2.How we use cookies
We sort cookies into four groups:
- Strictly necessary: these keep the website, online booking and your customer account working securely. The law doesn’t require consent for them.
- Analytics: these show us which pages help people and how visitors find us. We only use them if you say yes.
- Marketing: these let Google and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) measure whether our adverts lead to enquiries and bookings. Again, only if you say yes.
- Third-party embeds: Google Maps and YouTube. These only load when you choose to open them.
The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (regulation 6) say we must tell you about cookies and ask for your consent to any that aren't strictly necessary. On your first visit our cookie banner asks what you want. “Accept all” and “Reject all” are just as easy as each other and nothing is pre-ticked. We don’t set any analytics or advertising cookies until you accept them. Google’s tag runs in consent mode, so until you accept it only sends Google cookieless signals (such as a page view) and stores nothing on your device. The customer account, sign-in and admin areas never load analytics or advertising tags.
3.Strictly necessary cookies
| Name | Provider | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| uds_consent | Urgent Pest Control | Remembers your cookie choices (and when you made them) so we don’t ask on every page. | 6 months |
| authjs.session-token (or __Secure-authjs.session-token) | Urgent Pest Control | Keeps you signed in to your customer account. | Up to 30 days, or until you sign out |
| authjs.csrf-token (or __Host-authjs.csrf-token) | Urgent Pest Control | Protects the sign-in forms against cross-site request forgery. | Session |
| authjs.callback-url (or __Secure-authjs.callback-url) | Urgent Pest Control | Returns you to the right page after you sign in. | Session |
| uds_maps | Urgent Pest Control | Set only if you press “Show Google Map”. It remembers that choice so maps load straight away on later visits. Delete it (or clear cookies) to see the placeholder again. | 6 months |
| _GRECAPTCHA | Google reCAPTCHA | Set when a form or sign-in page loads reCAPTCHA, to tell people and bots apart and protect our forms from spam. | 6 months |
4.Analytics cookies (optional)
| Name | Provider | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| uds_attribution (local storage) | Urgent Pest Control | Remembers how you found us — for example the website, search or advert that referred you — so we can see which marketing brings enquiries. | 90 days |
| _ga | Google Analytics | Distinguishes visitors so we can count how the website is used. | Up to 2 years |
| _ga_<ID> | Google Analytics | Keeps track of your visit (session) for analytics. | Up to 2 years |
We use Google Analytics 4 with Google’s consent mode (advanced). No analytics cookies are set unless you accept them. Until then, Google only gets cookieless signals, which it uses for aggregate, modelled reporting.
We also count visits with Ahrefs Web Analytics. It doesn’t use cookies, doesn’t store anything on your device and doesn’t identify you, so it runs without needing a cookie choice.
5.Marketing cookies (optional)
| Name | Provider | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| _gcl_au | Google Ads | Measures whether our Google adverts lead to pest control bookings or enquiries. | 90 days |
| _fbp | Meta | Identifies your browser so we can measure and improve our Facebook and Instagram adverts. | 90 days |
| _fbc | Meta / Urgent Pest Control | Stores the advert click ID when you arrive from a Facebook or Instagram advert. | 90 days |
| fr and other facebook.com cookies | Meta | Advert delivery and measurement, set by Meta’s own domain. | Up to 90 days |
If you accept marketing cookies and then book or send an enquiry, our server may also send Meta a matching, privacy-protected event (through the Conversions API). This keeps our advert reports accurate. See our Privacy Policy.
6.Maps and videos
| Name | Provider | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Maps (for example NID) | Our maps are click-to-load: nothing is requested from Google until you press “Show Google Map”. Google may then set its own cookies, and we remember your choice with the uds_maps cookie above. | Up to 6 months — see Google’s policy | |
| YouTube (youtube-nocookie.com) | Videos use YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode and only load when you press play. YouTube may then store data on your device. | See Google’s policy |
7.Changing your choices
You can change your mind or withdraw consent at any time. Use the button below, or the “Cookie settings” link at the bottom of every page. If you switch analytics or marketing off, we delete the related cookies and stored data that our website is able to remove.
8.Browser controls
Most browsers let you view, block and delete cookies. If you block the strictly necessary ones, parts of the site may stop working, such as signing in or online booking.
You can also opt out of Google Analytics on all websites with the Google Analytics opt-out add-on, manage Facebook and Instagram adverts in your Meta ad preferences, and opt out of interest-based adverts from many companies at Your Online Choices. The ICO explains cookies at ico.org.uk.
9.Third-party policies
10.Changes to this policy
Whenever we add, remove or change a cookie, we update this policy. The date at the top shows when it last changed.
Questions about this page?
Call 07999 935 929 or email [email protected].