How Session-Based Tracking Works: Cookieless Architecture Explained
· 19 min read
TL;DR — How session-based tracking replaces cookies. Technical deep dive into Sealmetrics' architecture: hashing, token rotation, and data flow.
Introduction
The Problem: Google Analytics loses the visitors who drop out at the banner through cookie rejections and banner ghosting — where you land depends on your sector, brand strength and traffic sources. Cookieless analytics solves this by tracking without cookies, consent banners, or IP addresses.
What You'll Learn:
- How cookieless tracking actually works technically
- Why it captures the data cookie-based tools miss
- The session-based architecture behind Sealmetrics
- Implementation differences vs traditional analytics
- The legal position: minimal, pseudonymised data under legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f))
Key Takeaways:
- Cookieless tracking uses session identifiers instead of persistent cookies
- Nothing stored on the device and no data that identifies anyone (no consent banner needed for Sealmetrics' own analytics, self-assessed; in Germany an open question — see Germany)
- 24-month retention on aggregated, non-identifying reports
- Sealmetrics captures what GA4 misses: ghosted users, cookie rejecters, Safari/Firefox visitors
For a complete overview of cookieless analytics, see our Cookieless Analytics: Complete Guide 2026.