Alternatives to third-party cookies are the set of privacy-first targeting, measurement, and identity approaches that replace cross-site tracking with consented first-party data, contextual signals, and privacy-preserving APIs. In practice, the playbook blends data you own, smarter on-site tech, and collaborative analytics that don’t expose people’s identities.

Why The Web Is Moving To Cookieless Tracking

Privacy expectations and user trust

People are more sensitive to how data trails follow them across the web. Third-party cookies enabled cross-site profiles for years, often without a person’s clear awareness. That erosion of trust has consequences. Regulators and platforms responded, but so did everyday behaviour—ad blockers, private browsing, and saying no when a prompt appears. The signal is unmistakable. Users want relevant experiences without being watched everywhere they go.

There’s also a cultural shift. Over the past decade, data breaches and investigative reporting turned tracking from a technical footnote into dinner-table conversation. When people see consent dialogs every morning and get emails about “privacy policy updates,” awareness compounds. The industry has to earn attention again, not assume it.

Regulators echo that sentiment. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office has pushed for genuine choices, calling out deceptive cookie banners and scrutinising “consent or pay” dark patterns that undermine autonomy [3]. Trust grows when control is real and language is plain.

Regulatory pressure in the UK and EU

In the UK and EU, consent isn’t a courtesy. It’s the law. GDPR treats many cookie identifiers as personal data, so collecting them needs a lawful basis and transparent notices. UK regulators have increased enforcement on non-compliant banners and push UI patterns that nudge acceptance rather than reflect choice [2][3]. The competition lens matters too. The UK Competition and Markets Authority has spent years probing how changes in Chrome could shift power dynamics in ads, promising continued oversight as Google adjusts its plans [1].

The outcome isn’t a blanket ban on measurement or personalisation. It’s a rebalancing. Organisations that minimise data, document the why, and let users say no without penalty are better placed to keep operating at scale.

Browser and platform shifts away from tracking

Safari and Firefox curtailed cross-site tracking long ago through Intelligent Tracking Prevention and Enhanced Tracking Protection. Chrome’s path has been slower and more public, shaped by antitrust oversight and the size of its ecosystem. Google tested restrictions, then revised timelines. As of 2025, Chrome no longer plans a hard deprecation date, instead leaning on user controls and alternatives like Privacy Sandbox APIs for interest-based ads, remarketing, and attribution [5][6].

On mobile, Apple’s App Tracking Transparency made tracking opt-in, reshaping ad effectiveness overnight for apps that relied on background identifiers. Platforms are converging on a baseline: consented first-party relationships, limited cross-site reach, and privacy-preserving computation.

What Is Changing In Advertising And Measurement

Targeting reach frequency and audience building

Audience scale built on third-party cookies is shrinking. Lookalikes seeded from third-party pixels and broad cross-site retargeting lose reliability. Frequency capping gets harder across domains. In response, growth teams prioritise:

Signed-in audiences and value-based CRM growth to anchor identity.
Contextual and semantic signals to find intent without profiles.
Publisher partnerships and retail media where first-party IDs are strong.
Privacy Sandbox Topics and Protected Audiences for interest and remarketing use cases where they perform acceptably [6].

None of these perfectly replicates third-party cookies. Together, they create dependable reach with less waste and fewer privacy risks.

Campaign measurement and attribution models

Last-click always overstated what “closed” the sale. Cookie loss removes the illusion that stitch-everything user paths were complete. Measurement is pivoting to a portfolio approach:

Aggregated and modelled conversions shared through APIs that don’t expose identities [6].
Experimentation and lift tests to quantify incremental impact.
Media mix modelling for long-cycle and multi-channel budgeting.
On-device signals and attention quality where relevant inventory supports them.

Smart teams combine directional modelling with periodic ground-truth experiments. Confidence comes from triangulation, not a single pixel.

Publisher and advertiser relationships

Relationships move up the stack. Instead of renting reach through opaque exchanges, brands increasingly work with publishers, retailers, and platforms that can match consented first-party data in safe ways. Clean rooms and server-to-server pipes replace cookie syncing. Commercially, value shifts toward authenticated inventory, loyalty programmes, and data collaboration. The net effect is fewer intermediaries and clearer rules of engagement.

Why Customers Are More Aware Of Data Privacy In The UK

Media coverage data breaches and public discourse

High-profile breaches and reporting about how data brokers operate made privacy feel tangible. Stories about location data being sold or sensitive segments circulating in ad marketplaces puncture the idea that “it’s only ads.” UK outlets have covered regulatory actions and corporate changes extensively, so even casual readers pick up the trend. The result is a public that asks sharper questions.

Device prompts and app tracking choices

People see privacy on-screen. App prompts that say “Allow this app to track?” are hard to ignore. Even on the web, browsers surface controls that are visible and human-readable. Chrome has emphasised user choice over background deprecation, while Apple enforces explicit permission. When consent becomes a habit, default tracking feels outdated.

Transparency controls and consent fatigue

Consent banners are everywhere. That visibility builds awareness, but it also creates fatigue. When every page asks for attention, people click to escape. UK regulators are trying to fix the experience, pushing for equally prominent “reject all” options and honest labels [2][3]. The lesson for brands is simple. Make choices meaningful, reduce friction, and only ask when value exists. Trust follows respect.

CCTV camera tracking people on smartphones

What Apple Google And Others Are Doing Now

Apple Safari ITP and App Tracking Transparency

Apple drove early changes on the open web with Safari’s ITP, then reshaped mobile ads with ATT’s explicit permission for cross-app tracking. ATT lowered match rates for many ad platforms and pushed advertisers toward server-side signals, API-based conversions, and creative testing discipline. Apple’s stance sets the tone: privacy defaults plus visible user control.

Google Chrome settings and Privacy Sandbox path

Google’s direction has evolved. After repeated delays, Google announced it would not pursue a single deprecation prompt in Chrome, keeping user controls in settings and advancing Privacy Sandbox APIs for interest, remarketing, and attribution use cases [5][6]. The CMA has maintained scrutiny to avoid anticompetitive fallout [1]. For marketers, the takeaway is pragmatic. Plan for a world where third-party cookies keep fading in quality, even if the lights aren’t switched off at once. Build on first-party data and test Sandbox surfaces where they fit.

Moves by Meta, Amazon and leading publishers

Meta doubled down on server-side event pipes and the Conversions API to backfill signal loss. Amazon and other retailers leaned into their first-party purchase graphs, building precise in-garden attribution. Large publishers invested in first-party identity, registration, and semantically rich inventory. The pattern holds. Logged-in ecosystems thrive. Open-web inventory works best when paired with contextual intelligence and clean room activation.

Alternatives To Third-Party Cookies That Work Today

First-party and zero-party data collection

First-party data collected with clear consent is the bedrock. Email sign-ins, membership, loyalty programmes, and preference centres create durable signals. Zero-party data—answers people volunteer about needs and timing—adds colour without guesswork. The job isn’t “collect more.” It’s “create value worth signing up for,” then keep data minimised and well governed. Platforms that unify consented web, app, and CRM records set you up for activation across ads, email, and on-site personalisation.

Contextual and semantic advertising

Context was always underrated. Modern NLP and page-level semantics can map themes, tone, and suitability far beyond keywords. For many intents, aligning a message to the moment works better than chasing a profile across ten unrelated sites. Publishers gain here because quality content produces quality context. Brands gain because adjacency can be both brand-safe and performant—no IDs required.

Universal IDs and identity graphs

Where consent exists, alternative identifiers can extend addressability. Email-derived IDs such as UID2 or publisher identity graphs improve recognition within collaborations. Identity graphs connect deterministic signals you own with partner data in controlled environments. None of this should be used to sneak around consent. The ethics and legality hinge on transparency, scope, and governance. Used well, identity resolution reduces waste and improves relevance without leaking personal data.

Cookieless Tracking Tactics For GB Businesses

Server-side tagging and event collection

Move fragile browser tags to your server. Server-side tagging gives you control over what is collected, transformed, and shared. It helps with data quality, site performance, and compliance. For paid media, server-to-server conversions often yield steadier match rates than client-only pixels, especially in Safari and in ATT-constrained ecosystems.

Consent management and preference centres

A compliant consent management platform is table stakes, but the experience matters. Use plain language, balanced choices, and a visible place to revisit preferences. Map consents to downstream vendors so opt-out means something in practice. The ICO has flagged non-compliant banners and will keep doing so [2][3]. Treat consent like a product feature, not a checkbox.

Data collaboration and clean rooms

When two parties both have consented data, a clean room lets them compare and build insights without exposing raw records. Retailers, publishers, and brands in the UK already collaborate this way to plan, activate, and measure. Expect more partnerships, more safe-matching, and more emphasis on governance. It’s slower than dropping a pixel, but the results are defensible and durable.

People watching someone browsing the internet

Measurement And Attribution Without Third-Party Cookies

Aggregated reporting and modelled conversions

Privacy-preserving attribution relies on aggregation. APIs produce event-level signals that are noisy by design and summary reports that protect small cohorts [6]. Modelling then bridges gaps. Treat models as living artefacts. Calibrate them with experiments and refreshed priors. Report ranges and directionality to stakeholders. Precision is overrated if accuracy drifts.

Experiments, lift testing and MMM

Holdouts and geo-splits quantify incremental impact when identity is fuzzy. Structured experiment calendars let teams swap certainty for speed intelligently. Media mix models complement this by translating channel budgets into expected outcomes over quarters, not days. When both point the same way, leaders can make big calls with confidence.

Attention quality and on-device metrics

Time-in-view, scroll depth, interaction heat, and creative iteration tie outcomes to quality rather than raw impressions. On-device metrics, when available, turn attention into a leading indicator. They don’t replace conversions, but they help optimise towards human outcomes when the identity graph is thin.

Privacy Sandbox And Other Privacy-Preserving APIs

Interest-based targeting with Topics

Topics lets the browser surface a small set of interest categories derived from recent browsing. Sites can request Topics to inform targeting without constructing cross-site profiles [6]. It’s not a like-for-like replacement for behavioural graphs, but it can add relevance on the open web when paired with strong context.

Protected Audiences for remarketing

Protected Audiences enables remarketing auctions to run inside the browser. The logic moves client-side, and only the winning ad renders. Marketers get a path to recency-driven ads without leaking identifiers across sites. Results vary by vertical and creative. Treat it as a test-and-scale channel rather than a guaranteed win.

Attribution Reporting and Constraints

Attribution Reporting breaks the habit of shipping granular user journeys to third parties. Event-level reports provide limited data with delays and noise. Summary reports offer aggregated conversions with flexible breakdowns under privacy budgets [6]. Teams should plan for fewer join keys and more model assistance. That’s the trade: less fidelity, more legitimacy.

Building A First-Party Data Strategy That Scales

Value exchange and sign-in experiences

People sign in when it clearly helps them. Think saved baskets across devices, member pricing, faster support, and useful notifications. Make the value obvious at the moment of need. Keep forms short. Confirm what will and won’t happen with data. A good rule of thumb. Collect only what you can explain back in one sentence.

CRM CDP and audience activation

CRM systems keep the relationship history. A CDP unifies consented behavioural and profile data under one roof to segment, activate, and measure. In a cookieless context, the CDP becomes the memory that paid media used to borrow from third parties. Invest in clean schemas, identity keys you own, and privacy-aware destinations.

Governance, security, and data minimisation

Good governance turns data into an asset instead of a liability. Document purposes. Set retention limits. Encrypt at rest and in transit. Review vendor access regularly. Data minimisation isn’t just a legal phrase. It keeps systems simpler, reduces breach impact, and signals respect for customers.

Risks, Trade-offs and Compliance Considerations

Fingerprinting alternative IDs and ethics

Some techniques try to infer identity from device traits. Many browsers actively disrupt this, and it runs counter to the spirit of user choice. The short-term lift isn’t worth the long-term risks. Alternative IDs based on consented signals are the ethical path. Anything else invites regulatory and reputational damage.

Walled gardens competition and interoperability

Logged-in platforms will keep strong measurement and targeting. The trade-off is portability. Insights don’t always travel. Expect continued regulatory attention on market power, especially in the UK, where the CMA keeps a close eye on how platform changes affect competition [1]. Interoperability will grow through clean rooms and standardised APIs, not through resurrected cross-site IDs.

ICO guidance and UK compliance readiness

UK organisations should follow ICO guidance on consent, fair processing, children’s data, and dark patterns. The regulator has already contacted major sites over non-compliant cookie banners and flagged “consent or pay” concerns [2][3]. Build with compliance in mind rather than retrofitting it. Privacy by design is easier than privacy by rewrite.

Future Of Web Analytics In A Cookieless World

Event-based analytics and server pipelines

Modern analytics is event-based, not pageview-bound. Server pipelines reduce loss, normalise data, and protect user choices. Expect more first-party collection, fewer third-party tags, and a clear contract with visitors about what’s measured and why.

Modelling with privacy safeguards

Imputation, cohorting, and synthetic controls fill gaps left by missing identifiers. Privacy budgets and aggregation will be part of the analytics vocabulary. Teams will treat analytics models more like products—versioned, reviewed, and retrained—than like static dashboards.

The role of publishers, retailers and partners

Premium publishers and retailers in the UK act as identity anchors. Their logged-in audiences and purchase data become foundations for planning and closed-loop measurement. Partners that bring clean room workflows and fair terms will win share. The open web doesn’t disappear. It gets smarter about context and collaboration.

FAQs

DescriWorking options include consented first-party and zero-party data, contextual and semantic advertising, server-side tagging, clean rooms, privacy-preserving APIs like Topics, Protected Audiences, and Attribution Reporting, plus consent-based universal IDs and identity graphs. No single tool replaces everything, but the mix outperforms legacy tracking on trust and durability.ption text goes here
Start with a consent-first data strategy. Shift event collection to server-side. Build sign-in value and unify data in a CDP. Test contextual and Sandbox APIs alongside publisher and retail media buys. Measure with aggregated conversions, experiments, and MMM. Treat identity resolution as consent-bound, not covert. goes here
DescriptStart with a consent-first data strategy. Shift event collection to server-side. Build sign-in value and unify data in a CDP. Test contextual and Sandbox APIs alongside publisher and retail media buys. Measure with aggregated conversions, experiments, and MMM. Treat identity resolution as consent-bound, not covert.ion text goes here
Bypassing tracking limits risks non-compliance and harms trust. Use ethical alternatives instead. Focus on first-party relationships, contextual relevance, clean rooms, and privacy-preserving measurement. Align tactics with UK ICO guidance and user expectations.
Google delayed full deprecation multiple times and, in 2025, moved away from a single hard cut-off in Chrome. The company is emphasising user controls and Privacy Sandbox APIs. Even without a final switch-off, third-party cookie quality and reach continue to decline across the ecosystem [5][6].

Key takeaway

The era of ambient cross-site tracking is ending, whether by law, browser design, or user choice. The winning strategy blends consented first-party data, context, and privacy-preserving tech, then proves impact with experiments and models. Next step. Audit tags, design a value-led sign-in, enable server-side events, and pilot clean room collaborations. Build for durability now, and the transition becomes an advantage.

References

Reuters. UK’s competition watchdog to work with Google to tackle concerns over Chrome cookies. 2024 Sep 24. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/technology/uks-competition-watchdog-work-with-google-tackle-concerns-over-chrome-cookies-2024-09-24/
StayLegal. Data protection in 2025: UK GDPR developments. 2025. Available at: https://staylegal.co.uk/data-protection-in-2025-uk-gdpr-developments/
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Our strategy for levelling the playing field for online tracking in 2025. 2025 Jan. Available at: https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs/2025/01/our-strategy-for-levelling-the-playing-field-for-online-tracking-in-2025/
Reuters. Apple removing end-to-end cloud encryption feature in UK. 2025 Feb 21. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple-removing-end-to-end-cloud-encryption-feature-uk-bloomberg-news-reports-2025-02-21/
Reuters. Google opts out of standalone prompt for third-party cookies. 2025 Apr 22. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/google-opts-out-standalone-prompt-third-party-cookies-2025-04-22/
Reuters. UK regulator says Google’s ad privacy changes fall short; plus Privacy Sandbox resources. 2024 Apr 19. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/technology/uk-regulator-says-googles-ad-privacy-changes-fall-short-wsj-reports-2024-04-19/

Alternatives to third-party cookies: the complete guide