Google Shortens Cookie Expiration Date

The Google Blog announced that Google will be shortening the expiration date of its cookies from the year 2038 to a two-year life cycle.

If you go to Google.com, Google is to soon set a new cookie to last 2 years from that date. Each time you go back, the cookie will be extended to two years. If you never revisit, it will eventually expire after two years have passed since your last visit.

Google Responds To EU: Cutting Raw Log Retention Time; Reconsidering Cookie Expiration from us covers how Google previous said it was considering cutting the expiration period on its cookies and how the other major search engines have cookies that last from 14 to 30 years.

Google ends by saying:

Together, these steps — logs anonymization and cookie lifetime reduction — are part of our ongoing plan to continue innovating in the area of privacy to protect our users.

Related Topics: Google: Critics | Google: Legal | Legal: Privacy


About The Author: is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here. For more background information on Barry, see his full bio over here.


SMX - Search Marketing Expo

SearchCap: Get all the top search stories emailed each day!

Name: Company: Email:

Like This Story? Please Share!

Other ways to share:

Like Our Site? Follow Us!

Search Engine Land on Google+

LinkedIn over 34,000 members
Subscribe to Our Feed! 80,565 subscribers take our RSS feed
 

Comments

One Comment on Google Shortens Cookie Expiration Date

michaelzimmer,

This is no sacrifice by Google. If I haven’t used Google in 2 years, and then suddenly use it again, that old data would be pretty useless to them, so there’s really no need for them to link my new activity to the old.

More discussed here: http://michaelzimmer.org/2007/07/16/googles-cookie-to-have-2-year-expiration-because-it-is-of-little-value-after-that-time/



Get Our News, Everywhere!

 
  • Advertise With Us
 

Click to watch SMX conference video

Join us at an upcoming SMX event:

Search Engine Land produces SMX, the Search Marketing Expo conference series. SMX events deliver the most comprehensive educational and networking experiences - whether you're just starting in search marketing or you're a seasoned expert.

SMX Site » | SMX Difference » | SMX News »


Learn more about search marketing with our free online webcasts and webinars from our sister site, Search Marketing Now. Upcoming online events include:


 

Search Engine Land Periodic Table of SEO Ranking Factors

Get Your Copy
Read The Full SEO Guide