What are cookies?

Cookies identify visits to a website via anonymous bits of data and numbers and remember each individual who visits a website and everything that they do anonymously. Without cookies, websites and their servers have no memory. Without a cookie every time you open a new web page the server where that page is stored will treat you like a completely new visitor.

Websites typically use session cookies to ensure that you are recognised when you move from page to page within one site and that any information you have entered is remembered. For example, if an e-commerce site did not use session cookies then items placed in a shopping basket would disappear by the time you reach the checkout.

What are persistent cookies used for?
A persistent cookie enables a website to remember you on subsequent visits, speeding up or enhancing your experience of services or functions offered.
For example, a website may offer its contents in different languages. On your first visit, you may choose to have the content delivered in French and the site may record that preference in a persistent cookie set on your browser. When you revisit that site it will use the cookie to ensure that the content is delivered in French.

Cookies are helpful for web analytics purposes because they are a way of identifying visitors to your site (new versus returning, visitor’s navigation through the website, better user experience by storing items in a shopping basket or saving a search that they made etc).

The thing to check is how long your persistent cookies are storing data for – a week, a month, until 2035? These will make a difference to how you understanding what unique visitors do on your site. And make sure you work with the techies to set the cookies expiration for a time that suits your business needs.
Oh and a very happy new year!