By The Tool Trial Editorial Team
Last reviewed: August 23, 2026
Effective date: August 22, 2026
Before you read this
The Tool Trial is live at thetooltrial.com. Google Analytics is connected and sets two cookies on your device. Google Search Console is connected as well, and places none. Google AdSense is connected and its code is installed, but no advertisement is being served yet — the site is waiting for Google’s review, and no advertising cookie has appeared.
A consent banner is in place, and where you are decides what it does. In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, no analytics cookie is written until you accept. Elsewhere, including the United States, analytics starts when the page loads and the banner lets you change that afterward.
This page explains the categories we use, who actually receives what, exactly which cookies are set, and what changes when advertising is introduced. It is not legal advice and claims compliance with no specific law.
What cookies are
A cookie is a small file a site asks a browser to store, which the browser sends back on later requests. Similar technologies — local storage, pixels, software development kits — do comparable things by different means. Throughout this page, cookie covers all of them.
The distinction that matters to a reader is not the technology. It is what the thing is for, and whether the site can function without it.
The categories we will use
Strictly necessary. Cookies without which the site cannot do what a visitor asked — for example keeping a session coherent, balancing load, or protecting against abuse. These are the only category that would run before any consent choice, and they are not used for analytics or advertising.
Preferences. Cookies that remember a choice, such as a display setting. They improve the experience and are not required for the site to work.
Analytics. Cookies that measure how pages are used — which are read, how visitors move between them, roughly where traffic comes from. These are not strictly necessary.
Advertising. Cookies used to select, cap, or measure advertising, and in some configurations to build a profile across sites. These are not strictly necessary.
Third-party cookies. Cookies set by a domain other than this one — typically the provider of an analytics or advertising service. We do not control what a third party does with what it collects, and we will not claim to.
What is running today
| Fact | State |
|---|---|
| Website live | Yes — thetooltrial.com, over HTTPS |
| Google Search Console | Connected, through the Site Kit plugin |
| Google Analytics | Connected — sets two first-party cookies, listed below |
| Google AdSense | Connected, code installed — no ad served yet, pending Google’s review |
| Consent management platform (CMP) | No — none chosen or installed |
Four different things, kept separate
Cookie disclosures get confusing when a site mixes up who receives what. This page keeps four categories apart.
1. Strictly necessary — what a reader may receive. WordPress sets a small number of cookies to do things a visitor actually asked for: keeping a session coherent, protecting a form against abuse. These are the only category that would ever run before a consent choice, and they are not used for analytics or advertising.
2. Administrator session storage — what a reader never receives. Signing in to run this site sets login and editor-preference cookies, and the Site Kit plugin stores its own connection state. None of that reaches an ordinary visitor. Cookies seen while inspecting the site from a signed-in browser are therefore not evidence of what a reader gets, and we will not present them as though they were.
3. Analytics — running, and setting cookies. Google Analytics 4 is connected through the Site Kit plugin. It loads a tag from googletagmanager.com and sets the two cookies listed below. Whether it waits for your consent depends on where you are: in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland it is held in a denied state and writes nothing until you accept; elsewhere it starts with the page.
4. Advertising — installed, not yet serving. The AdSense code is on the site, but Google has not approved it yet, so no advertisement is shown and the check below found no advertising cookie. When ads do run, Google may set its own — and in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland the consent mechanism already withholds advertising storage until you accept. Search Console places no cookie either: it reports aggregate search-performance data from Google’s own side and is not a script on these pages.
The inventory
Checked on 2026-08-23, in a browser with no prior history and without signing in. These are the cookies this site actually set. Nothing here is copied from a template.
| Name | Category | Set by | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
_ga | Analytics | Google Analytics, first party on this domain | Distinguishes one browser from another so visits can be counted | Up to 2 years, per Google’s documentation |
_ga_6ZR4S5THLQ | Analytics | Google Analytics, first party on this domain | Keeps session state for this specific Analytics property | Up to 2 years, per Google’s documentation |
That is the whole list for an ordinary visit, re-checked on 2026-08-23 after the AdSense code was installed: still no advertising cookie, and nothing from a third-party domain set by this site. That will change when Google approves the site and ads begin to serve, and this table will be re-checked and rewritten then.
Two honest caveats. Signing in to administer the site sets more, and those are not listed here because a reader never receives them. And if you have separately visited Google’s own sites, your browser will hold Google cookies from those visits — we checked, and loading this page does not create them.
When a consent mechanism and advertising are added, this table is rechecked and rewritten before it is left standing.
If advertising is switched on, this section will be rechecked and rewritten before it is left standing, because AdSense and any consent platform introduce cookies that do not exist today.
Our rule on consent
No cookie outside the strictly necessary category should be set before the applicable consent mechanism is implemented and working.
That is the standard we hold ourselves to. Today we meet it in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, and not elsewhere — the paragraph below says exactly where the gap is rather than leaving you to find it.
We do not apply that rule everywhere, and we would rather correct the claim than pretend we do. The consent mechanism we installed — Google Consent Mode, driven by the banner — withholds analytics cookies in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. In the United States and elsewhere, analytics starts with the page.
An earlier version of this page said we would hold one rule for everyone regardless of jurisdiction. That was our own commitment rather than a legal requirement, and it is not what the site does, so it has been replaced with this description of the actual behaviour.
Either way, the banner is available on every page so you can change your choice at any time, your browser can block or delete the two cookies above, and Google publishes an opt-out add-on for Analytics. Before advertising is introduced, the same mechanism has to cover it. When one is selected, this page will name it and describe what happens when a visitor accepts, rejects, or changes their mind.
Advertising and Google AdSense
This site uses Google AdSense. The code is installed and the site is waiting for Google’s review. No advertisement is being served yet, approval is Google’s decision, and it is not guaranteed.
When advertising code is active, Google and other vendors may place or read cookies, and may use web beacons, IP addresses, device identifiers, and similar technologies, in order to serve, select, cap, measure, and protect advertising, and in some configurations to personalize what is shown.
How Google uses information from sites that use its services is described here: How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.
What consent and personalization choices you are offered depends on where you are and on the settings that apply to you. Where consent is required before advertising cookies may be set, the rule above applies without exception: the mechanism has to be in place and working first.
Controlling cookies in your browser
Every major browser lets you see stored cookies, delete them, and block some or all of them, usually under a privacy or site-data setting. Browsers differ, and they change; the browser’s own help pages are the reliable instruction, not ours. The guidance here is general.
We cannot promise that blocking cookies will leave every future feature unaffected. Blocking strictly necessary cookies in particular can break parts of a site. Blocking the two analytics cookies above changes nothing you can read here — it only means your visit is not counted.
Third-party controls
Where a third-party service is introduced, that provider generally offers its own controls and its own explanation of what it collects. Those live with the provider and can change without notice from us.
We do not control third-party practices, and we will not summarize them as though we did. When a provider is introduced, this page will point to its documentation rather than paraphrase it.
Changes to this policy
This page is updated when a provider is added or removed, when a consent mechanism is implemented, and whenever the inventory changes. The review date at the top changes with it.
Related pages
How information is handled more broadly is described on our privacy policy page. If you have a question about this page, you can reach us through our contact page.