Jun 25, 2020 16:15:00

Experts denied ``Safari 14 completely blocks Google Analytics'' suspicion

It was reported that 'Safari, Apple's web browser, started blocking Google Analytics from version 14 ' after the WWDC 2020 keynote. However, Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager Google Developer Expert Simo Ahava explains, 'Actually Google Analytics is not completely blocked.'

No-Safari 14 Does Not Block Google Analytics | Simo Ahava's blog
https://www.simoahava.com/analytics/no-safari-does-not-block-google-analytics/

The trigger was the explanation of the 'Privacy Report' function newly installed in Safari 14, which was mentioned in the keynote speech of WWDC 2020 held on June 23, 2020. The privacy report informs you that the tracking prevention function ' Intelligent Tracking Prevention ' built into Safari has blocked the tracker.

(2) WWDC 2020 Special Event Keynote — Apple-YouTube


In the privacy report that says 'We've blocked 12 trackers,' you'll see the name 'www.google-analytics.com' in the 'Trackers on this Website' section.

A Twitter user who did not miss this momentary indication pointed out that 'Safari 14 will block Google Analytics', media that handles Apple related

newsAppleinsider and IT news site Search Engine Journal said ``Safari 14 has completely blocked Google Analytics.'

However, John Wilander , an engineer in the development of Intelligent Tracking Prevention at WebKit , was asked for truth about an article in the Search Engine Journal: 'Intelligent Tracking Prevention does more than simply block known cookies. Is answered.

ITP har inte börjat blockera resurser från att ladda. Men ITP gör också mycket mer än begränsar/blockerar kakor som du säkert vet.

— John Wilander (@johnwilander) June 24, 2020

So what exactly is Intelligent Tracking Prevention doing? Ahava explains. According to Ahava, Intelligent Tracking Prevention, when it detects a request from multiple domains through a browser to a particular domain, flags that particular domain as a cross-site tracker that tracks cookies on multiple sites. I will attach it. On top of that, Safari is able to determine if the flagged tracker is a third party cookie and remove it if it is.

The privacy report provides visibility into the cross-site tracker flagging process by Intelligent Tracking Prevention. The Intelligent Tracking Prevention tracker list is compared with the search engine DuckDuckGo tracker list, and if a match is found, it will be displayed in the privacy report as 'known tracker found'.

However, as Google has long argued, Google Analytics uses first-party cookies , not third-party cookies. As a result, Google Analytics traffic is not blocked, even if it appears in your privacy report.

Google Analytics Uses Cookies on Your Website | Analytics for the Web (analytics.js)
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/cookie-usage

The following is a site where Ahava actually displayed a privacy report on his site using the beta version of Safari 14. Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager are both showing up and it says ``Two trackers have been prevented'', but in fact the Google Analytics JavaScript library is loaded and the specified endpoint Can send HTTP request to.

'Using terms like block, prevent, tracker, etc. can be confusing, as the WWDC results show, unless clearly defined in the report itself,' Ahava said in a privacy report. I point out that the expression is misleading as if it were displaying the result of a complete block.

'Google Analytics users don't have to worry about Safari 14. Google Analytics doesn't need cross-site tracking and Safari doesn't block Google Analytics,' Ahava said.