An introduction: What are cookies (cookies)
An internet cookie is something called a website text file that is stored in your browser. Cookies are used to provide the visitor with a better experience by saving their history on the site. There are also many functions that work thanks to cookies that you cannot turn off because then the site would have stopped working as it should.
There are generally two types of cookies: Session cookies are deleted from your browser when you close the browser, they are used to remember, for example, which language you have chosen to display the page in during your visit so that you do not have to re-select the language selection when you click on a new page. Timed cookies can be saved on your computer's browser for a longer period of time.
When are cookies used and for what?
It all depends on what features you have built and/or linked to your website. Some cookies are necessary for the website to look and function as intended with color text size and animations, these cannot be turned off but you as a visitor must be able to accept these in order to use the site as it is intended to be displayed.
Some websites that offer a login platform use cookies to help the user remember when they are logged in or not. Teaching or education platforms may need to remember answers given to digital tests or voting functions, an online store may want to remember what items you put in your shopping cart, and so on.
What are third-party cookies?
As a website owner, you want to measure statistics from a provider that offers statistical tools such as Google Analytics. This allows you to measure how many unique visitors you have on your website, which countries or cities they come from and if they have bought something on the site or submitted requests via forms (via set goals) or which pages are most popular. This can help companies continue to develop landing pages to present their information in a way that is appreciated by visitors.
If you want to promote the offer of a specific product to all those who have viewed the product, you can do so through Google Ads display ads using timed cookies, provided that the visitor has not cleared their cookies on their browser. All external services you use on your site may include cookies in order to be able to do the work they are meant to do. If you use a video from youtube or a powerpoint presentation from someone else, they may also be able to track the use of their material using cookies. All of these are called third-party cookies.
What is my responsibility as the owner of a website under the GDPR law?
It is the company's legal responsibility to ensure that you declare to the user the cookies that are on your website when they visit them. In the past (not too long ago) cookies were declared by writing on a page that they named cookies and manually inserted the cookies used on the site, they also created a popup that said “- Here we use cookies, click to accept”.
Today, the manual way no longer works if you want to comply with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and ePR (ePrivacy Directive) laws, which everyone who owns a website in the EU must do. You have to give the visitor the right to update their cookie preferences — that is, you have to give them the right to turn off marketing cookies or other third party cookies they may have on their website. It is not enough to have a popup where you click OK. According to the law, it is necessary to save information about when the browser approved and what cookies it was.
Advanced cookie management with Atom Agency
Something that is so advanced can now become really simple. We offer our support contract customers an add-on called”Advanced cookie management“. It automatically scans your page and declares your current cookies to visitors in a smooth way. Visitors can update their preferences at any time via, for example, a cookie policy page (see examples of our cookie policy). Rest assured knowing exactly which cookies you have on your website and that our advanced cookie management blocks all cookies until your website user has accepted your cookies and thus lawfully collects information about them.
