Cookie policy

Clause 01What this page explains

This page lists every cookie and every similar piece of browser storage that carpetcleaningwizards.com (the "Site") uses, what each one does, who sets it, how long it lasts, and how you control it. It is part of our Privacy Policy.

A "cookie" is a small text file a website places in your browser so that the website, or a company working for it, can recognize your browser on later visits. "Local storage" is a similar space in your browser that a website can write to; it is not sent to a server automatically. "First party" means set by our Site. "Third party" means set by another company's domain.

Carpet Cleaning Wizards is a small owner operated cleaning business. The Site has no accounts, no shopping cart and no online payments, so it needs very little from your browser.

Clause 02Nothing runs until you choose

On your first visit a consent banner appears at the bottom of the page and the Site waits. Until you answer it, the only thing running is the necessary storage described in the next section. No analytics script loads, no session recording script loads, and neither one sets a cookie.

The banner gives you three buttons:

There are three categories:

Your answer is kept for 12 months, in your browser's local storage and in a first party cookie, both named cc-consent. After 12 months the banner asks again. You can change your mind sooner from the Cookie settings link in the footer of every page, which reopens the banner with your current choices shown. Turning a category off stops all further collection from your browser and clears that tool's cookies from this browser. It cannot delete what was collected and sent while the category was on, so we also set both tools to the shortest retention periods they offer, described below.

• Accept all. Turns both optional categories on.
• Reject non essential. Leaves both off. Nothing on the Site stops working.
• Manage choices. Opens a preferences panel with one switch per category, so you can accept one and refuse the other.
• Necessary. Always on, and it cannot be switched off, because it is what remembers the answer you just gave and the accessibility settings you pick. It identifies nobody and sends nothing to anyone.
• Analytics (Google Analytics 4). Off until you turn it on. It shows us which pages help visitors.
• Session recordings (Microsoft Clarity). Off until you turn it on. It shows us where a page confuses people.

Clause 03Necessary, always on

These items are needed for the Site to respect your choices and to work as you asked. They do not track you and they are not shared with anyone.

cc-consent is the only cookie the Site sets on its own. Everything below is set by Google or Microsoft, and only after you turn that category on.

• cc-consent (first party cookie, with a matching entry in local storage). Records which categories you accepted and the date you answered. Lasts 12 months, then the banner asks again. It holds your choice and nothing else: no identifier, no history, nothing about you.
• ax (local storage, first party, not a cookie). Records the accessibility menu choices you make (bigger text, high contrast, highlight links, pause motion, readable font and big cursor) so that each page opens the way you set it. Kept until you clear it or reset the menu. It stays on your device and is never sent to us.
• The chat helper stores nothing. It runs in your browser and does not remember whether it was open.

Clause 04Analytics, off until you turn it on

Google Analytics 4, operated by Google LLC.

What it tells us: how many people visit, which pages they read, how they found the Site, roughly where they are (town or region, never street), what kind of device and browser they use, and whether they reached the estimate form or tapped the phone number. We use this to improve the Site. We do not use it to identify anyone and we do not join it with names or estimate requests.

Until you turn Analytics on, the Google Analytics script is not loaded and neither of these cookies exists. What it sets once it is on:

Privacy settings we have chosen: Google Analytics 4 never stores your IP address; it uses it for a moment to estimate your location and discards it. We have set user level data retention to two months, the shortest available. We have turned off Google Signals, so visits are not linked to Google accounts for advertising. We have turned off data sharing with other Google products and services. We have turned off granular location and device data collection for the United States where Google offers the setting.

How to turn it off again: use the Cookie settings link in the footer, which reopens the banner. You can also install Google's browser add on for opting out of Google Analytics on every site, or block cookies from google-analytics.com in your browser.

• _ga (cookie, first party). A random identifier that tells Google Analytics your browser has been here before. Lasts two years.
• _ga_<measurement id> (cookie, first party). Keeps the state of your current visit. The name ends in our Google Analytics measurement ID, so you will see it in your browser as _ga_ followed by that code. Lasts two years.

Clause 05Session recordings, off until you turn them on

Microsoft Clarity, operated by Microsoft Corporation.

What it tells us: how visitors scroll, click and tap on a page, shown as heatmaps and as replays of an individual visit. It helps us find pages where people get stuck or a button is hard to find.

Until you turn Session recordings on, the Clarity script is not loaded and neither of these cookies exists. What it sets once it is on:

Privacy settings we have chosen: Clarity masks all text on the page in recordings, not only form fields, so replays show layout and movement rather than what you read or typed. Photos you upload to the estimate form are never captured. Microsoft keeps individual session recordings for 30 days and aggregate heatmaps for up to 13 months, then deletes them. We do not connect Clarity to any advertising account.

How to turn it off again: use the Cookie settings link in the footer, or block cookies from clarity.ms in your browser.

• _clck (cookie, first party). A random Clarity identifier for this Site and your preferences. Lasts one year.
• _clsk (cookie, first party). Joins the pages you view in one visit into one session recording. Lasts one day.

Clause 06Advertising cookies

None. As of the effective date the Site sets no advertising or retargeting cookies and loads no advertising pixels from Google, Meta or anyone else. If we add Google Ads conversion measurement in the future, it will be a fourth category in the consent banner, off until you turn it on, and this page will list its cookies before it goes live.

Clause 07Fonts

The Site loads typefaces from Google Fonts (fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com). Google Fonts sets no cookies. Your browser does send your IP address to Google to fetch the font files, which Google says it does not use for profiling or advertising. If you prefer, you can block those domains in your browser and the Site will fall back to a system font.

Clause 08Other browser controls

Every major browser lets you see, delete and block cookies and local storage in its settings. Blocking the necessary items means the banner will ask again on each visit and the accessibility menu will not remember your choices, but the Site will still work.

Clause 09Changes

When we add or remove a cookie we update this list and the "Last updated" date at the top. A new tool that collects personal information will never be switched on before it is listed here.

Clause 10How to contact us