This page explains the small data files our website places on your device, what each kind does, and how you can switch them off. It sits alongside our Privacy Policy, which covers personal information more broadly. Here we’re focused narrowly on the tracking technologies behind the scenes of usservicesdirectory.com.
Worth stating plainly at the outset: we operate a listing directory and provide no services ourselves. The cookies described below therefore support browsing, searching, and contacting independent local businesses — they are not tied to booking, scheduling, or paying for any work, because none of that happens on our site.
Cookies in Plain Terms
A cookie is a short text file that a website asks your browser to store. On your next visit, the browser hands that file back, and the site recognizes something about you — that you were logged in, that you searched for roofers in Tampa, that you already dismissed a banner. Cookies cannot run programs, read unrelated files on your computer, or carry viruses. They are essentially a memory aid for websites, which otherwise treat every page load as a first meeting.
Two distinctions are worth knowing. Session cookies vanish the moment you close your browser. Persistent cookies stay for a set lifespan, anywhere from a day to a couple of years. Separately, first-party cookies come from us, while third-party cookies are set by outside companies whose tools we’ve embedded — analytics platforms, ad networks, mapping services.
The Categories We Use
Strictly necessary. These keep the directory functional. They maintain your session while you complete a quote request, remember which step of a multi-page form you’ve reached, balance traffic across our servers, and guard against automated abuse and fraudulent submissions. Without them the site simply breaks, so they cannot be turned off through our consent tool.
Functional and preference. These remember choices you’ve made so you don’t have to repeat them — your default ZIP code or metro area, whether you prefer results sorted by distance or rating, your language selection, and any notices you’ve already closed.
Performance and analytics. We rely on measurement tools to understand which service categories people search most, where visitors abandon a form, which pages load slowly, and how traffic reaches us. The reports we see are aggregated: patterns across thousands of visits rather than profiles of individuals. This is how we decide what to fix and what to build next.
Advertising and retargeting. Some cookies help gauge whether our promotional campaigns are working and may allow partner networks to show you our ads on other websites after you’ve visited ours. They can also cap how often a given ad reaches you and record when a click resulted in a completed quote request.
Embedded content. Pages featuring maps, video, or social sharing buttons load resources from those providers, and the providers may set their own cookies as a result. The same applies if you click through to a listed business’s own website, which is an independent company operating entirely outside our control. Their collection is governed by their policies, not ours.
Related Technologies
Cookies aren’t the only mechanism in use. We may also employ:
- Pixels and web beacons — invisible one-pixel images in pages or emails that register when content was opened
- Local storage — a browser storage area that holds larger amounts of data than a cookie, useful for saved searches
- Software development kits in any mobile application we publish, performing a similar role to cookies
- Server logs, which record requests to our site independently of your browser settings
Taking Control
You have several levers, and you can pull as many as you like.
Our consent banner. On your first visit you’ll be asked which optional categories you accept. You can revisit that choice at any time through the cookie settings link in our website footer.
Your browser. Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, and every other major browser let you view stored cookies, delete them individually or in bulk, block third-party cookies by default, and refuse new ones outright. Look under Settings for Privacy, Security, or Site Data. Private or incognito windows discard most cookies automatically when closed.
Your device. Mobile operating systems offer advertising controls — Apple’s app tracking permissions and Android’s advertising ID reset — that limit cross-app profiling regardless of what any individual website does.
Industry opt-outs. The Network Advertising Initiative and the Digital Advertising Alliance both run opt-out pages covering many ad networks simultaneously. Note that these register your preference via a cookie, so clearing your cookies also clears the opt-out.
Global Privacy Control. Certain browsers and extensions transmit an automated opt-out signal. Where we are legally required to honor it, we do.
What Changes If You Decline
Blocking non-essential cookies will not lock you out of the directory. You can still browse categories, read listings, and submit requests. Some conveniences fall away, though: the site will stop remembering your location, sorting preferences, and dismissed notices, so you may find yourself re-entering details. Blocking strictly necessary cookies through your browser goes further and will likely prevent forms from submitting at all.
Revisions
As we adopt or retire tools, the technologies described here will shift. We’ll update this page accordingly and adjust the date shown above.
Get in Touch
Questions about a specific cookie, or trouble adjusting your preferences? We’re glad to help.
Email: [email protected] Website: https://usservicesdirectory.com/