How Do Cookies Provide Personalized Content?
Cookies can make your web experience one that's tailored just to you.
Advertiser Disclosure
All About Cookies is an independent, advertising-supported website. Some of the offers that appear on this site are from third-party advertisers from which All About Cookies receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear).
All About Cookies does not include all financial or credit offers that might be available to consumers nor do we include all companies or all available products. Information is accurate as of the publishing date and has not been provided or endorsed by the advertiser.
Close
Editorial Policy
The All About Cookies editorial team strives to provide accurate, in-depth information and reviews to help you, our reader, make online privacy decisions with confidence. Here's what you can expect from us:
- All About Cookies makes money when you click the links on our site to some of the products and offers that we mention. These partnerships do not influence our opinions or recommendations. Read more about how we make money.
- Partners are not able to review or request changes to our content except for compliance reasons.
- We aim to make sure everything on our site is up-to-date and accurate as of the publishing date, but we cannot guarantee we haven't missed something. It's your responsibility to double-check all information before making any decision. If you spot something that looks wrong, please let us know.
Close
The video below gives a brief example on how a website provides personal content for the user. It does this by recognizing previous information entered into the database on its secure server, therefore bringing up past interests for the user to click on.
Click on the video below to learn more.
Video transcript
Anne requests web page: www.website.com to find a cheap flight to London.
www.website.com delivers content to Anne together with cookie ID ABC.
Anne books a cheap flight to London and types in her name, address and credit card details.
Anne's name, address, and flights details are transferred to www.website.com who store that information in a file in their database on their secure server - with the reference cookie ABC.
The personal data are not written into the cookie.
Four Weeks Later
Anne requests home page for www.website.com
www.website.com server reads cookie ID ABC and finds Anne's file in its database on its secure server by reference to the cookie ID ABC. Based on the personal information in Anne's file in the database, a personalized message is created and delivered:
"Hello Anne. Please click here for cheap flights to London for the holiday season."
Anne reads requested web page.
4.9
Limited-time offer: 69% off + 3 extra months
NordVPN
-
High-quality VPN offering safety and speed
-
Loads of servers for multiple connection options
-
Works with popular streaming services, including Netflix
-
Too many confusing plans
+
Table of Contents
Related Articles
How To Clear Cookies On Your Google Chrome Browser
When you use Google Chrome, it saves information from the websites you visit. Clearing these files, called cookies, may fix some of your computer issues. Here's how to do it.
Malwarebytes Antivirus Review 2024: Is It Worth the Hype?
Malwarebytes is a user-friendly antivirus option, but does it have everything you need? Find out if this popular program is right for you.
What is a VPN and Why Would You Use One?
Learn what a VPN is and why you might want to use one for secure and encrypted internet connections.
How To Browse Online Without Anyone Knowing
Here’s how a VPN, secure browser, encrypted email, and other tools can help protect your anonymity while browsing the internet.