No ad cookie is written until you press Allow.

A Seattle plumber's website does not need much in your browser. One key to remember your answer, one token if you use the chat, and, only with your say-so, the cookies Google, Microsoft and Meta use to count which ads turned into calls. Each one is pinned to the rail with its clock.

Effective 2 October 2026 Consent re-asked every 12 months

2 October 2026Effective and last amended

This version took effect on 2 October 2026

That is the date of this notice and of the last change to it. When we add a cookie, drop one or change a lifetime, the date above moves, the table below is updated, and your next visit brings the banner back so you can answer against the new list rather than the old one.

This notice covers storage in your browser. What happens to the details you type into a quote form is covered separately in the privacy notice.

Per visitThree categories in use

Necessary, analytics and advertising

Strictly necessary. Two items, and neither tracks you. The site_consent_v2 key holds your Allow or Decline so the banner does not reappear on every page. The chat token lets you close the tab mid-conversation about a leaking water heater and come back to the same thread. These run without asking, because the site cannot keep your answer or your chat without them.

Analytics. Counting how many people reach the services page, how many get to the contact form and give up. Governed by the analytics_storage signal. Off until you allow storage.

Advertising. The cookies Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising and Meta Ads use to tie a paid click to an enquiry. Governed by ad_storage, ad_user_data and ad_personalization. Off until you allow storage.

There is no fourth category. No social share buttons, no embedded video, no map embed, no third-party chat vendor.

1 day to 13 monthsLifetime of each item

Every cookie and storage key, with its clock

The first two rows are ours. The rest are written by the ad platforms, and only after you press Allow. Lifetimes are the platforms' published defaults; your browser may cut them shorter.

Cookies and browser storage on bestplumbing.app
Name	Set by	Category	What it does	Lasts
`site_consent_v2`	Best Plumbing	Necessary	Holds your Allow or Decline answer.	12 months
Chat token	Best Plumbing	Necessary	Local storage entry that reconnects you to your chat thread. Created only when you start a chat.	Until cleared; the transcript itself is deleted after 6 months
`_gcl_au`	Google Ads	Advertising	Stores the `gclid` from your click so a later enquiry can be counted as a conversion.	90 days
`_ga`, `_ga_*`	Google	Analytics	Distinguishes one visit from another for page counts.	Up to 13 months
`_uetsid`	Microsoft Advertising	Advertising	Links pages within one visit that began with an `msclkid` click.	1 day
`_uetvid`	Microsoft Advertising	Advertising	Recognizes a return visit from the same Microsoft ad click.	13 months
`_uetmsclkid`	Microsoft Advertising	Advertising	Stores the `msclkid` for conversion counting.	90 days
`_fbp`	Meta Ads	Advertising	Browser identifier used to count conversions from Meta campaigns.	90 days
`_fbc`	Meta Ads	Advertising	Stores the `fbclid` when you arrive from a Meta ad.	90 days

On arrivalClick identifiers in the link

Why the address bar sometimes ends in a long string

We buy ads. Somebody searches "emergency plumber Seattle" at 11 p.m., sees our ad, taps it. Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising and Meta Ads all send traffic here today, and each one tacks a click identifier onto the link it sends you through:

gclid on a click from Google Ads,
msclkid on a click from Microsoft Advertising, which covers Bing,
fbclid on a click from Meta Ads on Facebook or Instagram.

The string arrives whether you like it or not; it is part of the link the platform built. What we control is whether it gets stored. With storage denied, it sits in the address bar and goes nowhere. With storage allowed, the platform tag saves it in the cookies listed above so that, if you go on to send a quote request, the platform can count one conversion against that campaign. That is the whole use. No platform has reviewed or signed off on this site; they sell us the ad slot and report the counts.

Before you answerAll four signals denied

Consent Mode v2 starts every visit at denied

Google's Consent Mode v2 is a set of four switches the page sets before any tag runs. On this site they all load in the denied position:

Consent Mode v2 signals
Signal	Controls	Default	After Allow	After Decline
`ad_storage`	Advertising cookies	denied	granted	denied
`ad_user_data`	Sending conversion data to Google	denied	granted	denied
`ad_personalization`	Using the visit for ad targeting	denied	granted	denied
`analytics_storage`	Analytics cookies	denied	granted	denied

Press Allow and all four are granted. Press Decline, or withdraw later, and they are set back to denied immediately. The Microsoft and Meta tags are held behind the same answer. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we read that as Decline and do not ask.

12 monthsHow long your answer holds

Giving consent, and taking it back

The banner sits in the bottom-left corner on a first visit. It does not cover the page, and you can book a job by phone or form without touching it. Allow and Decline are the same size, side by side. Ignoring it counts as no answer, which means denied.

To change your mind, press Cookie settings in the footer of any page. The banner comes back and your new answer replaces the old one at once. Clearing your browser's site data does the same, and also removes the chat token.

After 12 months the stored answer expires and we ask again. A change to the cookie list brings the question back early.

ImmediatelyEffect of declining

What still works if you say no

Everything you came for. The phone link, the quote form, the chat, the service pages, the price bases. Declining changes nothing about how we answer you or what the written quote says.

What stops: no advertising or analytics cookie is written, the click identifier is not stored, and Google, Microsoft and Meta cannot attribute your enquiry to the ad you clicked. They may still log that a click happened on their side, because that occurs on their servers before you arrive. Our ad reports get a little blurrier. That is our problem, not yours.

Their own termsPlatform privacy documents

The platforms' own rules

Once a platform cookie is set, what the platform does with it falls under that company's policy, not ours. Read them directly:

Google: policies.google.com/privacy, and how Google uses data from sites like this one at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Microsoft: the Microsoft privacy statement at privacy.microsoft.com/privacystatement.
Meta: facebook.com/privacy/policy.

Each platform also lets you turn off ad personalization in your own account settings, which covers every site you visit, not only ours.

Within 7 daysReply to a cookie question

Asking about a specific cookie

Found something in your browser from bestplumbing.app that is not in the table? Tell us its name. Email [email protected], call 206-633-1700, or write to Best Plumbing, 8820 Aurora Ave N, Seattle, Washington 98103, United States. We answer within 7 days and fix the table if we missed one.

To have data deleted rather than just explained, use the data request form. For anything to do with a job, the contact page or the services page is where you want to be. Our terms cover the rest.

Reply within 7 days