Floc, Google’s Alternative To Cookies

The long-awaited moment has arrived; we are in the second quarter of the year. Finally, Google will begin to let us work with its new FLoC method (‘Federated Learning of Cohorts’), that alternative that is an alternative it presented last year, to work without cookies third parties.

In our article “How will the new GDPR policies affect SEM?” We have already told you some of the keys since there is a general change in all cookies’ data protection policies.

Google presents its experience or vision of this new version of data processing in Google Chrome (It is expected to be publicly available as of Google Chrome 90). It is a learning by cohorts, which protects the user since it introduces him to a massive bag of interests and behaviours, with as many other users and devices.

It was announced that it would be possible to use these cohorts in Google Ads in the coming months, but don’t panic! for the moment, what they will do will be tested.

You may think that all this does not matter to you, but keep in mind that if you are doing remarketing, it will be essential since it will change the construction method of that campaign.

Why does Floc change third-party Cookies?

Until today there is no legislation that is up to date for the entire digital environment and especially the Internet. It is very complicated since many new and unknown factors come into play, and the evolution is accelerating by leaps and bounds every day. That is why Internet users’ data protection and privacy are being prioritized.

And it is that in this not only do cookies come into play, which was, after all, a source of income for many; but we also talk about the digital footprint that we all have in our browsers especially.

Will we be able to continue Advertising without Cookies?

Yes, absolutely yes. Only it will be done differently. Google tries to secure the necessary data to continue advertising without too much damage. In addition to the data to generate an adequate audience, also to later be able to measure the actions that users have ended up doing on our website and account for that traffic entering our online store or blog.

Is this new way of Advertising on Google with Floc safe?

Well, like any new implementation, no assertions can be made. It’s a new technology tested privately and is now opening up to the public, so we’re at a tipping point, with a lot of experimentation still going on.

This is where Privacy Sandbox comes into play, for which they have opened a collaborative space for suggestions and error resolution to improve the protection of user privacy.

How does Floc, Google’s Alternative to Cookies, work?

It is a system that encodes user browsing information and includes it in different audiences according to interests, behaviours, etc. It is based on tokens that identify those preferences that the user has.

The cookie acceptance notice will finally stop appearing!

Let’s also keep in mind that this Google alternative is an open-source API whose main objective is to maintain privacy while allowing advertisers to send their advertising as before.

How effective is Floc for Advertisers?

Remembering that they are still being tested and that it is not expected to have a definitive version of this system by cohorts until 2022, they are reporting the effectiveness of 95%, both to correctly identify interests and when making a conversion.

Will the user have control of Floc?

At the moment, what is communicated is that the user will be able to activate or deactivate the FLoC option from their Chrome browser. However, the goal is to customize many more variants once the entire system is well developed.

It is a change for which there is no turning back, affecting millions of companies, large and small. Other browsers such as Firefox or Safari have already been implementing different changes in their use.

And since everything has to go hand in hand with the law and what is predisposed to it in each country.