Back in the summer of 2021, Google announced it would delay the roll-out of its data tracking app – following the evolving impacts of Apple’s ATT update (which allows iOS users to opt-out of data tracking in apps). This announcement also shifted the timeline for the phasing out of third-party cookies till 2023, now 2024, at the earliest. But Google also stated that its goal “is to have the key technologies deployed by late 2022 for the developer community to start adopting them.” With Google’s recent announcement of tools within the data sandbox, they appear to be doing just that.
As Google slowly moves towards phasing out third-party cookies, they have added more machine learning (ML) tools to their current products to help users adapt to changes in the way data will be processed and attributed in a cookie-free world. Google describes ML as a critical tool that “can be used to fill the gaps in observed data and unlock new insights into consumer behavior.”
With the new ML tools, Google aims to help marketers understand their web performance and be able to track their performance to make adjustments and improvements now – preparing them for the third-party-less future. Here are a few key innovations Google has announced that you can begin adopting to improve your insights and B2B marketing strategy.
With a new integration for its Search Console platform, Google has added tools to improve organic search traffic insights.
Google describes it as such:
“Search Console provides detailed information about your website’s organic Search performance, including the site’s rank in Search results, queries that led to clicks, and post-click data, like engaged sessions and conversions. With the new Search Console integration, you’ll be able to understand the role that organic Search plays in driving traffic to, and engagement on your site, relative to other marketing channels like Search ads, email, or social.”
With this new integration, marketers will have a much better idea of how organic search is driving traffic and how that traffic is interacting with your website.
Organic search traffic data is key for anyone using a website for their business but is also extremely helpful in tailoring content marketing strategies in addition to other strategies. This is because this new and improved organic search traffic insight will provide more clues on how to better optimize content and how to improve SEO processes. With more specific data, marketers can create far more comprehensive and engaging SEO optimization strategies.
In addition to this, Google’s also adding data-driven attribution, with no minimum threshold requirements, to Google Analytics 4 properties. Based on conversion modeling, by incorporating machine learning, measurements can be preserved – even when cookies or other identifiers aren’t present. Data-driven attribution takes this a step further, incorporating advanced ML to more accurately understand how each marketing touchpoint contributed to a conversion, all while respecting user privacy and complying with privacy laws.
Google describes it as such:
“Google’s data-driven attribution models give you a better understanding of how all of your marketing activities collectively influence your conversions, so you don’t over or undervalue a single channel. Unlike last-click attribution, where 100% of the credit goes to the final interaction, data-driven attribution distributes credit to each marketing touchpoint based on how much impact the touchpoint had on driving a conversion.”
Last-click attribution works, but it isn’t an accurate indicator of overall marketing performance. As the phaseout of third-party cookies looms closer, the goal is to provide tools to marketers that can improve processes and analytics without relying on cookies. As a result, last-click attribution has been replaced by data-driven attribution as the default model for all new conversion actions in Google Ads. By incorporating this into Analytics as well, data-driven attribution has been incorporated into the broader Google marketing toolset.
The end of third-party cookies is coming, whether marketers are ready for it or not. Apple has already eliminated or limited them, and Google is following suit. For updates on further changes by Google, you can follow their schedule and announcements at privacysandbox.com. Google’s Privacy Sandbox program was designed to test a range of options and then select those that best meet the privacy goals of consumers and the data goals of marketers.
Whatever changes the future brings, it is important to make sure you know what they are and how they impact your data and analytics. Insight is critical to a comprehensive and seamless marketing strategy. It is incredibly challenging to adapt and adjust your strategies without accurate analytics for maximum revenue growth and ROI. In addition, without insights and attribution, account-based marketing strategies will be unsuccessful, leaving dollars on the table and leads outside of your sales funnel.
If you have any questions about your analytics and whether your marketing strategies are working for you, we are happy to help!