Quick Summary

Essential Oils Index uses cookies and similar technologies to operate the site, analyze how visitors use it, serve relevant advertising, and track affiliate referrals. You can accept, reject, or customize non-essential cookies at any time using our cookie consent tools and your browser settings.

Contents

What’s in this policy

  1. What cookies are
  2. Why we use cookies
  3. Types of cookies on this site
  4. Essential cookies
  5. Analytics cookies
  6. Advertising cookies
  7. Affiliate tracking cookies
  8. Third-party cookies
  9. Your consent
  10. How to manage cookies
  11. Do Not Track signals
  12. Changes to this policy
  13. Contact us
Section 01

What cookies are

Cookies are small text files that websites place on your device (computer, tablet, or phone) when you visit them. They allow the website to remember information about your visit, such as your preferred language, login state, or pages you have viewed.

This policy also covers similar technologies that work like cookies, including:

  • Web beacons (pixel tags): tiny graphic images embedded in web pages or emails that track whether you have viewed certain content
  • Local storage: data stored in your browser by websites, similar to cookies but with larger capacity
  • Session storage: temporary data cleared when you close your browser
  • Tracking scripts: small pieces of code that record how you interact with our site

For simplicity, this policy uses “cookies” to refer to all of these technologies unless we specifically note otherwise.

Section 02

Why we use cookies

Essential Oils Index uses cookies for several purposes:

  • To make the site work: certain cookies are necessary for basic site functionality, such as remembering your cookie preferences
  • To understand our audience: analytics cookies help us see which articles are most useful, where readers come from, and how we can improve the site
  • To serve relevant advertising: advertising cookies allow us to display ads through Google AdSense and similar networks, which is one of the ways we fund the site
  • To track affiliate referrals: affiliate cookies allow our partners to attribute purchases to our site, which is how we earn commissions that fund our work
  • To improve site performance: some cookies help us identify and fix technical issues
Section 03

Types of cookies on this site

The cookies on Essential Oils Index fall into four categories: essential, analytics, advertising, and affiliate tracking. Each category is described in detail below, along with the specific third-party services that may set cookies in that category.

Cookie duration varies. Session cookies are deleted when you close your browser. Persistent cookies remain on your device until they expire or you delete them, with durations ranging from minutes to multiple years depending on the cookie’s purpose.

Section 04

Essential cookies

These cookies are necessary for the site to function. Without them, certain features would not work properly. Because they are essential, they do not require your consent to operate.

What essential cookies do

Always active · Cannot be disabled

Essential cookies handle the basic operation of the site. They remember your cookie consent preferences, secure your visit, and ensure pages load correctly. They do not track you across other websites and they do not collect data for marketing.

Cookie Purpose Duration
wordpress_test_cookie Checks whether your browser accepts cookies. Set by WordPress. Session
cookie_consent CONFIRM exact name based on your plugin Stores your cookie consent preferences so we don’t ask again on every page. 12 months
wp-settings-* Used by WordPress to customize the dashboard view for logged-in users. 1 year
Section 05

Analytics cookies

Analytics cookies help us understand how readers interact with our site so we can improve content, navigation, and performance. The information collected is generally aggregated and used to identify trends, not individual readers.

Google Analytics CONFIRM if you use it

Requires consent · Set by Google

Google Analytics is the most widely used analytics service on the web. It helps us see which articles get the most readers, where visitors come from, what devices they use, and how they navigate the site.

Cookie Purpose Duration
_ga Distinguishes unique visitors by assigning a randomly generated number. 2 years
_ga_* Used by Google Analytics 4 to persist session state and store information about how you use the site. 2 years
_gid Distinguishes unique visitors during a single 24-hour period. 24 hours
_gat Used to throttle the request rate to limit data collection on high-traffic sites. 1 minute

For more information about how Google handles data, see Google’s Privacy Policy. You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

Section 06

Advertising cookies

Advertising cookies allow us to display ads through Google AdSense and other ad networks, and to measure how those ads perform. Some of these cookies enable personalized advertising based on your interests; others provide more general advertising.

Google AdSense CONFIRM when AdSense is approved and active

Requires consent · Set by Google

Google AdSense serves the display advertisements on our site. Google and its partners use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to our site or other websites on the internet.

Cookie Purpose Duration
__gads Used by Google to provide ad delivery and measurement services. 13 months
__gpi Used by Google to display personalized advertising. 13 months
IDE Set by DoubleClick (Google) to register and report user actions on our site after viewing or clicking ads. 13 months
NID Set by Google to remember your preferences and other information, such as preferred language, search results display, and ad personalization. 6 months
ANID Used by Google for advertising and analytics across Google services. 2 years

You can opt out of personalized advertising from Google by visiting Google Ads Settings or www.aboutads.info for opting out across multiple ad networks.

Section 07

Affiliate tracking cookies

When you click an affiliate link on our site, the destination retailer or affiliate network sets a cookie to attribute any subsequent purchase back to us. This is how we earn the commissions disclosed on our Affiliate Disclosure page.

Amazon Associates

Set by Amazon · Activates only when you click an Amazon link

When you click an Amazon affiliate link from our site, Amazon places cookies on your device to track the referral. These cookies do not collect personal information beyond what Amazon already collects when you visit their site directly.

Cookie Purpose Duration
Amazon affiliate tag Attributes any purchase you make on Amazon back to our site within the cookie window. 24 hours (typical)

For details, see Amazon’s Privacy Notice.

Other affiliate networks CONFIRM which ones you use

Set by affiliate networks · Activates only when you click a partner link

We work with affiliate networks such as ShareASale, Impact, Awin, and CJ Affiliate to manage some of our brand partnerships. When you click a link to a brand we partner with through these networks, the network sets a tracking cookie to attribute any subsequent purchase.

Each affiliate network has its own privacy practices. See their respective privacy policies for details about what data they collect.

Section 08

Third-party cookies

Beyond the categories above, some third-party services we use may set their own cookies. These services have their own privacy policies, which we encourage you to review.

Embedded content

If we embed video content from YouTube, Vimeo, or similar platforms, those platforms may set cookies when you interact with the embedded content. These cookies behave the same way they would if you visited the platform directly.

Social media

If we include social media sharing buttons on our pages, those platforms may set cookies when you interact with the buttons. We do not set these cookies ourselves.

Performance and security

Our hosting and security infrastructure CONFIRM — name your CDN/security provider such as Cloudflare if applicable may set cookies for security, performance, and abuse prevention purposes.

Section 10

How to manage cookies

Beyond our cookie consent banner, you can control cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to:

  • See what cookies are stored on your device
  • Delete cookies individually or all at once
  • Block third-party cookies
  • Block all cookies
  • Set warnings before cookies are placed

Browser-specific instructions

Blocking all cookies will prevent our site from functioning correctly. Blocking only non-essential cookies will still allow you to use the site, though some features may be limited.

Section 11

Do Not Track signals

Some web browsers offer a “Do Not Track” (DNT) setting that signals to websites you do not want to be tracked. Because there is no industry standard for how to interpret DNT signals, our site does not currently respond to them.

However, if you set browser-level cookie restrictions, opt out through Google’s ad settings, or reject non-essential cookies in our consent banner, those preferences will be respected.

If California’s “Global Privacy Control” (GPC) signal becomes more widely adopted, we will revisit our handling of automated privacy signals and update this policy accordingly.

Section 12

Changes to this policy

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the cookies we use, the services we work with, or applicable law. When we make material changes, we will:

  • Update the “Last updated” date at the top of this policy
  • Post a notice on our homepage or in a prominent location on our site for significant updates
  • Re-request consent through our cookie banner if changes affect how we use cookies that require consent

Your continued use of the Site after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

Section 13

Contact us

If you have questions or concerns about our use of cookies, please contact us at:

Essential Oils Index
Email: privacy@essentialoilsindex.com CONFIRM email exists
Website: essentialoilsindex.com/contact-us

For comprehensive information about how we collect and use your data beyond cookies, see our Privacy Policy.

Questions about cookies?

We respond within 30 days.

Cookie and privacy questions are handled by our editorial team directly. Use the privacy email below for fastest response, and include “Cookie Question” in your subject line.

privacy@essentialoilsindex.com

Cookie Policy · Version 1.0 · Effective May 2026

Questions about cookies?

If you have questions about how we use cookies, analytics, or similar technologies, please reach out and we’ll help clarify our practices.

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