{"id":68802,"date":"2019-06-07T09:13:47","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T09:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/morningtrain.dk\/get-itp-2-2-under-control-and-avoid-losing-valuable-user-data\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T06:36:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T06:36:50","slug":"get-itp-2-2-under-control-and-avoid-losing-valuable-user-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morningtrain.dk\/en\/get-itp-2-2-under-control-and-avoid-losing-valuable-user-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Get ITP 2.2 under control and avoid losing valuable user data"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Data insights<\/p>

7. juni 2019<\/p>

Get ITP 2.2 under control and avoid losing valuable user data<\/h1><\/div>

The day all marketers have dreaded has arrived: Apple has launched the ITP 2.2 update. Or rather, it is a day that all serious marketers should take seriously. <\/p><\/div>\n\n

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\n Indhold\n <\/p>\n \n Hvad er ITP\n <\/a>\n \n Why should i care\n <\/a>\n \n Hvad er l\u00f8sningen\n <\/a>\n \n Er det lovligt?\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n

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What does ITP mean?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First things first. ITP stands for Intelligent Tracking Prevention and is a software solution designed to make it increasingly difficult for Apple\u2019s browser<\/a> (Safari) to access user data via cookies<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purpose of ITP is to limit what data can be collected about users through their cookies.<\/strong> With the 2.1 update, cookie data (web activity history) from Safari visitors could only be stored for 7 days. With 2.2, we are now down to just 1 day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means if your visitors\u2019 customer journeys<\/a> last more than 24 hours, you will have a problem with your Google Analytics<\/a> data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And unless you are a 24\/7 emergency locksmith, your visitors\u2019 customer journeys will always extend beyond 24 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does this update mean for me?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

ITP 2.2 is a problem because cookie data from Safari users is now only stored for 24 hours. And that completely undermines the way Google Analytics attributes conversions to different channels<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google Analytics uses a feature called \u201cLast non-direct click\u201d, which in plain terms means: \u201cthe conversion is attributed to the last channel the user interacted with before converting, as long as it was not<\/strong> a direct visit to the website by typing the domain into their browser\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This attribution made sense before, when cookie data could be stored for many days. But now you lose data on your Safari users, because when they complete a converting action, going forward it will be credited to \u2018direct traffic\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why does this matter to me?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Because your Google Analytics data is now incorrect. And your marketing channels\u2014Facebook, Google Ads, and organic traffic\u2014will suddenly lose a lot of traffic and conversions, because \u2018direct traffic\u2019 now gets the credit for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there is the fact that Safari users only make up somewhere between 20\u201330% of your visitors. In other words, you will be looking at data that is not representative for up to one third of your website\u2019s traffic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will see that your SEO<\/a> efforts no longer deliver the same return as they have so far. And that may lead you to make the wrong marketing decisions, because Google Analytics will now tell you that certain channels are no longer profitable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, but what does Apple even want with this?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At first glance, we thought ITP was created to mess with search engines. Apple makes nothing from the search market, whereas their biggest competitors do. On closer inspection, it actually turns out to be an initiative introduced for the benefit of users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because cookies are old technology. The original intention was that, as a user, you could allow a website to collect basic information about you and a bit of history. That is simply not the reality anymore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s reality looks like this: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n