Third-party
cookies
have
dominated
digital
advertising
for
decades.
Developed
initially
to
help
protect
the
privacy
and
anonymity
of
web
browsing
activities,
in
the
2010s
cookies
became
virtually
synonymous
with
digital
surveillance.
“Big
data”
collection
allowed
the
development
of
increasingly
granular
audience
segmentation,
which
in
turn
facilitated
the
creation
of
ever-more-carefully-targeted
advertising
strategies,
generating
legitimate
privacy
concerns.
In
a
less
sinister
vein,
the
analytics
capabilities
of
third-party
cookies
also
became
important
tools
in
tracking
conversions,
helping
businesses
learn
what
“worked”
and
what
failed
in
their
online
outreach,
so
that
they
could
refine
their
digital
marketing
strategies
accordingly.
Concerns
about
the
consumer
privacy
implications
of
third-party
data
collection
grew
through
the
second
half
of
the
2010s,
prompting
a
number
of
attempts
at
reform
(both
corporate
and
regulatory)
since
the
beginning
of
this
decade.
Given
the
uncertain
future
of
third-party
analytics,
law
firms
have
begun
looking
for
ways
to
track
user
activity
and
calculate
conversions
via
other
mechanisms
that
may
have
more
longevity.
Here
are
the
latest
developments
and
what
law
firms
can
expect
to
see
working
well
over
the
next
few
years.
What
Are
Third-Party
Cookies?
Third-party
cookies
are
small
bits
of
data
that
are
placed
on
users’
devices
when
they
visit
a
website.
They
are
distinguished
from
first-party
cookies
by
the
fact
that
the
website
does
not
add
the
files
to
the
user’s
device
directly;
instead,
the
cookies
are
placed
on
the
user’s
device
by
a
third
party,
most
often
an
advertising
or
analytics
service.
How
Do
Third-Party
Cookies
Help
Track
Conversions?
Cookies
may
serve
a
variety
of
functions,
but
one
of
the
leading
uses
of
third-party
cookies
has
traditionally
been
to
act
as
a
sort
of
digital
trail
of
cookie
crumbs,
allowing
the
third
party
service
to
“track”
the
user’s
online
activity.
The
cookies
are
used,
in
many
cases,
to
help
advertisers
track
specific
actions
that
users
take
while
visiting
a
website,
such
as
navigation
between
pages
and
the
time
spent
on
each
page.
One
of
the
most
useful
pieces
of
information
for
law
firms
has
often
been
rate
of
“conversions”:
Essentially,
the
ratio
of
site
visitors
who
go
from
browsing
your
pages
to
taking
an
action
that
demonstrates
what
marketing
professionals
usually
call
“purchase
intent”
(for
law
firms
it
will
usually
be
not
be
an
immediate
purchase),
such
as
filling
in
a
contact
form,
booking
a
consultation,
or
even
(for
some
law
firms)
downloading
a
free
e-book.
Some
analytics
services
will
also
provide
conversion
data
from
off-site
ad
placements
(e.g.,
on
social
media).
Tracking
conversions
makes
it
easier
to
see
which
marketing
strategies
are
performing
most
efficiently
and
make
adjustments
accordingly.
Why
Are
Third-Party
Cookies
at
Risk?
Because
third-party
cookies
often
allow
their
installers
to
track
users’
activity
across
other
websites,
consumer
privacy
concerns
have
been
raised
from
a
number
of
regulatory
bodies
and
advocacy
groups.
Certain
types
of
data,
particularly
when
protected
behind
logins,
are
not
normally
transmitted,
but
for
much
of
the
Web
2.0
era
many
third-party
cookies
have
allowed
digital
marketing
professionals
to
track
users
across
multiple
websites
and
social
media
platforms.
While
the
specifics
of
these
visits
to
other
websites
may
not
always
be
delivered
in
great
detail,
often
the
data
collected
can
be
used
to
help
develop
“ad
targeting”
strategies
that
aim
to
show
specific
ads
to
users
whose
online
activity
matches
targeting
parameters
set
by
the
marketing
team.
In
some
cases
the
targeting
itself
has
been
subjected
to
scrutiny,
out
of
concerns
that
it
has
potential
for
abuse.
Does
Ad
Targeting
Violate
Attorney
Ethics?
Since
many
of
the
concerns
that
have
led
the
fate
of
third-party
advertising
cookies
to
fall
under
a
cloud
of
uncertainty
relate
to
potential
consumer
privacy
vulnerabilities,
it
is
normal
for
attorneys
to
have
questions
about
whether
they
can
or
should
use
third-party
cookies
in
their
digital
marketing,
even
if
the
technical
capabilities
remain
available
in
some
form
beyond
2025.
Whether
third-party
cookies
will
be
permitted
long-term
or
not
is
a
question
too
jurisdiction-dependent
for
a
blanket
answer
to
apply
to
all
circumstances.
We
will
see
what
Google
does
and
how
regulatory
bodies
respond,
but
assuming
third-party
cookies
are
still
an
option
for
business
marketing
in
the
broader
sense
then
the
two
main
areas
law
firms
will
want
to
keep
their
eyes
on
are:
-
Data
privacy
laws:
Consumer
data
privacy
protections
can
vary
widely
from
one
jurisdiction
to
another.
If
your
law
firm
handles
any
work
involving
international
trade
or
IP,
you
will
need
to
keep
in
mind
the
European
guidelines,
which
tend
to
be
stricter
than
those
in
the
United
States.
Within
the
U.S.,
there
are
sometimes
significant
differences
in
regulatory
requirements
between
states,
so
that
the
kind
of
information
law
firms
are
allowed
to
collect
about
their
website
visitors,
and
the
required
disclosures,
may
be
stricter
or
narrower,
depending
on
the
state
or
states
in
which
you
are
admitted
to
practice. -
State
bar
association
guidelines:
At
a
national
level,
the
American
Bar
Association
(ABA)
continues
tracking
the
intersection
of
attorney
ethics
and
online
advertising.
For
a
variety
of
reasons,
state
bar
association
guidelines
may
be
updated
more
regularly
(some
state
bars
have
adopted
updates
as
recently
as
2025).
If
you
practice
in
more
than
one
state,
you
may
want
to
discuss
with
your
law
firm
marketing
team
some
strategies
for
adhering
to
the
strictest
standard
that
applies.
Another
obvious
factor
to
consider
is
what
a
law
firm
does
with
consumer
data
once
collected,
whether
the
information
comes
via
third-party
cookies
or
by
any
other
means.
If
the
communications
themselves
are
illegal
or
unethical,
then
the
data
collection
methods
that
facilitated
those
communications
may
become
a
secondary
consideration.
Are
Third-Party
Cookies
Going
Away?
Google
has
wavered
on
its
policy
for
handling
third-party
cookies
in
the
company’s
Chrome
browser.
Some
of
the
options
put
forward
in
2025
could
require
additional
technical
capabilities
from
websites
that
use
third-party
cookies.
Even
if
third-party
cookies
continue
to
be
allowed
in
Chrome,
the
browser’s
customization
features
increasingly
emphasize
settings
on
the
user’s
end
that
make
it
easier
to
reject
third-party
cookies.
The
rise
of
LLM
search
options
is
another
factor
law
firms
need
to
consider.
Because
AI
search
tools
change
the
ways
users
find
websites
and
in
many
cases
the
way
they
navigate
the
web,
analytics
cookies
that
have
previously
been
effective
at
tracking
user
activity
across
multiple
websites
may
decline
in
their
usefulness,
making
it
important
for
law
firms
to
develop
alternative
strategies
for
measuring
the
effectiveness
of
their
online
advertising
efforts
and
website
conversions.
What
Are
Effective
Alternatives
to
Third-Party
Cookies
for
Law
Firm
Websites?
While
the
current
status
of
third-party
cookies
depends
on
the
regulatory
framework
in
which
a
law
firm
and
its
potential
clients
are
situated,
the
clear
trend
in
digital
advertising
is
away
from
a
reliance
on
third-party
cookies
and
toward
“cookieless”
methods
for
increasing
online
visibility
and
generating
leads.
Amid
the
rapid
changes
seen
in
digital
marketing
over
the
past
few
years,
a
few
viable
alternatives
to
third-party
cookies
have
begun
to
take
shape.
These
offer
varying
degrees
of
capabilities
for
tracking
engagements
and
conversions,
but
in
many
cases
they
also
hold
the
promise
of
greater
consistency
and
warmer
lead
generation
compared
to
conventional
tracker-based
advertising
strategies.
Tracking
and
Targeting
Based
on
First-Party
Data
Collection
Cookies
installed
and
managed
by
a
website
directly,
rather
than
by
a
third-party
service
provider,
are
considered
“first-party”
cookies.
Many
of
these
cookies
are
primarily
functional,
used
for
such
features
as
building
shopping
carts
for
product-based
businesses
and
registering
logins
(a
feature
law
firm
websites
may
or
may
not
offer).
Other
first-part
data
collection
conduits
include
dedicated
apps
and
CRM
(customer
relationship
management)
systems.
The
ad
targeting
possibilities
of
the
cookies
in
particular
may
be
limited,
but
although
ad
targeting
based
on
first-party
data
has
less
breadth
than
the
options
facilitated
by
an
analytics
service
that
tracks
activity
across
multiple
digital
surfaces,
it
also
tends
to
have
a
relatively
higher
conversion
rate,
as
it
usually
means
placing
suggestions
or
other
“nudges”
in
front
of
users
who
have
already
consented
to
the
use
of
their
information
and
indicated
some
level
of
interest.
The
appropriateness
of
the
suggestions
and
framing
of
the
nudges
can
make
a
significant
difference
in
the
ROI
factors
of
advertising
based
on
first-party
data,
so
law
firms
will
want
to
put
some
strategy
weight
into
setting
up
a
logical
framework
for
structuring
these
communications.
Ad
Targeting
Based
on
Zero-Party
Data
Zero-party
data
is
not
collected
through
cookies
as
such,
although
cookies
may
be
used
to
“remember”
the
data
for
purposes
of
providing
a
smooth
user
experience
(UX)
in
navigating
a
website.
Instead,
zero-party
data
is
entered
by
the
user
directly,
often
through
such
collection
surfaces
as
polls
and
surveys.
Social
media
polls
seeking
user
preferences
in
the
topics
they
would
like
to
see
a
law
firm
address
in
its
content,
for
instance,
can
provide
extremely
valuable
data,
often
at
little
to
no
cost,
and
result
in
not
only
improved
ad
targeting
methods
but
opportunities
to
refine
content
strategy
to
align
with
the
interests
of
a
specific,
local
audience.
Depending
on
the
collection
surface,
you
may
have
the
opportunity
to
request
contact
information
and
ask
users
to
indicate
their
areas
of
greatest
interest,
both
of
which
can
be
highly
useful.
If
you
do
choose
to
collect
users’
contact
information
or
other
potentially
identifying
details,
be
sure
your
law
firm
has
a
carefully
developed
data
privacy
policy
in
place,
along
with
strict
internal
controls
for
maintaining
the
security
of
the
information
you
collect.
Any
plan
you
establish
will
need
to
consider
data
in
transmission
as
well
as
how
it
is
stored,
and
should
also
address
the
purposes
for
which
users’
information
may
be
used.
You
will
obviously
need
to
disclose
these
privacy
practices
to
users;
consider
utilizing
the
disclosure
as
an
opportunity
for
your
law
firm
to
invite
users
to
select
“opt-in”
consent
for
newsletters,
blog
updates,
or
other
communications.
Including
opt-ins
and
other
prompts
in
the
presentation
of
your
privacy
policy
can
have
the
double
benefit
of
streamlining
data
collection
for
the
law
firm
while
at
the
same
time
clarifying
for
users
how
their
information
will
be
used.
Contextual
Advertising
Contextual
advertising
is
one
of
the
most
exciting
possibilities
for
replacing
tracker-based
targeting.
Instead
of
attempting
to
reverse-engineer
prospective
customers’
interests
based
on
their
online
activity,
contextual
advertising
places
ads
where
they
are
relevant
to
the
content
of
the
page.
This
technique
offers
a
notable
“warm
lead”
advantage
in
that
the
ads
will
necessarily
appear
in
front
of
users
who
have
already
self-selected
for
interest.
In
some
ways,
contextual
advertising
works
on
principles
similar
to
those
that
drove
ad
strategy
during
the
heyday
of
print
publishing:
Brands
would
(and
to
some
extent
still
do)
choose
the
publications
in
which
to
purchase
ads
based
on
the
perceived
overlap
between
each
publication’s
primary
audience
and
the
brand’s
core
consumers.
However,
contextual
advertising
can
go
a
step
further
because
conditional
programming
allows
for
the
topical
relationship
between
page
content
and
ad
content
to
be
much
more
closely
tailored
than
is
possible
in
the
context
of
print
layouts,
where
ads
must
typically
be
purchased
long
before
the
topics
covered
in
a
specific
edition
are
even
decided.
In
addition,
digital
surfaces
allow
a
much
greater
degree
of
interactivity,
which
means
visitors
who
are
interested
in
the
ads
displayed
on
a
page
can
often
act
on
them
immediately,
via
buttons
or
input
fields.
This
immediacy
eliminates
the
“gap”
between
encounter
and
action
in
which
potential
sales
are
often
lost.
After
Cookies:
Direct
Engagements
Third-party
cookies
may
not
have
vanished
entirely,
but
overall
trends
point
away
from
their
continued
dominance
of
online
advertising.
The
shift
toward
more
first-party
and
zero-party
data
collection
has
coincided
with
the
rise
of
AI
search
modalities,
creating
the
conditions
for
potentially
fewer
views
and
lower
website
traffic,
but
at
the
same
time
significantly
higher
conversion
rates.
Despite
the
very
real
causes
for
concern,
the
evolving
digital
search
landscape
offers
important
opportunities
for
“warm”
lead
generation
via
interactive
surfaces
such
as
social
media
polls
and
strategically
placed
interactive
ads.
As
we
move
into
2026
and
beyond,
law
firms
can
expect
to
see
more
and
more
chances
for
customizing
user
experience
and
appealing
to
local
audiences
with
greater
precision.
Think
about
seizing
this
period
of
change
as
your
sign
for
growth,
and
work
with
your
digital
marketing
professionals
to
outline
a
strategy
that
will
position
your
law
firm
as
a
leader
in
fostering
high-engagement,
high-conversion
points
of
connection
with
your
audience.
Annette
Choti,
Esq.
is
the
founder
of Law
Quill,
a
legal
digital
marketing
agency
that
helps
growth-minded
law
firms
increase
their
online
visibility
and
convert
more
clients.
She
is
also
the
author
of
“Click
Magnet:
The
Ultimate
Digital
Marketing
Guide
for
Law
Firms”
and
Click
Magnet
Academy.
Annette
used
to
do
professional
comedy,
which
is
not
so
far
from
the
law
if
we
are
all
being
honest.