Cookie policy and information

How does the Link Group use cookies and similar tracking technologies?

a. What are cookies and tracking technologies?

Cookies are small text files which are saved to your computer or mobile when you visit a website or app.

b. Why do we use cookies and other tracking?

To do a few different things:

  • to ensure your connection to our website is secure
  • to remember your tracking preferences
  • to help us understand how visitors are using our websites, so we can make them better

c. What are the types of cookies?

Some cookies are always on when you visit us, and you can’t turn them off. We call these “strictly necessary cookies”. We use them to make sure our digital services are secure and work correctly.

We also use tracking cookies to help us understand our visitors better. You can switch these on or off at any time and you can always change your mind. We’ll only use them if you’ve given us your consent.

Also, you should be aware there may be some cookies from other companies. These "third-party cookies" might track how you use different websites, including ours. For example, you might get a social media company’s cookie when you see the option to share something. You can turn them off, but not through us.

d. How long do cookies last?

Some are erased when you close the browser on your website or app. Others stay longer, sometimes forever, and are saved onto your device so that they’re there when you come back. See below for a list of the cookies we use on this website.

e. How do I control my cookies and tracking?

Strictly necessary cookies are always on when you visit us. On your first visit to us, we’ll tell you about the types of cookies we use and ask for your consent.

You can also control tracking in the settings on your device.

f. What cookies do we set and why?

ASP.NET_SessionId

About this cookie:

General purpose platform session cookie, used by sites written with Microsoft .NET based technologies. Used to maintain an anonymised user session by the server.

This cookie is: First Party, Strictly Necessary, Session, Expires with browser session.

cookieconsent_status

About this cookie:

This is general purpose cookie set by our web application to acknowledge your cookie consent status. It is designed to hold temporary information that is passed between pages on our website. It holds no information about the user and is destroyed on closing the browser.

This cookie is: First Party, Strictly Necessary, Session (Expires in accordance with your browser settings), or Persistent for 1 year (if allowed by your browser settings).

ACOOKIE

About this cookie:

This cookie name is associated with web analytics services provided by Web Trends, and acts as a user session identifier. This cookie is only ever set if you give us your consent to tracking.

This cookie is: Third Party, Other Tracking Technologies, Persistent for 2 years, (if allowed by your browser settings).

_ga

About this cookie:

This cookie name is associated with Google Universal Analytics - which is a significant update to Google's more commonly used analytics service. This cookie is used to distinguish unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier. It is included in each page request in a site and used to calculate visitor, session and campaign data for the sites analytics reports. It is set to expire after 2 years. This cookie is only ever set if you give us your consent to tracking.

This cookie is: Third Party, Other Tracking Technologies, Persistent for 2 years, (if allowed by your browser settings).

_gat

About this cookie:

This cookie name is associated with Google Universal Analytics, according to documentation it is used to throttle the request rate - limiting the collection of data on high traffic sites. It expires after 10 minutes. This cookie is only ever set if you give us your consent to tracking.

This cookie is: Third Party, Other Tracking Technologies, Persistent for 10 minutes, (if allowed by your browser settings).

_gid

About this cookie:

This cookie name is associated with Google Universal Analytics. It is used to store and update a unique value for each page visited within a 24 hour period. This cookie is only ever set if you give us your consent to tracking.

This cookie is: Third Party, Other Tracking Technologies, Persistent for 24 hours, (if allowed by your browser settings).

Types of cookie

First-party cookies

These cookies are set by the website you’re visiting. And only that website can read them.

Third-party cookies

These cookies are set by someone other than the owner of the website you’re visiting. Some Link Group web pages may also contain content from other sites such as YouTube or Vimeo, which may set their own cookies. Also, if you share a link to a Link Group page, the service you share it on (for example, Linked-In) may set a cookie on your browser. We have no control over third-party cookies - you can turn them off, but not through us.

Session cookies

These cookies only last as long as your online session, and disappear from your computer or device when you close your browser (e.g. Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, etc.). On this website we use session cookies to secure the connection to your machine (https).

Persistent cookies

These cookies stay on your computer or device after your browser has been closed and last for a time specified in the cookie. On this website, we use persistent cookies for tracking and analytics, but only if you allow us to.

Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies remember your cookie preferences. Without them, we would ask for your cookie preference on every page of this website. Secure session cookies are also strictly necessary.

Advertising cookies

We do not use these, however, some websites use advertising networks to show you specially targeted adverts when you visit. These networks may also be able to track your browsing across different sites.

Other tracking technologies

Some websites use things like web beacons, clear GIFs, page tags and web bugs to understand how people are using them and to target advertising to them.

They usually take the form of a small, transparent image that is embedded in a web page or email. They work with cookies and capture data like your IP address, when you viewed the page or email, what device you were using and where you were.