What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files that a website places on your device — your computer, phone, or tablet — when you visit. They allow the website to remember information about your visit, such as your preferences, login state, or items in a cart, so that the site functions correctly and future visits are smoother.
Cookies are not programs. They cannot carry viruses, execute code, or access other files on your device. They contain only text data, and they can only be read by the website or service that set them.
Similar technologies — such as web beacons, pixel tags, and local storage — can be used for similar purposes. In this policy, we use "cookies" to refer to all of these technologies collectively.
How We Use Cookies
We use cookies to:
- Keep the website working correctly — session management, security tokens, and checkout flow functionality all rely on strictly necessary cookies.
- Understand how visitors use our site — analytics cookies help us see which pages are most useful, how long visitors stay, and where they come from. This helps us improve our content and services.
- Remember your preferences — functional cookies store your cookie consent choices so you are not shown the consent banner on every visit.
- Process payments securely — when you use our checkout page, Stripe sets security cookies to prevent fraud and authenticate your payment session.
We do not use cookies for targeted advertising, behavioural profiling, or selling your data to third parties. Our use of analytics is limited to understanding aggregate website performance — individual users are not identified or tracked across the web.
Types of Cookies We Use
We use four categories of cookies, as defined by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Cookie Guide and the UK ICO guidance on cookies:
Cookie Inventory
The table below lists the specific cookies set on semanticseos.digital, grouped by type. This inventory is reviewed and updated whenever our cookie usage changes.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
| Cookie Name | Provider | Type | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
_session |
semanticseos.digital | First-party | Maintains your session state while browsing. Allows the site to recognise you as you move between pages. | Session (deleted when browser closes) |
csrf_token |
semanticseos.digital | First-party | Cross-Site Request Forgery protection token. Prevents malicious websites from submitting requests on your behalf. | Session |
cookie_consent |
semanticseos.digital | First-party | Records your cookie consent decision (accepted/rejected) so you are not prompted on every visit. | 12 months |
Analytics Cookies (consent required)
| Cookie Name | Provider | Type | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
_ga |
Google Analytics | Third-party | Distinguishes unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier. Used to calculate session, visit, and user data for analytics reports. IP addresses are anonymised. | 2 years |
_ga_[ID] |
Google Analytics (GA4) | Third-party | Used by Google Analytics 4 to persist session state and track cross-page activity within a single session. | 2 years |
_gid |
Google Analytics | Third-party | Distinguishes users and stores information about how the site is used. Expires quickly and is regenerated on each visit. | 24 hours |
Functional Cookies
| Cookie Name | Provider | Type | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
[consent_tool] |
Cookie consent tool (e.g. CookieYes / Cookiebot) | Third-party | Records your consent choices (accepted/rejected by cookie category) and enforces them on subsequent visits. Prevents non-essential cookies from loading before consent is given. | 12 months |
DEVELOPER NOTE: Replace [consent_tool] with the actual cookie name(s) used by your chosen consent management platform (CookieYes, Cookiebot, or Complianz). Each platform uses different cookie names.
Payment & Security Cookies
| Cookie Name | Provider | Type | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
__stripe_mid |
Stripe, Inc. | Third-party | Fraud prevention and payment security. Helps Stripe identify your device and assess the risk of fraudulent transactions during checkout. | 1 year |
__stripe_sid |
Stripe, Inc. | Third-party | Session-level fraud prevention. Links your active browser session to a specific checkout transaction. Expires after the session. | 30 minutes |
Stripe cookies are only set when you visit our checkout page (/checkout/). They are strictly necessary for secure payment processing and cannot be disabled without breaking the checkout functionality.
Third-Party Cookies
Some cookies on our website are set by third-party services whose content or scripts load on our pages. We do not control these cookies directly — they are governed by the privacy and cookie policies of the respective providers.
| Provider | Cookies Set | Purpose | Their Policy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Analytics | _ga, _ga_[ID], _gid |
Website usage analytics. Aggregate, anonymised data only. IP addresses are truncated before any data is stored. | policies.google.com/privacy |
| Google Fonts | None set directly | Serves the Inter typeface from Google's CDN. Google may log your IP address in their server logs when fonts are requested. No cookie is set, but a server-side log entry may be created. | policies.google.com/privacy |
| Stripe, Inc. | __stripe_mid, __stripe_sid |
Payment fraud prevention and checkout session security. Only set when you visit the checkout page. | stripe.com/privacy |
| YouTube (Google) | May set cookies if you play an embedded video | Our About page embeds a YouTube video. YouTube may set cookies if you interact with the video. Use "no cookie" embed mode where possible. | policies.google.com/privacy |
We regularly review the third-party services on our website and update this table when providers change or new services are added.
Managing Your Cookie Preferences
You have several ways to control the cookies set on your device. Note that disabling certain cookies may affect how our website functions.
1. Our Cookie Consent Banner
When you first visit semanticseos.digital, a cookie consent banner appears. You can accept or reject non-essential cookie categories individually. Your choice is saved for 12 months. You can change your preferences at any time by clicking the "Cookie Settings" link in our website footer.
2. Browser Settings
You can configure your browser to block or delete cookies. The instructions below cover the most common browsers:
- Open Chrome → Settings (⋮)
- Privacy and Security → Cookies and other site data
- Choose your preference or use "See all cookies" to delete specific cookies
- Open Firefox → Settings (☰)
- Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data
- Click "Manage Data" to view or delete cookies by site
- Safari → Preferences → Privacy
- Click "Manage Website Data" to view stored cookies
- Remove all or select individual sites
- Open Edge → Settings (…) → Privacy, Search & Services
- Choose a tracking prevention level or click "Cookies and site permissions"
- View and delete cookies per site
3. Google Analytics Opt-Out
To opt out of Google Analytics tracking across all websites (not just ours), you can install the official Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on:
tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
This add-on prevents the Google Analytics JavaScript from sharing information with Google Analytics about visits activity. It is available for all major browsers.
4. Withdrawing Consent
You can withdraw your cookie consent at any time by:
- Clicking the "Cookie Settings" link in our footer and updating your preferences in the consent banner.
- Clearing cookies in your browser settings, which will reset our consent record and show the banner again on your next visit.
- Emailing us at [email protected] and we will assist you.
Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of any processing based on consent before its withdrawal. Strictly necessary cookies and payment cookies cannot be disabled without affecting core website functionality.
5. Impact of Disabling Cookies
- Strictly necessary cookies disabled: The website will not function correctly. Navigation, security, and the checkout flow may break.
- Analytics cookies disabled: You will not be tracked. No impact on your experience of the website.
- Stripe cookies disabled: You will be unable to complete a payment on our checkout page.
- Functional cookies disabled: You may see the cookie consent banner on every visit, as your preferences cannot be stored.
Changes to This Cookie Policy
We may update this Cookie Policy when we add or change the cookies or third-party services on our website. Changes will be reflected by an updated "Last Updated" date at the top of this page.
Where changes are material — for example, adding a new category of cookies that requires your consent — we will notify you through the cookie consent banner on your next visit, giving you the opportunity to review and update your preferences.
We recommend reviewing this Cookie Policy periodically, particularly if you have specific concerns about data privacy. The previous version of this policy is available on request by emailing [email protected].
Contact Us
For questions about this Cookie Policy, to request a copy of previous versions, or to raise a concern about how we use cookies, please contact us:
Semantic SEOs — Cookie Queries
54 ST MARY'S RD, SOUTHAMPTON SO14 0BH, UK
For concerns about cookies and your privacy rights under UK GDPR, you may also contact the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or call 0303 123 1113.
For further details on how we handle your personal data more broadly, please read our Privacy Policy.
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