Cookies & Google Analytics

HTTP cookies is commonly referred to as “Cookies” is a parcel of text that is sent back and forth between a web browser and server that accesses.

Cookies are text files that describes a small piece of information about a visitor or the visitor's computer

Two types of cookies
First Party - Set by the site you are visiting
Third Party – Set by the partners of site you visit

Persistent Cookies(Expires after 2 years)
- Remains on the hard drive when you close your browser
- Can be read by the website that created it on subsequent visits

Temporary Cookies
- Stored only during your current browser session
- Disappear from your computer when you quit the browser

Without cookies web server cannot distinguish between different users or make any connection made between sequential page visits made by same user.

Google analytics tracking (most web analytics software) uses cookies to provide meaningful report about the site visitors. And most important thing is Google analytics do not collect any personal data about the website visitors.

Cookie Name:_utma
Description:Visitor Identifier
Length:Expires after 2 years

Cookie Name:_utmb
Description:Session Identifier
Length:Expires after 30 minutes of inactivity

Cookie Name:_utmc
Description:Session Identifier
Length:Temporary cookies:destroyed when you quit the browser

Cookie Name:_utmz
Description:Campaign values
Length:Expires after6 months

Cookie Name:_utmv
Description:Visitor Segmentation
Length:Expires after 2 years