Overview
When you browse a website, a small piece of data known as a web cookie, or simply a “cookie,” is sent from the website and stored on your computer by your web browser. Cookies are meant to keep track of stateful information such as items in a shopping cart, your browsing activity (like clicking specific buttons, logging in, or revisiting pages), or any details you previously entered into form fields such as names, addresses, or passwords. Cookies are a reliable mechanism for websites to remember important information that enhances your browsing experience.
Web cookie
A web cookie is a tiny piece of data that a website sends to and saves in a file on the user’s computer. This data is unique to the user and can be accessed by their web browser.
How does a web cookie work?
A web cookie stores and retrieves information about the web visitor.
Store information
When the user visits the website, the basic information about the website visitor can be stored in a cookie.
Retrieve information
When the user visits that website next time, the stored information in the cookie can be accessed by the web browser that is remembered by the browser in the cookie.
A cookie is a small text file stored in the browser’s installation folder.
Types of web cookies
There are different types of cookies:
Session cookies
These cookies are temporary and are deleted when the user closes their browser.
Persistent cookies
These remain stored on the user’s device even after the browser is closed, for a specified period, or until the user deletes them. They can be used to remember login details or user preferences across sessions.
Third-party cookies
A different domain sets these cookies than the one the user is visiting and is primarily used for tracking and online advertising.
Benefits of Cookies
Some benefits of using cookies are as follows:
Session Management
When a user logs in to a website, cookies store information such as preferences and shopping cart contents.
User Browsing Experience
Cookies enable websites to remember user preferences, resulting in faster and more personalized experiences.
Tracking and Analytics
Cookies assist website owners in analyzing visitor interaction, identifying popular pages, and tracking user drop-offs.