miji.beTightening restrictions on third-party cookies are affecting how digital marketing is measured. Google reversed its plan to phase out third-party cookies across Chrome in 2024 and announced in 2025 that it would keep the current approach of letting users choose, while Safari and Firefox had already been phasing in mechanisms that block tracking cookies by default. In other words, apart from Chrome's change of course, some readers arrive from browsers that block these cookies. In this situation, short URLs serve as touchpoints for collecting click-level first-party data. Short URL redirect processing passes through your own server (or the URL shortening service's server), enabling data acquisition at the click point without depending on cookies.
Let's organize from a technical perspective why short URLs are suitable for first-party data collection. When a user clicks a short URL, an HTTP request is first sent to the URL shortening service's server. This request contains user agent (browser and OS information), referrer (source page), IP address (used for geographic estimation), access timestamp, and language settings. These are server-side data obtainable from HTTP headers and do not rely on client-side cookies or JavaScript. This means short URL click data can be recorded on the server side even in environments with active ad blockers or cookie blockers. Some users have ad blockers or tracking prevention enabled, so relying solely on client-side measurement means missing that share of user behavior. Short URLs that can be measured server-side can help fill this measurement gap.
The combination of UTM parameters and short URLs is used for campaign measurement in cookieless environments. Append UTM parameters (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, utm_content) to destination URLs, then compress those long URLs with short URLs to achieve both clean appearance and tracking precision. The key point is that UTM parameters are data received as first-party by the destination server (your site), functioning independently of third-party cookies. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) automatically recognizes UTM parameters and reflects them in traffic source analysis. However, UTM parameter design requires care. If naming conventions are not unified within the team, data fragmentation occurs where the same campaign is aggregated as different sources. When utm_source=twitter, utm_source=Twitter, and utm_source=X coexist, data is scattered and analysis becomes difficult. One approach is to document the naming conventions and build UTM parameter validation into short URL generation.
As an advanced server-side measurement application, there is a technique of issuing first-party cookies during short URL redirect processing. When using your own domain short URLs (link.yourcompany.com/campaign), you can set first-party cookies during redirect processing and read those cookies on your destination site, tracking the user journey from click to conversion. This method does not constitute third-party cookies, so restrictions aimed at third-party cookies do not apply to it in the same way. However, under Safari's ITP (Intelligent Tracking Prevention), even first-party cookies created in JavaScript are deleted after 7 days of no user interaction with the website. Cookies issued via the Set-Cookie header in the HTTP response are said to be outside this rule, but in setups where your own subdomain points to an external service via CNAME, they are treated as third-party and their expiry is said to be capped at 7 days. When implementing, a mechanism (such as a cookie banner) that clearly states cookie purposes to users and obtains consent is set up alongside. The form of consent required and the level of detail in explanations vary depending on the region of the target users and the purpose of the cookies.
Cookieless-era tracking strategies also take privacy regulation compliance into account. The EU's GDPR, Japan's amended Personal Information Protection Act (enforced 2022), and California's CCPA/CPRA set rules on user data collection and use. Data collected through short URLs (IP addresses, user agents, referrers, etc.) may constitute personal-related information or personal data under these regulations. IP addresses in particular may be regarded as personal data under GDPR. Measures for ensuring compliance include the following: first, clearly state in your privacy policy the fact and purpose of data collection through short URLs; second, implement IP address anonymization (masking the last octet etc.); third, set data retention periods to the minimum necessary with automatic deletion after expiration; fourth, provide means for users to opt out of data collection. These measures involve technical burden but also help with avoiding legal risk and earning user trust.
Let's summarize short URL utilization strategy for the cookieless era. As a short-term measure, one approach is to improve campaign measurement accuracy by combining UTM parameters with short URLs. In the medium term, you can introduce your own domain short URLs and build a foundation for server-side first-party cookie issuance and click data accumulation. Long-term, integrating short URL click data with CRM and marketing automation tools to build a first-party data ecosystem based on user consent is the goal. Tracking technology evolution and privacy regulation strengthening are two sides of the same coin, and one way of thinking puts "how to gain meaningful insights from less data" ahead of "how to collect more data." Short URLs are tools that can collect data tied to clear user actions (clicks) in a privacy-conscious manner. Making use of this characteristic can help build measurement that does not rely on cookies.