Cookieless targeting: what still works in 2026
Contextual, first-party and ID-free approaches, ranked by what actually delivers.
Where we actually are
Third-party cookies are effectively gone from the majority of European traffic. The replacements fall into three groups: first-party data, alternative IDs and contextual.
First-party data
Still the strongest signal, but only if it is large enough to match at scale. Below roughly 50,000 records, match rates make it unreliable as a primary lever.
Contextual and alternative IDs
Contextual has improved sharply. Page-level classification now performs close to behavioural targeting for consideration-stage campaigns, and it carries no consent overhead.
Alternative IDs sit in between: useful where they have reach, inconsistent where they do not. Test them per market rather than assuming coverage.
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