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Analytics Definitions

What is Cookieless Tracking?

A method of measuring website traffic and sessions without writing tracking cookies to the visitor's device.

Traditional analytics tools rely on persistent HTTP cookies stored on the user's browser to identify returning visitors and group pageviews into sessions. While effective, cookies track users across different websites, creating privacy concerns and legally requiring sites to display intrusive cookie consent banners.

Cookieless tracking measures traffic by generating a temporary identifier based on session parameters. TrackWhy generates a secure hash using the visitor's IP address, user agent, and a daily-rotated secret salt. The hash is never stored in a database and rotates every 24 hours.

This allows TrackWhy to calculate pageviews, referral paths, and conversion funnels accurately within a single day without placing any cookies or local storage files on the visitor's device, maintaining full compliance with privacy laws.

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FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Is cookieless tracking GDPR compliant?
Yes. By avoiding the storage of cookies and refusing to gather personally identifiable information (PII) or fingerprint devices across the web, cookieless tracking keeps websites clear of consent banner requirements under GDPR and ePrivacy.
Can cookieless tracking identify returning visitors over months?
Because the cryptographic salt rotates daily, visitor hashes expire after 24 hours. This means returning visitors on subsequent days are counted as new sessions. For general web analytics, this provides a highly accurate view of traffic trends while preserving user privacy.

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