Cookie Policy
This Cookie Policy explains exactly what cookies Gladewick uses, why we use them, who sets them, and how you can control or remove them at any time — in plain English, not legal boilerplate.
What you need to know upfront: By continuing to use Gladewick.com, you consent to the use of cookies as described in this policy. Strictly necessary cookies are always active. All other cookies can be managed through your browser settings at any time. Full details are in Sections 6 and 7 below. Questions? Email support@gladewick.com
The four categories of cookies used on Gladewick
Essential Cookies
Required for the website to function. Cannot be switched off. No personal data used for marketing.
Always active — cannot be disabledPerformance Cookies
Collect anonymous data on how visitors use the Site. Help us improve content and navigation.
Can be opted out via browser or GA add-onTargeting Cookies
Used by Google AdSense to serve relevant ads based on browsing behaviour and interests.
Can be opted out via Google Ad SettingsPreference Cookies
Remember your settings and choices on return visits to improve your experience.
Can be disabled in browser settings1What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files that a website stores on your device — your computer, smartphone, or tablet — when you visit. They are universally used across the internet and serve a wide range of purposes, from making websites function correctly to tracking browsing behaviour for advertising.
Cookies are not programs. They cannot execute code, carry viruses, or access other files on your device. They are simply text strings that a website can read when you return, allowing the site to recognise your browser and recall information about your previous visit.
Types of cookies by origin
- First-party cookies — set directly by Gladewick.com. These are used for essential site functionality and to improve your experience on our Site.
- Third-party cookies — set by external services operating on our Site, such as Google Analytics and Google AdSense. These services have their own privacy policies and are governed by their own terms. See Section 10 for full details.
Types of cookies by duration
- Session cookies — temporary cookies that exist only for the duration of your browser session. They are automatically deleted when you close your browser.
- Persistent cookies — cookies that remain on your device for a set period (days, months, or sometimes years) or until you manually delete them. They allow a site to recognise you on return visits.
Our approach: Gladewick uses only the cookies necessary to operate our Site and support our publishing business. We do not use cookies to build personal profiles or sell data. For full details on how we handle your personal information, see our Privacy Policy.
2Why We Use Cookies
Gladewick uses cookies for four specific purposes. Each is described in detail in Sections 3–6:
- To make the website work: Strictly necessary cookies keep the Site running, maintain security, and enable core WordPress functionality. Without these, the Site cannot function.
- To understand our audience: Analytics cookies (via Google Analytics) give us anonymous data on which articles are read, how visitors navigate, and where our audience comes from. This helps us improve our content and Site structure.
- To fund free content: Advertising cookies (via Google AdSense) allow us to serve relevant advertisements. Ad revenue — alongside affiliate commissions — is what allows Gladewick to publish expert content completely free to readers.
- To remember your preferences: Functional cookies store choices you make, such as cookie consent preferences, so we don’t have to ask you the same questions on every visit.
3Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly necessary cookies are essential for the basic operation of Gladewick.com. They cannot be switched off in our systems. They do not store any personally identifiable information and are never used for marketing or advertising purposes.
These cookies are set by Gladewick directly through our WordPress installation and hosting infrastructure on Hostinger. They enable:
- WordPress session management: The
wordpress_logged_in_*andwordpress_sec_*cookies maintain your login state if you are signed in to the WordPress dashboard as an administrator. - Security: WordPress security cookies protect the Site against cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks by validating form submissions and user actions.
- Load balancing & server routing: Hosting infrastructure may use short-lived session cookies to route your requests to the appropriate server node.
- Cookie consent record: A cookie is stored to remember that you have seen and acknowledged our cookie notice, so it does not display on every page you visit.
These cookies cannot be disabled without significantly affecting how the website functions. Blocking strictly necessary cookies may prevent pages from loading correctly, break form submissions, or make the Site inaccessible.
4Analytics Cookies (Google Analytics)
Gladewick uses Google Analytics 4 (GA4), a web analytics service provided by Google LLC. Google Analytics places cookies on your device to collect anonymous, aggregated data about how visitors use our Site.
The data collected through Google Analytics cookies helps us understand:
- Which articles and pages receive the most traffic and engagement
- How visitors navigate through the Site — which pages they visit, in what order, and where they exit
- Approximate geographic location of our audience at the country and city level
- Device and browser statistics that inform our mobile and browser compatibility decisions
- Traffic sources — how visitors arrived at the Site (search engine, direct visit, social media, referral link)
- Session duration and page engagement rates
Key Google Analytics cookies on Gladewick
| Cookie Name | Purpose | Duration | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
_ga | Registers a unique ID used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website | 2 years | Analytics |
_ga_[ID] | Used by Google Analytics 4 to persist session state and distinguish between sessions | 2 years | Analytics |
_gid | Registers a unique ID used to generate statistical data; expires daily to separate individual sessions | 24 hours | Analytics |
_gat | Used to throttle request rate — limits data collection on high-traffic sites | 1 minute | Analytics |
IP anonymisation is enabled. We have activated IP anonymisation in Google Analytics, which means Google truncates your IP address before it is stored or used for analysis. Your full IP address is never recorded in Google Analytics on our Site. Google Analytics data is used solely to improve our content and Site. We never use it to identify individual users.
To opt out of Google Analytics tracking across all websites, install the free Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
5Advertising Cookies (Google AdSense)
Gladewick displays advertisements served by Google AdSense, operated by Google LLC. AdSense uses cookies and similar technologies to serve advertisements that are relevant to your interests — a practice known as interest-based or behavioural advertising.
Google AdSense cookies may collect the following information to personalise ads:
- Pages you have visited on Gladewick and other websites in the Google Display Network
- Inferred interest categories based on your browsing history
- Approximate geographic location (city / country level) derived from your IP address
- Device type, browser, and operating system
- Ad interaction data — whether an ad was seen, clicked, or dismissed
Key Google AdSense / advertising cookies on Gladewick
| Cookie Name | Purpose | Duration | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
IDE | Used by Google DoubleClick to register and report the user’s actions after viewing or clicking an advertisement, in order to measure efficacy and to present targeted ads | 1 year | Advertising |
DSID | Used by Google to identify a signed-in user on non-Google sites for the purpose of serving personalised ads | 2 weeks | Advertising |
test_cookie | Used by DoubleClick to check if the user’s browser supports cookies | 15 minutes | Advertising |
__gads | Used by Google AdSense to display ads based on recent searches and browsing history | 13 months | Advertising |
__gpi | Google Publisher Identity cookie used to track ad impressions and ensure frequency capping | 13 months | Advertising |
NID | Registers a unique ID that Google uses to remember your preferences and other information for personalising ads | 6 months | Advertising |
Opting out of personalised ads does not remove ads from the Site. It means the ads you see will be based on the content of the page you are reading rather than your browsing history. To opt out of personalised advertising by Google, visit Google’s Ad Settings.
6Functional Cookies
Functional cookies allow the Site to remember choices you have made in order to provide a more personalised experience. On Gladewick, functional cookies are used for the following purposes:
- Cookie consent preference storage: When you acknowledge our cookie notice, a cookie is set to remember your preference so the notice does not appear on every page you visit.
- Form behaviour: WPForms, our contact form plugin, may set short-lived session cookies to manage form submission state and prevent duplicate submissions.
- Newsletter preferences: If you interact with our email newsletter subscription form, a cookie may be set to remember the state of your subscription opt-in.
Functional cookies on Gladewick
| Cookie Name | Purpose | Duration | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
cookie_consent | Stores your cookie consent preference so the banner does not display on every page load | 1 year | Functional |
wpforms_* | Short-lived session cookies set by the WPForms plugin to manage contact form state and prevent duplicate submissions | Session | Functional |
wordpress_test_cookie | WordPress sets this cookie to check that cookies are enabled in the visitor’s browser | Session | Necessary |
7Full Cookie Reference Table
The table below is a comprehensive reference of all cookies known to be set on Gladewick.com, organised by category.
| Cookie Name | Set By | Category | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
wordpress_logged_in_* | Gladewick / WordPress | Necessary | Maintains admin login state for the WordPress dashboard | Session / 14 days |
wordpress_sec_* | Gladewick / WordPress | Necessary | WordPress security authentication and session management | Session |
wp-settings-* | Gladewick / WordPress | Necessary | Stores WordPress admin user interface preferences | 1 year |
wordpress_test_cookie | Gladewick / WordPress | Necessary | Checks that the browser supports cookies before any are set | Session |
wfwaf-authcookie-* | Wordfence Security Plugin | Necessary | Security firewall cookie that helps Wordfence identify legitimate WordPress admin users and block malicious requests | Session |
_ga | Google Analytics | Analytics | Unique visitor ID for aggregating statistical data about Site usage | 2 years |
_ga_[ID] | Google Analytics | Analytics | GA4 session persistence and state management | 2 years |
_gid | Google Analytics | Analytics | Distinguishes between unique daily sessions for reporting | 24 hours |
_gat | Google Analytics | Analytics | Throttles the rate of data collection requests | 1 minute |
IDE | Google AdSense / DoubleClick | Advertising | Cross-site tracking of ad clicks and conversions for personalised advertising | 1 year |
__gads | Google AdSense | Advertising | Displays ads based on browsing history; prevents the same ad from showing too often | 13 months |
__gpi | Google AdSense | Advertising | Publisher Identity cookie tracking ad impressions and frequency | 13 months |
NID | Advertising | Stores user preferences for personalising Google services and advertising | 6 months | |
DSID | Advertising | Identifies signed-in Google users on third-party sites for personalised ad serving | 2 weeks | |
test_cookie | Google DoubleClick | Advertising | Tests whether the browser supports cookies before setting advertising cookies | 15 minutes |
cookie_consent | Gladewick | Functional | Stores your cookie notice acknowledgement preference | 1 year |
wpforms_* | WPForms Plugin | Functional | Manages contact form session state and prevents duplicate submissions | Session |
This table is updated whenever we add or remove cookies from our Site. Third-party services such as Google may update their own cookie names, durations, or purposes independently. Refer to Google’s Cookies & similar technologies page for the most current details on Google’s cookies.
8How to Manage and Control Cookies
You have several ways to control and manage the cookies set on your device when you visit Gladewick.com. The most direct method is through your browser settings, which give you control over all cookies — both those set by Gladewick directly and those set by third-party services.
Managing cookies in your browser
Most modern browsers allow you to view, delete, and block cookies on a per-site or global basis. Here is how to access cookie settings in the most commonly used browsers:
Google Chrome
Settings → Privacy and security → Cookies and other site data. You can block third-party cookies or manage exceptions per site.
Chrome cookie guideMozilla Firefox
Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data. Firefox also offers Enhanced Tracking Protection with several blocking levels.
Firefox cookie guideApple Safari
Preferences → Privacy → Manage Website Data. Safari also has Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) enabled by default.
Safari cookie guideMicrosoft Edge
Settings → Cookies and site permissions → Manage and delete cookies and site data. Edge offers Basic, Balanced, and Strict tracking prevention.
Edge cookie guideOpera
Settings → Advanced → Privacy & security → Site Settings → Cookies and site data.
Opera cookie guideMobile Browsers
For Chrome on Android or Safari on iOS, cookie settings are found in your device’s browser app Settings → Privacy menu.
More at aboutcookies.orgBe aware: Blocking all cookies — including strictly necessary ones — will prevent parts of Gladewick.com from working correctly. Core site functionality, WordPress admin access, and contact forms may not work if necessary cookies are blocked. We recommend blocking only third-party or advertising cookies if functionality is important to you.
9Opt-Out Tools & Direct Links
In addition to browser-level controls, you can use the following specific opt-out tools to control how the third-party services used on Gladewick collect and use your data:
- Google Analytics Opt-out: Install the official Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. Once installed, your browser will transmit a signal to Google preventing your visits from being included in Google Analytics reports — across all websites, not just Gladewick.
- Google Personalised Advertising Opt-out: Visit Google’s My Ad Center (myaccount.google.com) to turn off personalised ads across all Google services and the Google Display Network.
- Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) Opt-out: Use the NAI’s opt-out tool to opt out of interest-based advertising from any of the NAI’s participating members, which includes many major ad networks used across the internet.
- Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) Opt-out: Use the DAA’s opt-out tool to opt out of interest-based advertising from participating companies in the US.
- Your Online Choices (international): If you are outside the United States, visit Your Online Choices for a European opt-out tool covering many of the same ad networks.
Note on opt-outs: Opting out via these tools places an opt-out cookie on your device. If you clear your cookies, you will need to opt out again. These opt-out tools also require cookies to work, so ensure you have not set your browser to block all cookies before using them.
10Third-Party Cookies & External Services
In addition to Google Analytics and Google AdSense, other third-party services accessed from pages on Gladewick — such as embedded videos, social media share buttons, or external resources — may also set cookies on your device. These cookies are outside Gladewick’s direct control.
Where Gladewick embeds third-party content or links to external resources, the following services may set cookies if you interact with their elements:
- Pinterest: If you interact with Pinterest “Save” or “Follow” buttons embedded in content, Pinterest may set cookies. See Pinterest’s Cookie Policy.
- YouTube / Google: Embedded YouTube videos may set cookies if you interact with them. These are covered by Google’s Cookie Policy.
- Other embedded content: If you follow external links from Gladewick — to manufacturer websites, retailers, or reference sources — those websites will set their own cookies governed by their own policies.
Gladewick is not responsible for the cookies set by third-party websites or services. We encourage you to review the cookie and privacy policies of any third-party site you visit.
11Do Not Track
Some browsers include a “Do Not Track” (DNT) setting that sends a signal to websites requesting that your browsing not be tracked. At this time, there is no universally accepted standard for how websites should respond to DNT signals, and most analytics and advertising platforms do not alter their behaviour in response to DNT requests.
Gladewick does not currently alter the cookies or tracking technologies used on the Site in response to a browser DNT signal, as no industry standard for doing so has been established. We will update this policy if a binding DNT standard is adopted.
If you wish to prevent tracking, the most reliable approach is to use the specific opt-out tools listed in Section 9, or to configure your browser to block third-party cookies as described in Section 8.
12Updates to This Cookie Policy
Gladewick may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the cookies we use, changes to the third-party services we rely on, or changes in applicable law or best practice.
When we make changes, we will:
- Update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page
- Post a notice on the Gladewick homepage if the changes are material
- Update the full cookie reference table in Section 7 to reflect any new or removed cookies
We encourage you to review this Cookie Policy periodically. The most current version is always available at gladewick.com/cookie-policy/.
Your continued use of Gladewick.com after any update constitutes your acceptance of the revised Cookie Policy. If you disagree with any changes, you should adjust your browser settings to block the relevant cookies or discontinue use of the Site.
13Contact Us
If you have questions about this Cookie Policy, want to report a cookie you believe should be disclosed, or have a concern about how cookies are used on Gladewick, please contact us:
Cookie & Privacy Inquiries
For questions about this Cookie Policy or cookie-related privacy concerns:
support@gladewick.comFor legal or business matters:
hello@gladewick.comYou can also use our Contact Us page to submit any privacy or cookie inquiry through our secure form.
Review our complete set of legal and trust documents:
- Privacy Policy — Full details on how we collect, use, and protect your personal data
- Terms of Use — The legal terms governing your use of Gladewick.com
- Affiliate Disclosure — How our affiliate marketing relationships work
- Disclaimer — Liability limitations for our home and garden content
- Editorial Policy — Our standards for expert authorship and content review