Adsense Cookies?

is a cookie written on pc when ad is clicked?

[kb08807]

I have heard that Google writes a cookie to a person's pc when they click on an adsense ad on a publisher's web page. Is this true? If so, where do the cookies get written to; what are they called?

(By publisher, I mean a site that is participating in Adsense and serving Google ads on their site.)

[jomaxx]

The only reason I can imagine you wanting to know this is that you are thinking of clicking on your own ads a bunch of times, deleting the cookie in between.

Trust me, if you have to ask that question then the people at Google are SO much smarter than you that you will never succeeed without getting caught one way or another.

[Scarecrow]

Excuse me if I answer the question without shivering in front of the Great Google God. I don't use Adwords or Adsense, so I have nothing to fear.

A cookie appears to be written only when the ad converts. When the cookie is not written, the IP number is still recorded. Here's a cookie that was written yesterday for a first-time visit-and-click from an IP that was not yet recorded by Google:

www.googleadservices.com /pagead/conversion/123456789/
123456789 Conversion
<string of characters>

The cookie expires in one month. You should assume that both the IP number and a unique ID is in the cookie, and that it includes a checksum to detect data tampering.

[edited by: Jenstar at 4:03 pm (utc) on Jan. 21, 2004]
[edit reason] exampled the specifics [/edit]

[Jenstar]

That code is actually for advertisers who are using conversion tracking. This is an easy way for advertisers to know if their traffic is converting (they can put special code on their order confirmation page, or whichever page they would like to know if their clickthroughs are reaching). Yes, a cookie is used.

How does Google use cookies in conversion tracking?
The cookie that Google adds to a user's computer when he/she clicks on an ad expires in 30 days. This measure, and the fact that Google uses separate servers for conversion tracking and search results, protects the user's privacy.

Users who don't wish to participate in tracking activities can easily not accept this cookie by setting their Internet browser user preferences. These users will simply not be included in your conversion tracking statistics.

For all the nitty gritty details, they have a length FAQ on how the Adwords conversion works, including their privacy info.

[adwords.google.com...]