Cookie Policy
Every cookie and browser-storage item that can be set when you read this site, what it does, how long it lasts, and how to control it.
Last updated: October 25, 2026
What cookies are
Cookies are small text files a website stores in your browser. Local storage and session storage do a similar job but never travel to a server with your requests. Web beacons (also called pixels) are tiny images or scripts that let an ad company know an ad or page was seen. This page lists each of these that can be used on Home Craft Blog.
The short version
- Our own code sets no cookies. Umami and Cloudflare Web Analytics, which count visits, set none either.
- Google Analytics sets two cookies to count visitors, only where you allow them: after consent in the EEA, the UK, Switzerland, Brazil and Quebec, and unless you opt out everywhere else.
- Three small items in your browser’s storage make your privacy choice work.
- Google sets advertising cookies when it shows ads, which it does on our posts, topic pages and homepage.
- Our host, Cloudflare, may set a security cookie when it checks for bots.
Items this site stores in your browser
These are strictly necessary for the privacy controls described below. They hold no personal information and are never sent to us.
| Name | Set by | Purpose | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
cookie-consent | This site (local storage) | Remembers your privacy choice ("Accept" or "No thanks") for ad personalization and Google Analytics cookies. | 6 months, then you are asked again |
cc-region | This site (local storage) | Remembers which consent rules apply where you are, so the right ad setting is in place before ads load on the next page. | Updated on each visit; stays until you clear your browser data |
gpc-ack | This site (session storage) | Remembers that you have seen the confirmation that your Global Privacy Control signal was honored. | Until you close the tab |
Security cookies from our host
These are placed by our infrastructure provider to protect the site. They are not used for advertising or to build a profile of you; see Cloudflare’s cookie list.
| Name | Set by | Purpose | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
__cf_bm | Cloudflare, our host | Tells people apart from automated traffic so the site can be served and protected. Strictly necessary. | About 30 minutes |
cf_clearance | Cloudflare, our host | Records that a security check was passed, so you are not checked again. Only set if a check is shown. Strictly necessary. | Up to 1 year |
Analytics cookies from Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics 4 to measure how this blog and our guides site are read. Its code sets these two first-party cookies, shared by both sites because they sit on the same domain. Google signals and ads personalization are off, so the cookies are not used for advertising. Where you have not allowed them, none is set and the tag sends only cookieless signals. What Analytics collects is described in our Privacy Policy.
| Name | Set by | Purpose | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
_ga | Google Analytics, on homecraftblog.com | Holds a random identifier so Analytics can count visitors and tell new visits from returning ones, on this blog and on homecraftblog.com. | 2 years |
_ga_4GLV5PMNQV | Google Analytics, on homecraftblog.com | Keeps track of the current visit (session) and how many visits there have been. | 2 years |
Advertising cookies from Google
We show ads from Google AdSense. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to this website or other websites, and Google and other vendors may also use web beacons and IP addresses to collect information as a result of ad serving. Google lists these as the main cookies for ads on sites like ours:
| Name | Set by | Purpose | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
__gads | Google, on homecraftblog.com | Advertising and security. | 13 months |
__gpi | Google, on homecraftblog.com | Advertising and security. | 13 months |
__eoi | Google, on homecraftblog.com | Security. | 6 months |
IDE | Google, on doubleclick.net | Advertising and security. | 13 months in the EEA and UK, 24 months elsewhere |
DSID | Google, on doubleclick.net | Security, functionality and advertising. | 2 weeks |
test_cookie | Google, on doubleclick.net | Checks whether your browser accepts cookies. | 15 minutes |
Google may use other cookies as well; the full, current list is in How Google uses cookies in advertising. Non-personalized ads still use cookies for frequency capping and aggregated ad reporting. Other ad technology companies approved by Google may also set cookies when they show an ad; see Google’s list of ad technology providers. These cookies are sent to your browser by the ad companies and are governed by their own policies; we do not receive or control them.
Your choice, by region
Your choice reaches Google’s ad and analytics code before any ad is requested or any Analytics cookie is set. How you make it depends on where you are:
- EEA, UK and Switzerland: Google’s certified consent message asks before advertising cookies, personalized ads or Google Analytics cookies are used. The “Your Privacy Choices” link in our footer reopens that message so you can change or withdraw your consent.
- Brazil and Quebec: we show an opt-in prompt in your language, and ads stay non-personalized and Analytics sets no cookies until you accept.
- United States and everywhere else: ads may be personalized and Analytics uses its cookies unless you opt out with the “Your Privacy Choices” link (“No thanks” turns off both). We honor the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal as an opt-out of personalized ads, and in California we show a short confirmation when we detect it.
How to control cookies
- Use the “Your Privacy Choices” link in the footer of every page.
- Turn off personalized Google ads in Google Ads Settings.
- Stop Google Analytics on every website with the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
- Opt out of participating vendors at aboutads.info, the Network Advertising Initiative or, in Europe, youronlinechoices.eu.
- Turn on the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal in a browser that supports it.
- Block or delete cookies and site data in your browser: Chrome, Firefox, Safari.
Blocking cookies does not stop you from reading the site, though ads may become less relevant and your privacy choice may need to be made again.
Changes to this cookie policy
We update this page when the cookies on the site change, and the “Last updated” date at the top changes with it. The update of October 23, 2026 replaces the general cookie categories with the specific items above. The update of October 25, 2026 adds the two Google Analytics cookies and how your privacy choice controls them.
Contact us
Questions about cookies? Our Privacy Policy has the bigger picture. Email contact@homecraftblog.com or write to:
Home Craft Blog145 Tyee Dr, PMB 59462Point Roberts, WA 98281USA