?

Part of the Privacy Sandbox was the Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoc), but since it was announced in 2021 as an alternative to cookies, it caused a lot of controversy, as grouping people by “cohorts”, where they shared interests, was not well seen. So, in January 2022, Google accepted the rejection of FLoc and announced Google Topics.

This new alternative seems much friendlier for advertisers and for Internet users, as it focuses on topics of relevance to people during the last 30 days. For a time, the relevant topics for each user will be used, for example cycling or Latin American cinema, and their experience will be focused on the topics of interest to them. In addition, people will have control over which topics they want to share, which ones not, or turn off Google Topics altogether.

Most importantly, it doesn't compromise sensitive information and topics are removed every three weeks. Its difference with FLoc is the transparency about what information is being used, the control over it by users and that the behavior of people is not generalized, therefore it is functional both for personalization and for advertisers.

The story between Google and cookies still has a long way to go, although it is getting closer to an ending. However, it’s important to keep track of these changes, since the future of the next marketing practices and a more responsible way of using information depend on it. The Internet users should remain active in this communication and demand control of their private information.