Google has dropped its plan to remove Chrome third-party cookies. On July 22, 2024, Google said that instead of switching them off, Chrome will give people a choice about how they are tracked. If you run analytics or ads, the short answer is this: nothing changes in your reports today, and your GA4 setup was never relying on third-party cookies in the first place.
That does not mean you can stop thinking about tracking. Safari and Firefox still block these cookies, consent rules still apply, and Chrome’s new choice screen could still reduce what you can measure. Below I explain what Google announced, what it means for your data, and what I’d do this week.
What Google Announced About Chrome Third-Party Cookies
The news came in a post on the Privacy Sandbox site by Anthony Chavez, the VP who leads the project. Google called it “a new path” for Privacy Sandbox. Here are the main points:
- No forced removal: Google no longer plans to deprecate (switch off) third-party cookies in Chrome for everyone.
- A user choice instead: Chrome will add a new experience that lets people make an informed choice. That choice will apply across their browsing, and they can change it at any time.
- Still under discussion: Google says it is discussing this approach with regulators. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) have been watching the project closely for years.
- Privacy Sandbox continues: the Privacy Sandbox APIs stay available, and Google says it will keep investing in them.
- More privacy in Incognito: Google plans to add IP Protection to Chrome’s Incognito mode. This hides a user’s IP address from some third parties.
You can read Google’s own words in A new path for Privacy Sandbox on the web. It is short, and it is worth reading the source rather than headlines.
What the post does not include is just as important. There is no date for the new choice screen, no design, and no detail on what the default setting will be. Those details will decide how much this matters for marketers.
A Quick Recap: How We Got Here
A third-party cookie is a small file set by a domain other than the site you are visiting. For example, an ad network’s code on a news site can set a cookie that it reads again on a shoe store’s site. That is how cross-site tracking, retargeting and some ad measurement work.
Google started the Privacy Sandbox project in 2019. The goal was to replace third-party cookies with new browser tools that support ads without tracking people one by one across sites. Then the timeline kept moving:
- In early 2020, Google said it planned to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome within two years.
- That date was pushed back more than once, to 2023 and then to the second half of 2024.
- In January 2024, Chrome started restricting third-party cookies by default for 1% of its users as a test.
- In April 2024, Google said the full phase-out would not happen in 2024 and moved it into 2025, citing open questions from regulators and the industry.
- Now, in July 2024, the forced phase-out is off the table.
So many marketers spent four years preparing for a deadline that has now gone. I don’t think that work was wasted, and I’ll explain why below.
Does GA4 Use Third-Party Cookies?
This is the question I get most, so let me answer it directly. No. Google Analytics 4 uses first-party cookies. These are cookies set on your own domain, by your own site, so browsers treat them very differently from third-party ones.
When GA4 loads, it sets a cookie called _ga to recognise a returning browser, plus a _ga_ cookie tied to your property for session data. Both live on your domain. That is why GA4 kept counting users and sessions in the 1% Chrome test, and why it will keep working whatever Chrome’s new choice screen looks like.
The same was true for Universal Analytics before it, which Google has now shut down (I covered that in what to do after Universal Analytics stopped processing data). If your GA4 tag fires on every page, nothing about this news changes your setup.
Where Third-Party Cookies Do Touch Your Data
Your analytics tool itself may be fine, but the tools around it often are not. These are the areas where third-party cookies tend to show up:
- Retargeting and remarketing audiences: ad platforms recognise people across other sites, which usually needs cross-site cookies.
- View-through conversions: crediting an ad someone saw but did not click often depends on the ad network recognising the same browser later.
- Cross-domain journeys: if a visitor moves from your main site to a separate booking or checkout domain, data can break unless you set up cross-domain measurement properly.
- Embedded tools: chat widgets, embedded videos, booking forms and payment pop-ups served from another domain may use their own cookies inside your page.
- Some older pixels: tracking pixels from smaller ad and affiliate networks may still rely mainly on third-party cookies.
In my experience, the embedded tools are the ones people forget. A booking widget that loses its session can look like a sudden drop in conversions, even though your analytics tag is working fine.
What It Means for Analytics and Measurement
For most sites, the honest answer is “not much, today.” But there are a few points I’d keep in mind when you read your reports over the coming months.
Nothing Changes in Your Reports Right Now
Chrome has not shipped the new choice experience yet, and Google has not shared a date for it. So any traffic or conversion change you see this week is very unlikely to be caused by this announcement.
I’d resist the urge to rebuild anything in a hurry. Wait until Google shares the actual design and timing of the choice screen.
The Choice Screen Could Still Reduce Tracking
A choice screen is not the same as “cookies stay forever.” If a large share of Chrome users choose to block third-party cookies, the effect could look similar to the phase-out for those users.
How many people block will depend on the wording and the default. Nobody knows that yet, so I would not trust any prediction you read this week. Plan as if a meaningful part of Chrome traffic could become harder to track across sites.
Chrome Is Not the Only Browser
Safari and Firefox already block third-party cookies by default. Safari also limits how long some cookies set by JavaScript can last, which can make returning visitors look like new ones.
So if a good part of your audience uses iPhones, you are already living in a world with very limited third-party cookies. This announcement does not change that at all. When I look at a site’s audience, I check the browser split in GA4 first, because it tells me how much of the traffic is already “cookieless” for cross-site tracking.
Consent Rules Still Apply
Privacy laws such as the GDPR do not care whether a cookie is first-party or third-party. If you need consent for analytics or ads cookies, you still need it.
Since March 2024, Google has required Consent Mode v2 signals for advertisers who want to use measurement and remarketing features with users in the European Economic Area. If you serve EEA visitors, that is a far more urgent task than anything in this announcement.
What Stays the Same and What Could Change
Here is a simple view of where things stand on July 23, 2024. It covers the most common pieces of a marketing stack.
| Area | Relies on third-party cookies? | Impact of the July 2024 news |
|---|---|---|
| GA4 users, sessions and conversions | No, uses first-party cookies | None |
| Search Console data | No, comes from Google Search itself | None |
| Retargeting audiences in Chrome | Often yes | Keep working for now; could shrink if users opt out |
| View-through and cross-site ad conversions | Often yes | Same as above |
| Safari and Firefox tracking | Already blocked by default | No change |
| Privacy Sandbox APIs (Topics, Protected Audience, Attribution Reporting) | No, they are the alternative | Still available, adoption may slow |
Search Console deserves a quick note. Its clicks and impressions come from Google’s own search logs, not from cookies on your site. Your SEO reporting there is not affected in any way.
Why First-Party Data Still Matters
Some people will read this news as “we can relax.” I see it the other way. The work you did for the cookie phase-out still pays off, because it also helps with Safari, ad blockers, consent and data quality.
First-party data is information people share with you directly, or that you collect on your own site. Think email sign-ups, account logins, purchase history and form fills. Unlike cross-site cookies, nobody can switch it off for you.
Here is what I’d keep doing, no matter what Chrome does next:
- Grow your own lists: newsletters, customer accounts and loyalty programmes give you an audience you own.
- Track key actions as events: in GA4, make sure purchases, leads and sign-ups are tracked as key events with clear names.
- Use enhanced conversions where it fits: Google Ads can match hashed customer details from a conversion form to improve measurement, with the right consent.
- Consider server-side tagging: sending data through your own server can give you more control over what is shared and with whom. It takes setup work, so I only recommend it once the basics are solid.
- Get consent right: a clean consent banner and Consent Mode setup protect both your data and your users.
I’d also keep an eye on organic search. Traffic you earn from search does not depend on cross-site tracking at all. It is one reason I keep pushing SEO as a core channel, as I covered in SEO priorities for 2024.
Should You Still Test Privacy Sandbox?
Privacy Sandbox is a set of Chrome APIs that aim to support ads without tracking a single person across sites. The main ones are Topics (interest-based ads), Protected Audience (remarketing) and Attribution Reporting (conversion measurement).
Google says these APIs will stay and keep getting better. For most small and mid-sized businesses, though, you will not use them directly. Your ad platforms and ad tech vendors do that work behind the scenes.
My advice: ask your ad vendors what they plan to do now. If they were testing Privacy Sandbox, ask whether they will keep going. You don’t need to run your own tests unless you build ad tech.
How to Check Your Own Site This Week
Instead of guessing, take an hour to see how much your site actually depends on third-party cookies. This is the process I follow:
- List every tag on your site. Open Google Tag Manager or your theme files and write down each analytics, ad, chat and affiliate script. Note which company runs each one.
- Check the cookies in Chrome. Open your site, press F12 to open DevTools, and go to Application, then Cookies. Look for cookies set by domains other than yours.
- Test a key journey with third-party cookies blocked. In Chrome settings, go to Privacy and security, then Third-party cookies, and block them. Then complete a purchase or lead form and check that it shows up in GA4 and your ad platforms.
- Look at your browser split in GA4. In Reports, go to Tech, then Tech details, and view by browser. A high Safari share means cross-site tracking is already limited for many visitors.
- Review consent and cross-domain settings. Confirm Consent Mode is set up if you have EEA visitors. If users move between domains, check that cross-domain measurement is configured in your GA4 data stream.
- Ask your vendors one question. Email each ad or tracking vendor and ask how they measure without third-party cookies today, for Safari users.
Remember to switch third-party cookies back on in your browser after the test. I usually see people forget this and then wonder why logins on other sites stop working.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
When big privacy news breaks, I see the same reactions every time. Here are the ones I’d avoid:
- Undoing first-party work: stopping a server-side tagging project or email capture work because “cookies are staying” leaves you exposed on Safari and to future changes.
- Blaming every data drop on cookies: most sudden drops I look into come from broken tags, consent banner changes or site updates, not browser policy.
- Thinking GA4 numbers will jump back up: GA4 was not losing data because of the Chrome plan, so you should not expect it to recover anything.
- Treating this as final: regulators still have a say, and the choice screen is not built yet. Plans could change again.
What to Watch Next
A few things will tell us how big this change really is:
- The choice screen design: the wording, the default and how often Chrome asks will shape how many people block cookies.
- The regulators’ response: the CMA and ICO will review the new approach, and their view could shape how it rolls out.
- Ad platform updates: watch for changes to how Google Ads and other platforms report conversions and build audiences.
- The 1% test group: Google has not said what happens to the users who already have third-party cookies restricted.
I’ll keep an eye on these and update our coverage when Google shares more.
Conclusion: Chrome Third-Party Cookies Are Staying, but Plan Anyway
Chrome third-party cookies are not going away by force. Instead, users will get a choice, and the details of that choice are still unknown. GA4 and Search Console are not affected, because they never relied on third-party cookies.
The smart move is to stay calm and keep building on data you own. Run the quick site check above, make sure your consent setup is right, and keep growing first-party lists. If you want to double-check that your analytics basics are in place, work through our GA4 migration checklist as a next step.
