Cookie Policy
Declining the Banner Below Blocks Four Signals, Not the Whole Page
Here is the banner's exact effect: which cookie stops, which tag stays quiet, and which four signals move between granted and denied when you choose.
What this page covers
This site runs ads through Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising, and Meta Ads may run alongside them. Each of those platforms can set a cookie in your browser once you allow it. This page lists every cookie by name, explains what the consent banner's two buttons actually do underneath, and shows how those buttons map onto Google's Consent Mode v2 signals.
The banner and your current status
A banner appears the first time you load a page on this site, before any advertising or analytics cookie is written. It offers two buttons: Allow storage and Decline. Closing the tab without choosing leaves every signal at denied, the same as clicking Decline.
No choice recorded yet. All four Consent Mode v2 signals are at denied until you allow storage.
| Name | Set by | Purpose | Category | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| jtg-consent-v2 | This site, in local storage | Remembers your Allow or Decline choice so the banner does not reappear on every page | Necessary | Until you clear browser storage |
| jtg-chat-token | This site, in local storage | Keeps your chat conversation attached to you across a visit | Necessary | Until you clear browser storage |
| _ga, _gid | Google Analytics | Counts visits and page views per browser | Analytics | Up to 2 years (_ga), 24 hours (_gid) |
| _gcl_au, _gcl_aw | Google Ads | Links a gclid to a later form submission for conversion reporting | Advertising | 90 days |
| _uetsid, _uetvid | Microsoft Advertising | Links an msclkid to a later visit or conversion for reporting | Advertising | _uetsid: session, _uetvid: 13 months |
| _fbp | Meta Ads | Links an fbclid to a later visit or conversion for reporting | Advertising | 90 days |
The four Consent Mode v2 signals
Every cookie in the table above is gated by one of these four signals. Allow storage sets all four to granted. Decline, an unresolved banner, or a Global Privacy Control browser sets all four to denied.
ad_storageControls the Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising cookies above (_gcl_au, _gcl_aw, _uetsid, _uetvid) and the Meta pixel's _fbp cookie. Denied by default.ad_user_dataControls whether data about this visit can be sent to Google, Microsoft, or Meta for ad measurement at all. Denied by default.ad_personalizationControls whether an ad account can use this visit to build or refine a personalized audience. Denied by default.analytics_storageControls the Google Analytics cookies above (_ga, _gid). Denied by default.
Click identifiers in the URL
A gclid, msclkid, or fbclid arrives as a query parameter on the very first page you land on, not as a cookie. While storage is denied, URL passthrough keeps that parameter attached as you move between internal links on this site instead of writing it into a cookie, so a consent grant later in the same visit can still connect back to the original click.
Once you click Allow storage, the relevant platform's own script reads that parameter and writes it into the cookies listed above, at which point the click and the visit are tied together in that platform's ad account.
Browser controls and Global Privacy Control
Most browsers let you block third-party cookies outright, in which case the advertising cookies above never get set regardless of what you click on this banner. Safari and Firefox do this by default for many advertising domains already.
If your browser or an installed extension sends the Global Privacy Control signal, this site reads that as a decline the moment the page loads, before the banner even needs to appear, and holds every signal at denied.
Questions people ask
A handful of things still work without any cookie: the page renders, the form validates in your browser, and the chat widget's token lives in local storage rather than a cookie. No advertising or analytics cookie is set until you click Allow storage.
All four Consent Mode v2 signals are set to denied, any advertising cookie already sitting in your browser from this site is cleared, and the banner closes. The choice is remembered on that browser until you clear it or click Cookie settings again.
No. Declining only changes what this site does. Google, Microsoft, and Meta can still show you ads on other sites based on your browsing there, since this choice has no reach outside jaspertrailguides.com.
Yes. Click Cookie settings in the footer on any page. The banner reopens, your new choice applies immediately, and it overwrites whatever was stored before.
Yes. A browser sending the Global Privacy Control signal, or the Sec-GPC header, is treated as a decline automatically, and every signal is held at denied regardless of any earlier choice stored on that device.