Effective Date: 18/02/2025

This Cookie Policy explains how Emma’s Cake Castlerea (“we,” “us,” or “our”) uses cookies and similar technologies on our website www.emmascake.ie (the “Website”). This policy should be read in conjunction with our Privacy Policy.

1. What are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. They’re widely used to make websites work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site. Cookies can be either “persistent” or “session” cookies:

Persistent cookies: Remain on your device for a set period of time or until you delete them.

Session cookies: Expire when you close your browser.

Cookies can also be classified as “first-party” or “third-party”:

First-party cookies: Set by the website you are visiting.

Third-party cookies: Set by a domain other than the one you are visiting.

2. How We Use Cookies

We use cookies for the following purposes:

Essential Cookies: These cookies are necessary for the basic functioning of our Website. They enable you to navigate the Website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas. Without these cookies, certain services on the Website cannot be provided.

Performance/Analytical Cookies: These cookies collect information about how visitors use our Website, such as which pages they visit most often and if they receive error messages. This information is used to improve the Website’s performance and user experience. We use tools like Google Analytics for this purpose.

Functionality Cookies: These cookies allow our Website to remember choices you make (such as your language preference) and provide enhanced, more personal features.

Advertising/Targeting Cookies: These cookies are used to deliver advertisements that are more relevant to you and your interests. They’re also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement and to help measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. We use Google AdSense for this purpose. These cookies may track your browsing activity across different websites.

3. Types of Cookies We Use

Here’s a breakdown of the specific types of cookies we use, along with their purpose and provider:

Cookie Name	Purpose	Provider	Type	Duration
PHPSESSID	Maintains user session (if your site has a login or uses sessions)	emmascake.ie	First-Party	Session
_ga	Google Analytics – Distinguishes users to track website traffic and behaviour	Google	Third-Party	2 years
_gid	Google Analytics – Distinguishes users to track website traffic and behaviour	Google	Third-Party	24 hours
_gat	Google Analytics – Used to throttle request rate.	Google	Third-Party	1 minute
DSID	Used to identify returning users for advertising purposes across websites that use Google’s advertising network.	.doubleclick.net	Third-Party	Persistent
IDE	Used by Google DoubleClick to register and report the website user’s actions after viewing or clicking one of the advertiser’s ads with the purpose of measuring the efficacy of an ad and to present targeted ads to the user.	.doubleclick.net	Third-Party	Persistent
test_cookie	Checks if the user’s browser supports cookies.	.doubleclick.net	Third-Party	Persistent
__gads	Used for serving ads, making ads more relevant, and for ad measurement purposes.	.google.com	Third-Party	Persistent
_gac_<property-id>	Stores campaign information so Google Ads can measure the performance of an ad campaign. Replace <property-id> with your actual Google Ads Property ID.	.google.com	Third-Party	90 days (approx.)
gcl* (e.g., _gcl_aw, _gcl_dc)	These cookies are set by Google Ads for conversion tracking.	.google.com	Third-Party	90 days (approx.)

4. Third-Party Cookies

As mentioned above, we use some third-party cookies, particularly from Google (for Analytics and AdSense). These cookies are subject to the respective third party’s privacy policies. We encourage you to review these policies:

Google Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

Google’s Advertising & Cookies: https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads

We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third-party providers.

5. How to Control Cookies

You have the right to control whether or not you accept cookies. You can do this by adjusting your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to:

• See what cookies are stored and delete them individually.

• Block third-party cookies.

• Block all cookies.

• Clear all cookies when you close your browser.

You can find instructions on how to manage cookies in your browser’s help menu. Here are some helpful links:

Google Chrome:

 https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647

Mozilla Firefox: 

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences

Apple Safari: 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/safari/sfri11471/mac

Microsoft Internet Explorer: 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/delete-and-manage-cookies-168dab11-0753-043d-7c16-ede59472690a

Microsoft Edge: 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/delete-cookies-in-microsoft-edge-63947406-40ac-c3b8-57b9-2a946a29ae09

Please note that if you choose to block all cookies, some features of our Website may not function properly.

Google AdSense: You can also manage your ad preferences and opt out of personalised advertising from Google by visiting Google’s Ad Settings.

6. Cookie Consent Banner

When you first visit our Website, you will see a cookie consent banner or pop-up. This banner will:

• Inform you that we use cookies.

• Provide options for you to accept or reject non-essential cookies.

By continuing to use our Website after seeing the cookie consent banner, you are consenting to our use of essential cookies. If you choose to accept non-essential cookies, you are consenting to our use of those cookies as described in this policy.

7. Changes to this Cookie Policy

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our use of cookies or applicable laws. We will post the updated Cookie Policy on our Website and indicate the effective date. We encourage you to review this Cookie Policy periodically.

8. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Cookie Policy, please contact us at:

• Email: contact@emmascake.ie