A clearer view of privacy.

Cookies on these pages

The calculator, methodology and privacy pages do not set analytics cookies or store an analytics preference in your browser. There is no optional browser analytics tracker, so there is no analytics Accept or Decline button or floating cookie control.

The Cookies link in the footer brings you to this explanation. A preference cookie saved by the earlier version may remain until it expires or you clear it; it is no longer read or updated by these pages.

Earlier Accept and Decline settings controlled the retired browser counter. They do not control the new server-only totals, which do not identify or follow you. Browser privacy signals and disabled JavaScript do not stop these basic server counts.

What analytics counts

The server records each successful HTML page request under auditsample.com, including pages in its hosted tools. The page-view record contains the page path and UTC server timestamp, a traffic category, and available browser family, operating system, device type, language, approximate location and referring domain. Query strings and referring-page paths are excluded.

We use these records to understand page demand and improve the site. Repeated loads and automated requests can count more than once. Assets, redirects, errors and HEAD requests are excluded. A page loaded entirely from a browser cache does not reach the server and cannot add a count. These are page requests, not unique visitors or individual journeys.

• Each request has its own technical record key. It does not identify a returning browser or connect requests into a real person's session. Counts do not measure unique people.
• Browser and device categories come from ordinary request headers. Approximate country, region and city are looked up locally using the connection address. Location can be missing or inaccurate, particularly for VPNs, proxies and mobile networks.
• The raw connection address and full browser header are processed in memory and are not copied into the analytics queue or database. Only the derived categories and approximate location are saved.
• Referrers are limited to a domain name when supplied. A missing referrer can mean direct navigation, a bookmark or browser privacy restrictions.
• Audit inputs, results, client records, URL parameters, advertising identifiers and exact coordinates are not included. No tracking cookies or advertising trackers are used.

We classify identifiable crawlers, scripts, monitoring tools and headless browsers as likely automated requests. Other recognisable browsers are labelled browser-like. These categories are estimates: request headers can be hidden or imitated, so browser-like does not prove a visit was made by a person.

Earlier daily totals have been preserved. Their exact visit times and unique visitor counts were never recorded. Imported page-view records use the start of the UTC day as a reporting bucket, with a label explaining that the time is unknown.

The calculator processes your parameters in your browser. It does not ask you to upload client records. A downloaded result is a text file created on your device.

Website delivery and other tools

Normal website requests involve technical connection information, such as an IP address, so the web server can deliver the site and protect its service. Standard server access and error logs are separate from the page-view records; connection information is not copied into the count database. Server page counting applies to HTML pages under auditsample.com. Other functionality in tools hosted under this domain has its own settings.