Cookie Policy
Last updated: October 1, 2026
This Cookie Policy explains what cookies are, which cookies may be used when you visit Life in Steps at lifeinsteps.com, why they are used and how you can control them. It works alongside our Privacy Policy.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files that a website saves in your browser. They let the site, or the services it uses, recognize your browser on later page views or visits.
First-party cookies are stored under the domain of the site you are visiting. Third-party cookies are stored under another company's domain, such as an advertising network. Some cookies are deleted when you close your browser (session cookies), while others stay until they expire or you delete them (persistent cookies).
Websites can also use similar technologies, such as your browser's local storage, pixels (also called web beacons or tags) and scripts. In this policy, we use "cookies" to cover all of these.
How cookies are used on our site
Our own code doesn't set cookies. The cookies you may see come from the services we use: Google's consent tool, Google AdSense for advertising, Google Analytics for statistics and, occasionally, our hosting and security provider, Cloudflare. Some of these cookies are stored under our domain by Google's scripts, and others under Google's own domains.
They fall into four categories:
- Strictly necessary and consent cookies remember your privacy choices and help keep the site secure. They can't be switched off in our consent tool, but you can block them in your browser.
- Advertising cookies help Google and its partners deliver ads, limit how often you see the same ad, measure ad performance, prevent fraud and, where you allow it, show ads based on your interests.
- Analytics cookies help us understand how visitors use the site, such as which articles are read most, so we can improve our guides.
- Functional storage remembers small preferences, such as whether your browser accepts cookies or a display setting you chose.
We may also use Cloudflare Web Analytics, a privacy-first, cookie-free analytics service that doesn't track individuals across sites, so it doesn't add any cookies of its own.
How consent works
If you visit from the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom or Switzerland, a consent message from Google's certified consent management platform asks for your choices before advertising or analytics cookies are used. This tool follows the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) v2.2.
We also use Google Consent Mode v2. For visitors in the EEA, UK and Switzerland, the four consent signals (ad storage, ad user data, ad personalization and analytics storage) are set to "denied" by default and change only if you give consent. While consent is denied, Google's tags don't read or write advertising or analytics cookies. Google may still receive basic technical information needed to load the page and ads, such as your IP address and browser type, and may show non-personalized or limited ads.
For visitors in other regions, these signals are set to "granted" by default. You can still turn off personalized ads or block cookies at any time, as explained below. If you live in a US state with a consumer privacy law, see Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information.
Cookies we use
The tables below list the main cookies that may be set when you visit Life in Steps. Not every cookie is set for every visitor: some depend on your location, your consent choices, your browser settings and whether you have visited Google's own services.
Strictly necessary and consent cookies
| Cookie | Provider | Purpose | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|---|
FCCDCF | Google (consent tool) | Stores your privacy choices, including your consent preferences, so the consent message does not appear on every page. | 13 months |
FCNEC | Google (consent tool) | Helps Google measure how its privacy messages are shown and used. | 1 year |
__cf_bm, cf_clearance | Cloudflare (hosting and security) | Set only if Cloudflare needs to check that traffic comes from a real browser, to protect the site from bots and attacks. | __cf_bm: 30 minutes; cf_clearance: varies with security settings |
Advertising cookies (Google AdSense)
| Cookie | Provider | Purpose | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|---|
__gads | Google AdSense | Helps Google show and measure ads on our site, limit how often you see the same ad and prevent fraud. | 13 months |
__gpi | Google AdSense | Works with __gads to serve and measure ads and support security. | 13 months |
__eoi | Google AdSense | Helps detect and prevent fraud and abuse in advertising. | 6 months |
IDE | Google (doubleclick.net) | Used to show personalized ads based on your activity across websites, measure ad performance and prevent fraud. | 13 months in the EEA and UK; 24 months elsewhere |
test_cookie | Google (doubleclick.net) | Checks whether your browser accepts cookies. | 15 minutes |
NID, AEC | Google (google.com) | May be set by Google domains, for example if you use Google services. Used for security, remembering preferences and, in some cases, advertising. | 6 months |
Analytics cookies (Google Analytics)
| Cookie | Provider | Purpose | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|---|
_ga | Google Analytics | Distinguishes visitors so we can count visits and see which pages are popular. | 2 years |
_ga_<ID> | Google Analytics | Keeps track of your visit (session), such as when it started and how many pages you viewed. | 2 years |
Durations are typical maximums based on Google's and Cloudflare's documentation. Cookie names, purposes and durations vary and can be changed by these providers at any time. For Google's current information, see Cookies used by Google's advertising products and How Google uses cookies. Other advertising partners working with Google may also set cookies when they serve or measure ads, under their own policies.
Local storage and similar technologies
Our site may use your browser's local storage to remember small interface preferences, for example a display setting or a notice you have closed. This information stays on your device, isn't sent to us and isn't used to track you across other websites.
Google's consent, advertising and analytics tools may also use local storage, pixels and similar technologies for the purposes described in this policy.
What we don't load
- No third-party font services. Our fonts are hosted on our own site, so reading a page doesn't send requests to services such as Google Fonts.
- No social media scripts by default. Our share buttons are plain links. Pinterest, Facebook and other social networks don't load scripts or set cookies on our pages unless you click a share link and go to their site.
How to manage cookies
Change your consent choices
You can review or change the choices you made in our consent message at any time:
If the button isn't visible, the consent tool may not be available in your region or may be blocked by your browser or an ad blocker. In that case, you can delete the cookies for lifeinsteps.com in your browser settings (see the links below) and reload the page: if a consent message applies in your region, it will appear again. You can also email us at hello@lifeinsteps.com.
Opt out of personalized ads
- Manage or turn off personalized Google ads in Google My Ad Center.
- Opt out of interest-based ads from many participating companies at optout.aboutads.info (Digital Advertising Alliance).
- In Europe, manage your preferences at youronlinechoices.eu.
- Stop Google Analytics from collecting data about your visits with the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
- If you live in a US state with a consumer privacy law, you can opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information on our Do Not Sell or Share page.
Opting out of personalized ads doesn't remove ads. You'll still see ads, but they will be less related to your interests.
Use your browser settings
Most browsers let you see, delete and block cookies, including blocking only third-party cookies. Here's how to do it in popular browsers:
If you block or delete cookies, the consent message may appear again because your saved choices are stored in a cookie, and some features may not work as intended. Settings apply to each browser and device separately, so repeat them on every browser you use.
Changes to this policy
We may update this Cookie Policy when we add or remove services, when our partners change their cookies or when the law changes. We'll post the updated version on this page and change the "Last updated" date at the top.
Contact us
If you have questions about cookies on Life in Steps, email us at hello@lifeinsteps.com. For more about how we handle personal information, read our Privacy Policy.