Since 2012, when the UK’s website cookies law came into force [1], we’ve become used to seeing disclaimers and consent banners on sites. By the time GDPR came into effect in 2018 [2] (where visitors had to be given a choice and opt out was the default position), disclaimers had become a generally accepted part of the internet.
When you get used to seeing something everywhere, it’s easy to become blasé and not give it much thought. This is the case with cookies – we blindly click on accept or reject depending on our preferences. The problem is, once we stop paying attention, we lose sight of why they matter – and whether ignoring them will create a problem of its own.
Time for a little reminder then.
What are cookies?
To put it simply, website cookies are text files stored on your computer that contain information. When you visit a website, your browser can read or modify a cookie, or create a new one to be accessed later on.
What information is stored in a cookie?
Cookies can be used to store several different types of data:
- Session information, such as your login status and items in your shopping basket.
- Preferences that affect the display of a website. For example, language or country selection, dark mode or accessibility options.
- Tracking information and analytics to help site owners and marketers understand where traffic is coming from and what visitors are doing when there.
- Gather information that can be used to help deliver targeted advertising on other websites you visit.
How are cookies used?
It may help if we look at how CookieYes – a Google-approved tool that automatically handles cookie consent – categorises cookies:
- Necessary cookies are anonymous and essential for core functions of a website, including security. Without them a site cannot function.
- Advertisement cookies are used for delivering relevant and targeted advertising. They can track activity across multiple sites.
- Analytics cookies understand how visitors interact with a site. They’re used by professionals to optimise content, layout and user journey.
- Functional cookies aren’t essential for the website to run, but they help certain features work properly. Without them, some parts of a site may not function as expected.
- Performance cookies help site maintainers analyse and understand how well the site is performing in terms of speed and responsiveness, with the aim of providing a better user experience.
What happens if I reject website cookies?
Not everyone likes the idea of tracking cookies recording their activities, whether that’s for advertising purposes or something else. The issue is that some cookies are essential to the smooth running of a website, so denying them can cause problems.
If you reject all cookies, you won’t be getting the full experience and will find certain functionality stops working. For example, background videos and third-party widgets may not load. Additionally, there may be issues when trying to submit contact forms, and buttons may not do what they should. This can lead to frustration if you’re visiting a site and wondering why it isn’t working.
If you’re the site owner, you might receive reports from users about your website being broken, which is naturally concerning and may lead you to seek support. It’s important to remember that this is expected behaviour required for GDPR compliance, and it may affect how your website functions for visitors.
What can users do to ensure they have the best experience?
Rather than choosing the blanket option to accept or reject all cookies, you can tailor the selection of cookies you allow. That way you can block cookies you consider unnecessary or inappropriate while still allowing the ones needed for a site to function – this will help ensure you get the best user experience.
If you have privacy concerns but are comfortable with site administrators tracking performance, you can choose to block advertising cookies while allowing the rest. Alternatively, you may decide you don’t want any tracking cookies at all, and you can also disable performance cookies, this is completely fine.
However, it’s important to note that if you block cookies you consider unnecessary or intrusive, parts of a website may not work as expected. Some embedded content may not appear at all, and you may see empty spaces on the page where that content would normally be displayed.
The choice is yours
To summarise, the choice about cookie consent is yours, and that is the way it should be. GDPR and the UK’s cookie law are there to protect you as an individual. If you choose to deny website cookies of any type, then you must bear in mind that it can have an adverse effect on your online experience. So choose wisely.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cookie-law-comes-into-force
