Cookie Policy

Last updated: 21 May 2025

This Cookie Policy explains how we use cookies and similar technologies on our website, hosted on the Google Sites platform, and the choices you have. This policy is intended to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile device by websites that you visit. They are widely used to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.

How We Use Cookies

Our website is built and hosted on the Google Sites platform. As such, Google places cookies on your device for various essential and non-essential purposes. We also utilise some of the capabilities provided by these cookies.

The key reasons cookies are used on our site include:

• Functionality and Security: Google uses certain cookies to ensure the site functions correctly and securely. These are often strictly necessary.

• Preferences: Cookies may be used by Google to remember your preferences (like language settings).

• Analytics: We rely on analytical cookies, provided through Google's services (like Google Analytics), to help us understand how visitors interact with our website. This includes information like the number of visitors, which pages are most popular, how long visitors spend on our site, and how they navigate to it. This data helps us improve our website and provide a better user experience. These analytical cookies are only set if you provide your consent via our cookie banner.

• Advertising (Potentially): Google may also use cookies for advertising purposes on its wider network, as detailed in their own policies. The use of such cookies for personalised advertising via our site would require your consent.

For comprehensive details on how Google collects and uses data through its cookies, please refer to their policies (linked in Section 3). The consent for non-essential cookies deployed by Google on our site is managed through the cookie consent banner presented when you visit. 

1.      Types of Cookies Used

The cookies used on our website, primarily deployed by Google as part of the Google Sites platform, can be broadly categorised as follows:

• Strictly Necessary Cookies: Some cookies are essential for the core operation and security of our website as provided by the Google Sites platform. These might include cookies that enable core platform functionalities or prevent fraudulent activity. These cookies do not typically require your consent as they are essential for the services to work.

• Analytical/Performance Cookies: As mentioned above, Google Analytics cookies are used to collect information about your use of our website. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic, understand how visitors use the site, and improve our website. These cookies are only set with your explicit consent.

• Functionality Cookies: These cookies allow the website to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language, or the region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features. These are typically set by Google based on platform features and may require your consent if non-essential.

• Advertising/Targeting Cookies (Potentially): Google may use cookies to make advertising more relevant to users on their advertising network. If such cookies are used to track you from our site for these purposes, they would require your explicit consent.

For detailed and up-to-date information on the specific cookies Google uses through the Google Sites platform and other integrated Google services, their precise purposes, and duration, please refer directly to Google's Cookie Policy: https://policies.google.com/technologies/cookies.

2.      Your Consent Choices

We respect your right to privacy. Non-essential cookies, including including analytical cookies (which are provided through Google's services like Google Analytics) and other cookies set by Google for various purposes 

Cookie Banner & Your Choices:

When you first visit our website, you will be presented with a cookie banner. This banner gives you the clear option to "ACCEPT" or "REJECT" the use of non-essential cookies from Google, which are used by the Google Sites platform to deliver its services and help us analyse website traffic.

• If you click "REJECT": In this case, non-essential cookies, such as those used for Google Analytics to track your specific activity, will not be set or read by our website. Your individual activity will not be tracked using cookies if you have rejected them. Information about your general use of this site may still be shared with Google in line with their standard service operation, as detailed in their privacy policies.

• If you click "ACCEPT": You consent to the use of these non-essential cookies as described in this policy and in Google's own documentation.

Your preference (whether you Accept or Reject) from your first visit is intended to be remembered for subsequent visits.

Return Visits: On subsequent visits to our site, you may see a different, more general banner which states, "This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic. Information about your use of this site is shared with Google. By using this site, you agree to its use of cookies." This second banner provides "LEARN MORE" and "GOT IT" options.

• Important Clarification regarding the Return Visit Banner: Please be aware that this second banner is a standard notification feature of the Google Sites platform. At the time of writing, it does not override any previous "REJECT" choice you made on your first visit. If you previously rejected non-essential cookies, that preference remains in effect. Clicking "GOT IT" on this second banner is merely an acknowledgement of this general notification and does not constitute new consent for non-essential cookies you have already rejected. We understand this two-stage banner appearance might seem unusual; we are reliant on the functionality provided by the Google Sites platform for cookie consent management.

• Please note that the cookie consent banner provided by Google Sites does not currently offer options to conditionally select or reject individual categories of non-essential cookies. The choice presented on our initial banner is to accept or reject all non-essential Google cookies used for analytics and service delivery by Google on this site.

• Managing Your Preferences: You can reset your cookie preferences at any time. Typically, you can do this by clearing the cookies and site data stored by your browser for this specific website, or use an incognito browser window. This should force the first visit cookie banner to re-appear, so you can “Accept” or “Reject” non-essential cookies.

• Browser Settings: Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.aboutcookies.org.uk

• Google's Privacy Tools: Google provides tools to manage your privacy settings and how their cookies are used. You can often manage these preferences by visiting g.co/privacytools.

3.      More Information

For more comprehensive information on how Google collects and uses data through its cookies and services, please review:

• Google's Cookie Policy: https://policies.google.com/technologies/cookies

• Google's Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

It is important to understand that when you use our website, you are also subject to Google's policies regarding their use of cookies and data.

4.      Changes to This Cookie Policy

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about our use of cookies.

5.      Contact Us

If you have any questions about our use of cookies or this Cookie Policy, please contact using the contact form on this website, or email matthew[at]matthewearlwellness[dot]com