New standard feature will impact almost all website owners.
Browser maker Firefox is now blocking all tracking cookies by default, which is a big blow to all website owners.
Among the things this could impact:
- Accurate tracking in Google Analytics
- Affiliate links
- Conversion tracking
- Online advertising revenue
According to Firefox developers, the browser won’t block first-party Google Analytics cookies, but the browser shows that it blocks some Google Analytics cookies.
Commission Junction, a leading affiliate network, has been giving “browser-based adjustments” based on Firefox traffic for some time. It is also innovating cookieless tracking methods.
While Firefox’s share of the browser market is fairly small, there is an ongoing trend in browser features that make it very difficult for websites to maintain ad-supported revenue models. Apple’s Safari has some blocking features as well.
By removing some capabilities to track conversion rates, even sites that sell products to generate their revenue are in the crosshairs.
And yes, Firefox now blocks even the tracking cookies that are present on Mozilla.org.
John Colascione says
I noticed this, or at least signs of it a month or so ago somewhere in the privacy settings. It’s a big kick in the ass to publishers earning off ad revenue. We can add it to the long list of reasons for declining ad revenue.
Charlie Morton says
If this was a plot to kill of the majority of small to midsized websites it is a stroke of genius. There are literally tens of thousands of good websites on every topic under the sun that depend on ad revenue.
The big player with deep pockets will manage to get past this, but it will kill off everyone else if the other browsers follow this model. This is so incredibly ironic!
Tim says
users want “free” internet but browsers are blocking the source of how it can be produced for free. uggg
Greg says
for Affilate-Sites and Affiliate-Program, Cookies are not ideal for tracking, as Cookies are getting deleted by the user himself.
The ideal Affiliate-Tracking should be done via unique URLs.
There is no need for tracking-cookies, they are a stupied spy-tool anyway.
jerry holmes says
I have noticed that Firefox even blocks text links and with all the blocking of cookies and people can clear them on their own, it’s not good for us affiliate marketers. We will not win the cookie battle and Greg you are correct The ideal Affiliate-Tracking should be done via unique URLs. My question is this. If our cookies are being blocked but someone still makes a purchase then the merchant still gets the sale and pays no affiliate commission. With so many of us in the dark why would they let us know about it? And will they try to get something for us to not lose commissions? Does anyone know of any merchants using cookie-less tracking or unique URLS?