Why Data Privacy Matters for SEO and PPC Success

Marketers live off data, and customers live off trust. I call it the marketer’s paradox. The more you know about your audience, the better you can sell. At the same time, when you collect too much user data, you risk violating user privacy, which is one of the quickest ways to tank your marketing strategy.

Consider this. You walk into your favorite coffee shop, and before you order, the barista shouts, “A vanilla latte to go.” They already know what you’re going to have. You don’t usually accompany it with anything, but today they suggest a croissant that goes down perfectly with the latte. Morning made, right?

Now, imagine walking into a new coffee shop. Again, the barista sees you and they already know your favorite drink and the accompaniment you will love. It should feel convenient, but it comes off as creepy.

This is the tightrope marketers have to walk every day.

Data Privacy is Not a Weapon Against Marketers

Understandably, many marketers don’t agree with the concept of data privacy. Their argument is, “If a website wants to show me an ad about something I’m interested in, shouldn’t I want to see it? Isn’t that better than getting ads about stuff I don’t care about?”

That’s true. In fact, users love personalization and convenience. They just don’t want it to be invasive. If my barista uses our little morning conversations to build a list of my preferences, that’s good customer service. However, if they start following me to other stores and stalking me at work to determine my preferences, that becomes a problem.

That’s how consumers view third-party tracking.

Still, it’s not a strong enough reason for all the stringent privacy regulations. Consumers already have tools like privacy browsers and ad blockers to help fight targeted ads.

The Real Reason Data Privacy Exists

I’m guessing you’re already aware of the Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal and how user data was used to influence elections.

Here’s another one. In 2020, the US military was found to be using data from a Muslim prayer app and a dating app to track the movement of users. There’s also a reported case of police using social media activity data to track protesters’ movements.

These are just a few examples of seemingly harmless data being abused in ways that put innocent users at risk. Now, add the increasing cases of data breaches, and you will start to see the picture.

Companies collect troves of user data they don’t necessarily need, but fail to protect it adequately. Inevitably, they get breached, exposing customers to threats such as phishing and identity theft.

Chances are, your data is already on the dark web, and you have no idea. Yes! You’re a victim, too, and need to be protected.

Unfortunately, data privacy laws have also completely changed the game for SEO and PPC marketers, hence the conflicted feelings. And the truth is, it will only get worse as more privacy laws come into effect.

Data Privacy Laws & How They Affect SEO & PPC Campaigns

Two main laws are responsible for the shift in the data privacy landscape. The first is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enacted in 2018 to protect the personal data of EU citizens. This law applies to any business that deals with EU user data.

Key GDPR requirements that affect PPC campaigns and SEO include:

• Marketers must have explicit consent to collect and process personal data
• Businesses must only collect necessary data for specific purposes.
• Data can only be used for the purposes explicitly stated when consent was obtained.

Then there’s the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), also enacted in 2018 to give California residents control over their data.

According to the CCPA, consumers have:

• The right to know what personal data businesses collect
• The right to request the deletion of personal data
• The right to refuse the sharing of their personal data with third parties
• The right to limit the use and disclosure of sensitive personal information

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Multiple other US states have also passed their own laws in recent years, or are currently drafting one.

How Different Platforms Have Adapted to Data Privacy

While the implications of data privacy laws on individual websites cannot be overlooked, their effect on big tech (the major facilitators of the data economy) has affected digital marketers the most.

To stay compliant and avoid fines, these companies have had to make some changes to their policies.

• Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT). In 2021, Apple rolled out a new privacy feature that allowed iOS users to decline or accept third-party app tracking. Marketers initially expected a 50% opt-out rate, but the reality was far worse. Over 90% of users opted out of tracking.
• Google Analytics 4 Thresholding. GA4 thresholding is a privacy feature that hides certain user data when Google determines that showing the data could compromise user anonymity. For instance, if a website is experiencing low traffic volume, you’re dealing with a small dataset that could make users identifiable. Thresholding can also occur if you apply specific filters that narrow down the data too much.
• Google Consent Mode v2. This is Google’s latest attempt to stay compliant following the enactment of the Digital Markets Act. The new update effectively seals a loophole that allows websites to continue tracking users even if the user doesn’t engage with the cookie banner. Consent mode v2 needs to be configured so that visitors either accept or reject cookies. Otherwise, the quality of data sent back to your campaign suffers.
• Google’s privacy sandbox. Much to the delight of marketers, Google made a U-turn on its plan to phase out third-party cookies. However, in its place, the company introduced the privacy sandbox, which tracks and groups users based on broad interest categories instead of individual browsing behaviour.

Together, these changes mark a clear shift toward a privacy-centric digital landscape—one where marketers must adapt their strategies or risk falling behind.

The Growing Data Gap & its Implications on SEO & PPC Campaigns

As privacy regulations tighten and tech giants respond to mounting legal and public pressure, marketers have had to contend with a new reality: they don’t have the same data leverage for their SEO and PPC campaigns.

How Data Privacy Has Affected SEO

Google’s move to make HTTPS a ranking factor back in 2014 was one of the earliest signals of the privacy-first pivot.

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Here are other ways the shift has changed the SEO game:

• Harder to analyze organic traffic patterns - You can’t just pop into Google Analytics and see the keywords driving traffic to your website. Not with Google masking and anonymizing data to comply with set regulations. And that’s before you add the increased use of privacy-focused browsers like DuckDuckGo, where tracking is limited or non-existent.

  Consequently, it’s harder for marketers to attribute success to specific SEO campaigns. Even SEO tools like Ahrefs and Semrush suffer from fragmented and under-reported data.

• Less reliable user engagement metrics - Browser-level protection like Safari Intelligent Tracking Protection or Firefox’s enhanced tracking protection can skew key ranking metrics such as time on page and click-through rates. As a result, marketers can’t effectively optimize landing pages or conduct A/B testing.
• User experience - Data privacy has also indirectly affected SEO as it affects ranking factors like page load time and user experience. For instance, a poorly designed cookie banner can be off-putting to visitors, leading to high bounce rates.

In short, the privacy shift has made SEO less of a science and more of an art, demanding creativity, adaptability, and a deeper focus on delivering real value to users.

How Data Privacy Has Affected PPC

Just like with SEO, the rise of privacy-first policies and regulations has reshaped how marketers approach pay-per-click advertising. From targeting and attribution to retargeting and audience building, the traditional rules of PPC no longer apply.

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• Incorrect attribution - Before the stringent data privacy regulations, marketers could easily map out a detailed digital customer journey across devices and platforms. Now, if a user clicks your ad on mobile, researches the product on desktop, and then converts through a direct visit to your website, the PPC platform may only record a part of the journey, if any at all.

  This attribution gap can affect decision-making. Marketers may pause high-performing ads or underinvest in less-performing campaigns simply because conversions are not properly credited.

• Targeting challenges - Third-party data, which is a big part when creating target personas, is now limited. As a result, marketers have to rely on broader targeting, leading to lower ad relevance and ultimately, a higher CPC. You are now essentially spending more to reach less qualified leads, which affects performance metrics such as the return on ad spend (ROAS) and click-through rates (CTR).
• Retargeting challenges - Serving personalized ads to people who have already engaged with your brand has traditionally been one of the most effective PPC strategies. Now, you’re mostly flying blind outside your own platforms, which makes it harder to nurture cold leads and recover those abandoned carts.

This now brings us to the million-dollar question (literally). Is there a way to still ensure the success of your campaigns without violating user privacy?

No! It’s Not Better to Ask for Forgiveness Than Permission

That’s how the saying goes, right? If you’re in the US, you may have encountered demand generation tools that try to exploit the lack of a comprehensive GDPR-style regulation. This is what we’re calling black-hat tactics.

A good example is RB2B, which is marketed as inbound-led outbound marketing. If that doesn’t make sense, it will when you hear how the tool works. RB2B helps businesses identify the LinkedIn profiles and email addresses of website visitors.

That’s not the worst part. The visitors have no idea this is happening because there’s no consent involved. The tool will work whether the website has a cookie banner or not. There’s also no option to opt out of tracking, and the company doesn’t push for disclosure through privacy policies.

The tool caused a storm on LinkedIn when it was introduced, eventually culminating in a public debate between the founder and Clark Barron, a cybersecurity marketer and a data privacy champion.

Point to remember, black hat tactics may provide you with quick leads, but they come at the cost of your reputation. Or as Clark bluntly puts it, “It’s an incredibly short-term, myopic way of thinking that’s not going to build a long-term sustainable brand.”

Privacy-Friendly Marketing Strategies for SEO & PPC Success

Rather than engage in practices that will ruin your brand name and any potential for long-term success, here are some best practices to ensure PPC success while remaining compliant:

1. First-Party Data Collection (Your Best Asset)

Marketers should pivot to data collected directly from prospects through methods such as email lists, loyalty programs, and interactive content like surveys and polls. For a successful campaign, you should also remember to verify email addresses before reaching out.

Benefits

• 100% GDPR & CCPA compliant
• More accurate customer insights than third-party cookies
• Builds stronger brand trust

Challenges

• Requires offering value to encourage sign-ups
• Harder to scale compared to cookie-based tracking

While it takes more effort to build and scale first-party data strategies, the long-term payoff in trust, compliance, and campaign performance is well worth it.

2. Contextual advertising

Instead of targeting users based on behavior, which relies on invasive tracking, show ads based on the content of a page. For instance, you can place ads for supplements on a health and wellness site. Today, you can even use AI and natural language processing tools to analyze page sentiment, tone, and intent to place ads in highly relevant contexts.

Benefits

• No personal data needed
• Can be highly relevant when paired with AI-driven intent analysis

Challenges

• Less precise than behavioral tracking
• Requires deep keyword and audience research to be effective

Contextual advertising may not offer laser precision, but it strikes a healthy balance between relevance and respect for user privacy.

3. Server-side analytics

Instead of tracking users through their browsers (client-side), you can collect the data from an appropriate server on your end (say Google Tag Manager Server-Side), then send the data to the analytics and ad platform. 

Benefits

• Not susceptible to ad blockers and tracking restrictions
• More control over what data is shared with ad platforms
• Better user privacy as it doesn’t rely on cookies

Challenges

• Technical to set up
• Additional costs of running the tracking server

For teams with the technical chops, server-side analytics offers a powerful way to preserve user privacy without sacrificing campaign insights.

4. Direct engagement and community building

Create Slack groups, Discord servers, Facebook groups, or host a webinar to bring people together in private forums detached from conventional ad platforms. 

This kind of direct engagement is one of the most effective ways to find leads without relying on third-party tracking. People joining your community are warm leads who are more open to hearing about your product or service than a random stranger who accidentally clicked on your ad.

Benefits

• Doesn’t rely on tracking to get leads
• Builds long-term brand loyalty
• Engages users without intrusive tracking

Challenges

• Requires consistent content & engagement to maintain interest
• Harder to scale quickly than paid ads

While it takes time and effort to nurture, building your own community gives you a sustainable edge that no ad algorithm can replicate.

The Future Belongs to Privacy-Conscious Marketers

You're on a sinking ship if you’re still clinging to the old tactics. Realize that the customer journey is no longer linear. Also, the most value in your pipeline is not the faceless personas you’ve built off third parties, it’s the real people who have learned to trust your brand because of the value you provide.

Marketers of the future are the ones who sell without being salesy. To achieve this, you’ll need a deep understanding of your audience gained through direct and authentic connections. This is why first-party data is your best asset. It’s also why contextual advertising works. The reader is already in a mindframe where they’re actively interested in your solution - it doesn’t feel invasive.

On a more advanced level, you can employ server-side analytics, giving you better control of the data you collect. Then, of course, there’s AI. Whether you’re collecting actionable insights from first-party data, determining relevant context for your ads, or even crafting content for ads and SEO, AI will come in handy.

About the Author

Irina Maltseva Founder at ONSAAS

Irina Maltseva is a Growth Lead at Aura, a Founder at ONSAAS, and an SEO Advisor. For the last ten years, she has been helping SaaS companies to grow their revenue with inbound marketing.

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