What Are Cookies?
A cookie, also known as an HTTP cookie, web cookie, or browser cookie, is usually a small piece of data sent from a website and stored in a user’s web browser while a user is browsing a website. When the user browses the same website in the future, the data stored in the cookie can be retrieved by the website to notify the website of the user’s previous activity. (source Wikipedia)
How We Use Cookies
We use first-party cookies as part of Google Analytics to capture anonymous website usage data. This provides us with information that includes which pages you have visited, how long you spend on those pages and how you found our website. By interpreting this data we can anticipate website traffic and trends which will help us improve your experience when using the site. Below is a table describing the cookies used on this site.
Cookie | Type | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|---|
_utma | Google Analytics | 2 years | Used to distinguish users and sessions. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and no existing __utma cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. |
_utmb | Google Analytics | 30 minutes | Used to determine new sessions/visits. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and no existing __utmb cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. |
_utmc | Google Analytics | End of browser session | Not used in ga.js. Set for interoperability with urchin.js. Historically, this cookie operated in conjunction with the __utmb cookie to determine whether the user was in a new session/visit. |
_utmz | Google Analytics | 6 months | Stores the traffic source or campaign that explains how the user reached your site. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. |
_utmv | session cookie | 2 years from set/update | Used to store visitor-level custom variable data. This cookie is created when a developer uses the _setCustomVar method with a visitor level custom variable. This cookie was also used for the deprecated _setVar method. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. |
id (doubleclick.net) | session cookie | 2 years from set/update | DoubleClick uses cookies to improve advertising. Some common applications are to target advertising based on what’s relevant to a user, to improve reporting on campaign performance, and to avoid showing ads the user has already seen. More information can be found here. |