Apple Safari Will Not Block Google Analytics Tracking
During the Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple shared information on the privacy policy improvements of the new version of the Safari browser.
The greatest resonance was brought by the news that in the 14th version of the browser, Google Analytics was marked as an unwanted tracker that will be blocked.
This news raised panic in the SEO community, but it turned out to be miscommunicated information.
DuckDuckGo worsened the situation. The company shared on Twitter that it is working with Apple to create a blacklist of trackers to block tracking. A screenshot was attached to the tweet showing Google Analytics as being blocked frequently.
What Does the ITP Update Actually Is?
With the summer update, users received:
- Complete blocking of third-party cookies.
After the update, the browser started blocking cross-site cookies by default.
- Downgrading Cross-Site document.referrer to Origin.
The update rolled back all cross-site document.referrer to their original state.
- The introduction of storage limits have the ability to record scripts for a period of 7 days.
Now, after a week of using Safari, all writable web resource stores will be deleted if the user is not interacting with the site.
However, the big question is: Does the Safari site blocker work on Google Analytics?
The Safari browser does not block the tracking of Google Analytics by default. Intelligent Tracking Prevention can mark your domain as a potential cross-site tracking domain. This will happen if Safari starts sending requests to google-analytics.com from different unique domains. In this case, Safari turns on security and reduces the ability to exchange information with the domain. This frequently occurs at the mutual transfer of personal information about users.
This is not a 2020 innovation. The Safari browser has been trying to protect its users from cross-site tracking, including Google Analytics, since 2017. There were no updates in version 14 of Safari that would help block Google Analytics tracking. The only link between Google Analytics, Tracking Blocker, and the Safari browser is a hasty judgment that is based on an incorrectly written privacy report.
Google Analytics was not designed to collect information about consumers to further individually identify them. Therefore, the system will continue to work in an updated browser.
How Will the Safari Update Affect Your Site’s Google Analytics Right Now?
On June 7, 2017, Apple changed its approach to using cookies to store user data. Intelligent Tracking Prevention contributed to this.
Why Apple? Is the company looking to avoid tracking Apple’s user data, or has it thus decided to interfere with the stability of the ad revenue that Google and Facebook receive using consumer tracking? We can answer both questions positively. However, the conclusions are ultimately yours.
At its core, ITP was not invented to prevent marketers from collecting data on user activity, but to protect consumers from cross-domain tracking.
It turns out that the “google-analytics.com blocked” notification does not report that Google Analytics has been blocked. It warns that links to third-party cookies that are linked to google-analytics.com are prohibited. The update does not block Google Analytics from capturing consumer behavior data. The new version of Safari reduces the attribution and session stitching that is possible in the browser.
Simo Ahava wrote that when Safari shows that it is blocking Google Analytics, it is not actually blocking. The ITP marks the domain as cross-site tracking and limits the ability to transmit cookies.
The situation with Safari and Google Analytics clearly demonstrates how quickly a myth in the SEO community can be leaked due to inaccurate wording in the privacy report. The information confusion quickly spread through authoritative sources and began to be quoted on social networks.
Safari tracking is not affected by the latest updates as much as the panic has been raised about it. However, it is possible that more stringent measures will be introduced in future updates.
ITP acts as a defender of users against intrusive marketing tactics and technologies. Intelligent Tracking Prevention works against those who ignore users who are trying to take care of their online privacy. It is important to enter into a dialogue with users and listen to their desires regarding online privacy. If not, in some of the subsequent browser updates, the contrived problem will become real.
