---
title: Cookie policy
url: "https://hardyindex.com/cookies"
updated: 2026-08-12
---

# Cookie policy

This site sets two cookies, both belonging to Google Analytics, and only if you accept. There is no advertising cookie, no tracking pixel and no third-party marketing tag anywhere on the site.

**Last updated 12 August 2026.**

## The short version

We want to know which pages get read, so that the effort goes where it is useful. That is the whole purpose. If you reject, nothing is stored on your device and the site works exactly as it does for everyone else, because none of it depends on a cookie.

## What a cookie is

A cookie is a small file a site asks your browser to keep, and to hand back on your next request. It is what lets a site recognise the same browser twice. UK law, specifically regulation 6 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, says a site may only store one, or read one, with your consent, unless it is strictly necessary to deliver something you asked for.

None of our cookies are strictly necessary, which is why every one of them waits for you to accept.

## What this site can set

| Name | Set by | What it does | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
| `_ga` | Google Analytics | Assigns your browser a random identifier so that two page views from you are not counted as two people | 2 years |
| `_ga_XLBJTGC9Q3` | Google Analytics | Holds the state of your current visit for this property, so that a session is measured once | 2 years |
| `hardyindex.consent` | The Hardy Index | Not a cookie. A single value kept in your browser local storage recording whether you accepted or rejected, so that you are not asked on every page | Until you clear it or change your choice |

That is the complete list. There is no advertising cookie, no social media cookie, no affiliate cookie and no fingerprinting of any kind. Google Signals, advertising features and data sharing are all switched off on the analytics property.

## What happens before you choose

The Google Analytics tag loads in what Google calls consent mode, with analytics storage set to denied. In that state it writes no cookie and stores no identifier on your device. It does send Google an anonymous signal that a page was viewed, which carries no identifier and cannot be linked to you or to your next visit. If you accept, the cookies above are set from that moment on. If you reject, nothing further is sent.

## Changing your mind

Withdrawing consent has to be as easy as giving it, so it is one click. Use the cookie settings control in the footer of every page and the banner comes back with both options on it.

Withdrawing stops any further measurement. It does not delete what was already measured, though you can ask us to, using the contact route in the [privacy policy](https://hardyindex.com/privacy).

## Doing it in your browser instead

Every major browser can block or delete cookies for a single site or for all of them, usually under privacy settings. Blocking cookies will not break this site, because nothing here needs one. Google also publishes a browser add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout that opts you out of Google Analytics on every site, not just this one.

## Changes to this policy

If we ever add a cookie, it will be listed in the table above before it is set, the date at the top of this page will change, and the banner will ask you again. We have no plan to add one.

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Questions about this page go to index@hardyindex.com.