Google Analytics is a powerful tool that tracks and analyzes website traffic for informed marketing decisions.
: policies.google.com (opens in a new window)
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A/B or multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
The ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are clicked on
30 seconds
_ga_
The ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor the number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
1 minute
_gac_
Contains information related to the user's marketing campaigns. This is shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
90 days
__utma
The ID used to identify users and sessions
2 years since last activity
__utmt
Used to monitor the number of requests to the Google Analytics server
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish between sessions and new visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated each time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Only used with older Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. It was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
End of session (browser)
__utmz
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed the user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server.
6 months since last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated each time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years since last activity
