Cookie Policy

Last updated: 11 August 2026

This policy explains which cookies and similar technologies swotbee.com uses, who sets them, how long they last, and how you control them. It describes what the site actually does today rather than what a website of this kind might typically do.

1. What runs before you choose

Two different things happen here, and it is worth being precise about which is which rather than giving you one reassuring sentence that is only half true.

• LinkedIn advertising cookies are set on every visit. That includes before you answer the banner, and it includes if you reject. They let us show adverts on LinkedIn to people who have visited this site. If you would rather they were not set, your browser settings and LinkedIn's own advertising controls both stop them, and section 5 explains how.
• Analytics stay off until you accept. Our session-recording tool is not loaded at all, so it cannot run, and Google Analytics is told before it loads that consent is denied. In that state it sets no cookies and cannot identify you or recognise you across visits.

So "Reject" is real but partial: it stops Google and Microsoft, and it does not stop LinkedIn. We would rather say that plainly than let the banner imply otherwise.

One thing worth stating plainly, because most cookie policies leave it out: even before you choose, your browser still contacts Google to load the analytics tag, which means Google receives your IP address and the page address. No cookie is stored and no identifier is created. If you reject, that remains the case for the rest of your visit.

2. Cookies we set

Durations are those set by the provider and can change when they update their own products.

Only after you accept analytics

Microsoft Clarity records how pages are used, including mouse movement, scrolling and clicks, and can replay that as an anonymised session. We use it to find pages that confuse people. It is never loaded unless you accept.

Advertising, set regardless of your choice

These are the only cookies here that are neither necessary nor waiting for your consent, and we would rather give them their own heading than bury them among the ones that are. They are set on every visit, as section 1 explains. If you do not want them, your browser settings and LinkedIn's own advertising controls both stop them, and section 5 explains how.

Necessary, set regardless of your choice

These protect the site from abuse and are not used to profile you or to measure traffic. Blocking them stops forms and the booking calendar from working.

Functional, only if you submit a form

When you tell us your role in a form, we keep it in a first-party cookie called sb_role for 90 days, so that if you come back to book a call we can show you the version of the page that answers your question rather than someone else's. It is never sent to a third party and is not used to track you. It is not set at all unless you submit a form.

Not a cookie

Your choice itself is kept in your browser's local storage under sb_consent, deliberately rather than in a cookie, so that remembering your answer does not itself require your permission. It never leaves your device. Clearing your browser data removes it, and the banner will ask again.

If you arrive from an advertisement or a campaign link, the campaign details in that link are kept in your browser's session storage under sb_attr so that a form you submit a few pages later still tells us which campaign brought you here. It is first-party, is never shared with anyone for tracking, is deleted the moment you close the tab, and is only ever read to fill in a form you choose to send. If you never submit a form, it is never used for anything.

3. Changing or withdrawing your choice

Select Cookie settings in the footer of any page. The banner reopens and you can choose again. Withdrawing is as easy as consenting, and takes effect immediately.

If you switch from accepted to rejected, we delete the analytics and advertising cookies listed above and reload the page, so the session-recording script is not running for the rest of your visit. Two honest limits. First, the LinkedIn tag runs regardless of your choice, as section 1 says, so its cookies are set again on the next page you open; clearing them here does not keep them cleared. Second, some LinkedIn cookies are set on LinkedIn's own domain rather than ours, and no website is technically able to delete another domain's cookies. Those are cleared through your browser settings or LinkedIn's own advertising controls. We cannot delete data already collected and sent to Google or Microsoft before you withdrew. To ask about that data, contact us using the details below.

You can also block or delete cookies in your browser. Doing so applies to every site you visit, not just this one: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge.

4. What you lose by declining

Nothing. Every page, form, download and booking works exactly the same whether you accept or reject. Declining only means we cannot see which pages helped you, which makes the site slower to improve. That is our problem, not yours, which is why the reject button is the same size as the accept button.

5. Who receives the data

• Google (Analytics, reCAPTCHA, and Ads when advertising is running)
• Microsoft (Clarity, session analytics)
• LinkedIn (advertising measurement, when a LinkedIn campaign is running)
• HubSpot (our CRM, for forms you submit and meetings you book)

These providers process data outside the UK and EU. How we handle the personal data you give us deliberately, such as your name and email in a form, is covered in our Privacy Policy.

6. Other tracking technologies

Our marketing emails may contain a tracking pixel that records whether the email was opened and which links were selected. That is separate from this site and is governed by the consent you gave when subscribing. Every email includes an unsubscribe link.

7. Updates to this policy

We update this page when what we use changes, and revise the date at the top. If we add a tracking technology, this page says so and says plainly whether it waits for your consent or not, as section 1 does for LinkedIn.

8. Contact