Marketers Waiting to See How the Cookie Crumbles

When Google announced in July 2024 that it was abandoning plans to deprecate, or eliminate, third-party cookies from its Chrome web browser, digital marketers breathed a collective sigh of relief. Cookies have long been a critical element of virtually all digital marketers’ efforts to understand online consumer behaviors.

But what initially seemed like a reprieve for digital marketers really wasn’t. In fact, the announcement actually created an even more complex and fragmented environment for those relying on cookies to inform their digital marketing efforts.

As we move into 2026, the question isn’t whether cookies will disappear—they won’t—but how digital marketers can operate efficiently and effectively with marked inconsistencies between browsers, devices, and user preferences.

Digital marketers have been relying on cookies for decades. They were first introduced by Lou Montulli, a 23-year-old programmer at Netscape, in 1994. Designed as an aid for online commerce, cookies enabled e-commerce companies to track users’ shopping cart activities and previous interactions.

Initially limited to individual sites by 1996, the introduction of third-party cookies made it possible for companies to track users across multiple websites. That hadn’t been Montulli’s original intent. In fact, he designed cookies specifically to provide e-commerce marketers with data without the need to store that data on their servers. Montulli eventually regretted how cookies evolved and how companies were using them.

As consumer concerns over privacy grew, digital players, including Google, took notice. Following earlier efforts by Apple to remove cookies from its Safari browser and Mozilla’s efforts to remove them from Firefox, Google in 2022 announced that it would phase out third-party cookies and, instead, provide alternatives to balance both consumer privacy and e-commerce marketers’ needs. That never happened.

Google delayed the phase-out several times, and in its July 2024 announcement it indicated that users would have the option to choose whether to block cookies themselves. But by April 2025, Google had shifted course again and announced that there would be no user-facing choice screen at all. Cookies would operate as they always had; users could only modify their preferences by navigating deep into their browser settings.

Google, of course, while still the largest player in the browser world, isn’t the only option. Besides Safari and Firefox, other web browsers, like Brave and DuckDuckGo, don’t use cookies. That creates a varied and continually shifting environment for marketers.

“Most marketers are operating in a hybrid state,” explains Kate Ross, a marketing specialist at Irresistible Me, an e-commerce hair products firm based in New York. “Third-party cookies still exist in Chrome, but signal loss is already happening across Safari, Firefox, and iOS environments,” Ross says. “Smart teams are no longer waiting for a final cutoff date. They’re treating cookieless reality as already here.”

“Marketers should assume a fragmented environment where some browsers fully restrict third-party tracking, others rely on consent-based frameworks, and first-party data becomes the primary source of durable insight,” agrees Dennis Shirshikov, head of growth at Growthlimit.com and professor of finance and economics at City University of New York.

When offered the option to opt out of tracking, most consumers take it. That’s a reality that threatens marketers’ ability to gather digital data that can help them optimize their online marketing efforts.

Matt Wetmore, vice president of digital experience and AI enablement at Acquia, a digital experience platform company, points out that when Apple introduced its “Ask App to Track” framework in 2021, requiring permission from consumers before their activity could be tracked, opt-in rates plummeted to roughly 20 percent to 30 percent. For Chrome, he suggests, similar consent rates could effectively kill third-party cookie tracking even without forced deprecation.

Meanwhile, regulatory pressures continue to intensify. The European Union’s Digital Markets Act classifies Chrome as a “gatekeeper” product, requiring specific accommodation. Privacy laws continue proliferating globally, creating a patchwork of requirements that make unified tracking strategies nearly impossible.

The analytics precision marketers have enjoyed, or believed they enjoyed, is evaporating, requiring a new approach to ensuring digital marketing effectiveness. That approach, suggests Ross, requires a shift from chasing audiences to building relationships.

Building Relationships

“Brands are being forced to invest in first-party data, owned channels, and clearer value exchanges,” Ross says. “This isn’t just a technical change. It’s a strategic one.”

Wetmore agrees. “Website owners need to stop letting Google’s timeline dictate their strategies and start to build direct relationships with customers.” Introducing AI into this process will allow site owners to craft experiences at scale, offering hyper-personalized experiences for visitors, he says.

“The user choice era means that data is now a product you have to sell to your customers,” Wetmore says. “You have to ask, ‘What value am I providing in exchange for this person’s information?’ If you want a user to opt in or share their email, the digital experience you offer must be compelling.”

Marketers need to become better at value exchange, Wetmore stresses. This might include such things as personalized content, exclusive offers, or seamless cross-channel experiences. “In 2026, the companies that win won’t be the ones with the best ad-tech workarounds; they will be the ones that have earned the right to know their customers,” he says.

Building relationships boosts the odds that consumers will consent to sharing their information—now referred to as zero-party data. This proactively shared information can generate richer insights than passive tracking ever could. But—and this is a big but—it requires giving customers compelling reasons to share.

That’s exactly the approach that City Unscripted, a travel experience platform based in London, took, says Yunna Takeuchi, its cofounder and chief experience officer. Google’s cookie deprecation delay provided “transition time to develop zero-party data strategies where travelers voluntarily share preferences, interests, and travel goals through interactive quizzes, consultation forms, and experience customization tools.” First-party data collection, Takeuchi says, “represents the only sustainable marketing foundation going forward.”

Redesigning content and experiences specifically to earn consent, Ross adds, is a strategy that can work well. That requires providing “clearer reasons to subscribe; gated value that’s actually worth it; and tighter alignment between content, email, and on-site behavior.” Data collection, she says, “works best when it feels helpful, not extractive.”

Beyond strategy, there are also concrete technical changes organizations must implement to effectively navigate a shifting search environment.

Practical Steps for 2026 and Beyond

So what should CRM professionals and marketers actually do as they enter 2026 and an uncertain search environment? Digital and content marketing experts and practitioners offer some advice.

Build a first-party data infrastructure. First-party data isn’t just one solution among many; it’s the foundation upon which everything else is built. “Marketers should audit how much of their current performance reporting depends on third-party cookies, then actively reduce that dependency quarter by quarter,” Shirshikov advises. “Building stronger first-party data capture, testing privacy-safe alternatives, and educating internal stakeholders now will prevent rushed decisions later when options are more limited and more expensive.”

This means implementing robust consent management that works across all platforms, creating compelling reasons for users to create accounts and share information, integrating CRM systems with marketing platforms to create unified customer profiles, and investing in customer data platforms (CDPs) that can synthesize data from multiple sources.

Shift measurement strategies. Perfect attribution is over. Directional understanding is the new standard. “Attribution will shift from precise user-level tracking to blended models that combine incrementality testing, cohort analysis, and business outcome metrics,” Shirshikov notes. “The most effective teams will focus less on chasing perfect attribution and more on understanding directional lift, channel interaction, and long-term customer value.”

This requires implementing incrementality testing to understand what marketing actually drives vs. what would happen anyway, using marketing mix modeling for channel-level insights, focusing on cohort behavior rather than individual tracking, and measuring business outcomes (revenue, lifetime value) over vanity metrics (clicks, impressions).

Rethink content and community. With a diminished ability to retarget strangers, owned audiences become crucial. “Moving forward requires investing in content and community that makes direct relationships valuable for customers,” Takeuchi explains. “We’re developing neighborhood guides, cultural preparation resources, and alumni communities that travelers access through direct engagement with our platform, creating reasons to maintain relationships beyond individual transactions.”

Marketers need to be increasingly focused on creating content that’s valuable enough to gate behind email collection, building loyalty programs that reward data sharing, developing community features that require account creation, and making personalization benefits visible and immediate.

Perhaps the most important shift, though, is philosophical. Multiple experts emphasize that the end of ubiquitous tracking isn’t a loss but rather an opportunity to return to fundamental marketing principles.

Build trust. “The most successful marketing programs will focus on making trust visible,” says Guy Hanson, vice president of customer engagement at Validity, a CRM data quality, email performance, and campaign analytics provider. “The focus will shift from simply reaching customers’ inboxes to proving you belong there through transparent data usage, explicit opt-ins, and stronger legal compliance. Trust will become a marketing tool, and brands that earn it will be the winners.”

As Ross put it: “The brands that win will be the ones that stop obsessing over perfect attribution and start focusing on directional data, intent signals, and lifetime value. Precision will decrease, but trust and quality will matter more.”

Experts also maintain that Google’s decision not to deprecate third-party cookies doesn’t preserve the status quo; it replaces a manageable transition with an indefinite period of fragmentation and uncertainty.

The 2026 landscape will be one where tracking works differently for every browser and user, consent rates vary wildly by platform and region, perfect measurement is impossible, and direct customer relationships are the only reliable foundation.

“The pause shouldn’t be seen as relief,” Ross concludes. “It’s a final window to prepare.”

Organizations that recognize this and treat the current moment as urgent rather than a reprieve will have the infrastructure, relationships, and measurement capabilities to thrive regardless of what Google eventually decides. Those that wait for clarity will find themselves scrambling when the ground shifts again, as it inevitably will.

So in early 2026, the cookie might not be dead, but its days of dominance are numbered. The question is whether your organization will be ready when the crumbs finally settle. 

Linda Pophal is a freelance business journalist and content marketer who writes for v arious business and trade publications. Pophal does content marketing for Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, and individuals on a wide range of subjects, from human resource management and employee relations to marketing, technology, healthcare industry trends, and more.

Next Steps:

Preparing for a Cookie-Fragmented Future

Immediate Actions (Next 30 Days)

• Determine what percentage of your current measurement, targeting, and attribution relies on third-party cookies.
• Evaluate the accuracy and completeness of your first-party CRM data.
• Ensure your consent management mechanisms work across all browsers and comply with all applicable regulations.
• Map customer touchpoints to identify where in your customer journey you can collect first-party data.

Short-Term Implementation (Next 90 Days)

• Deploy server-side tracking like Google Tag Manager or equivalent.
• Launch zero-party data initiatives and consider how interactive tools, quizzes, or high-value content could encourage voluntary data sharing.
• Begin testing incrementality methodologies and marketing mix modeling.
• Develop gated content, tools, or resources compelling enough to earn email addresses and account creation.
• Connect your CRM, analytics, and marketing platforms to create unified customer profiles.

Ongoing Strategic Initiatives

• Invest in email lists, loyalty programs, and community features that create direct relationships and build owned audiences.
• Experiment with look-alike audiences and predictive modeling based on first-party data.
• Educate stakeholders to help them understand the value of directional rather than perfect attribution.
• Stay up to date on browser changes and policy updates from Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and emerging browsers.
• Shift KPIs from click-level metrics to business outcome measurements like customer lifetime value, conversion cohorts, or revenue attribution.

Shifting Your Mindset

• From rental to ownership: Stop relying on rented audience data; build owned customer relationships.
• From precision to direction: Accept that attribution will be modeled and probabilistic, not perfectly tracked.
• From surveillance to value: Make data collection feel helpful, not extractive.
• From waiting to acting: Treat cookieless tracking as the current reality, not a future problem.