What is a cookie on a website?
A cookie is a small text file a website stores in your browser. It keeps you logged in and remembers preferences; some need your consent.
What is a cookie?
When you visit a website, the site can store a small text file in your browser. That file is a cookie. On your next visit the browser sends it back and the site recognizes you. Cookies are why the item in your cart does not disappear when you change pages, why you do not have to log in on every click and why your language choice is remembered.
Types of cookies
Cookies are grouped in two ways. By who sets them: cookies from the site you are visiting are first party, while cookies set by ad or analytics tools on that site are third party. By purpose, they fall into four groups:
- Strictly necessary cookies: those the site needs to work, such as session, cart and security.
- Functional cookies: those that remember preferences such as language and region.
- Performance and analytics cookies: those that measure how visitors use the site.
- Advertising and marketing cookies: those used to show interest based ads and measure campaigns.
Consent rules
In the EU, cookie rules come from the ePrivacy Directive and the GDPR. In Turkey, the Personal Data Protection Authority (KVKK) published a Cookie Practices Guide in June 2022. Both follow the same logic: cookies that are strictly necessary for communication or for a service the user asked for can be used without consent, while most analytics, advertising and social media tracking cookies need prior, explicit consent.
In practice this means marketing categories should be off by default, "accept all", "reject all" and "manage preferences" should be presented equally, access to content should not depend on accepting cookies, and consent should be as easy to withdraw as to give. Cookies that send data to services abroad also fall under international data transfer rules.
What should site owners do?
- List every cookie on your site: name, purpose, lifetime and whether it is first or third party.
- Classify each one as necessary or consent based.
- Publish a clear cookie policy and set up your consent banner according to the rules above.
- Do not load analytics and ad tags before consent; this also helps your site speed.
Browsers are getting stricter about third party cookies; Safari and Firefox block them by default. Relying only on third party cookies for measurement becomes less reliable every year.
This article is general information; we recommend legal advice for your own site.