Digital Marketing: What is a Cookie in Digital Advertising and Data Targeting?

Photo: Adobe

Chances are that you’ve visited a website or an app and have come across a prompt to “Allow all” cookies, or Customize your Cookie settings.  If you haven’t, an example of this is below:

Source: Bamford Wellness Spas

So what exactly is a Cookie?  It is far from the tasty American dessert food that we all know and love.  In simple terms, a Cookie is a piece of code placed on your website browser or in an app.  A more expanded definition of a Cookie is, “Bits of data that are sent to and from your browser to identify you. When you open a website, your browser sends a piece of data to the web server hosting that website. This data usually appears as strings of numbers and letters in a text file. Every time you access a new website, a cookie is created and placed in a temporary folder on your device. From here, cookies try to match your preferences for what you want to read, see, or purchase.” (Source: Microsoft- Everything you need to know about Internet cookies)

Cookies are often confused with Tracking Pixels, but they are not the same thing. Tech Target has put together a great summary of the difference between a Cookie and a Tracking Pixel, a screenshot can be found below:

Source: (Tech Target Tracking pixel vs. cookie: What's the difference?)

Cookies are very important when it comes to Data Targeting, and make it easier for Advertisers to track their return on investment, or ROI.