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How Consentless Tracking Works

Consentless tracking represents a fundamental evolution in web analytics:
shifting from individual user tracking to aggregate, privacy-preserving measurement.

SealMetrics pioneered this approach through dual tracking technologies designed to capture complete website behavior without personal data, without cookies, and without requiring user consent.


1. The Core Methodology

Aggregate Measurement Instead of Individual Tracking

  • Uses cookies to store visitor IDs
  • Reconstructs individual user journeys
  • Builds detailed behavioral profiles
  • Tracks users across sessions
  • Loses 50–85% of data when users decline cookies
  • Measures isolated, aggregate events, not people
  • No cookies, no fingerprinting, no local storage
  • No user identification or profiling
  • 100% traffic capture — every hit is measured
  • Fully compliant with GDPR, ePrivacy, CCPA, PECR

2. Dual Consentless Tracking System

The Only System in the World with Two Privacy-Preserving Measurement Modes

SealMetrics combines two tracking techniques to offer flexibility based on privacy needs.


A. Session-ID Based Tracking

How It Works

  • Generates a temporary, session-limited ID
  • ID expires as soon as the session ends
  • No cross-session linking
  • No persistent identifiers

Data Captured

  • Page views for the duration of the session
  • Events happening in the same visit

Privacy Safeguards

  • No user-level profiles
  • No personal data collected
  • Session IDs cannot identify individuals
  • Immediate anonymization at point of capture

B. Isolated Hits Tracking (SuperPrivacy Mode)

How It Works

  • Every interaction = a fully isolated hit
  • No linking between hits
  • No session reconstruction
  • No behavioral pattern building

Why It’s the Most Private Method

  • No correlation = no possibility of identifying a person
  • Ideal for strict privacy environments (e.g., healthcare, government)
  • Fastest processing due to ultra-minimal dataset

3. The Four-Variable System

SealMetrics Only Captures These Four Anonymous Variables

Each hit includes:

  1. Timestamp
  2. User Agent (captured but NOT stored)
  3. Current URL
  4. Referral URL

Nothing more.

This extremely minimal dataset makes personal identification technically impossible.


4. How Data Is Collected and Processed

Technical Flow of Consentless Tracking

Step 1 — Event Detection

  • JavaScript tracker detects page views or events
  • No cookies, local storage, or fingerprinting
  • Immediate anonymization

Step 2 — Processing Layer

  • Events processed through privacy-preserving algorithms
  • Patterns aggregated statistically
  • No cross-hit linking

Step 3 — Insight Generation

  • Dashboards and reports show aggregate behavior
  • No user journeys
  • No personal data, ever

5. The “Ping” Methodology

SealMetrics uses a privacy-safe request system similar to search engines’ crawlers.

Traditional Analytics “Pings”

❌ Associated with user identifiers
❌ Require consent
❌ Build behavioral profiles

SealMetrics Privacy Pings

✅ Fully anonymous
✅ No consent required
✅ Used only to understand aggregate behavior


6. Tracker Options

Choose the Privacy Model That Fits Your Needs

  • Follows hit sequence within a single session
  • Offers session-level behavior insights
  • No user identification
  • Ideal for e-commerce and marketing teams

SuperPrivacy Tracker (Maximum Anonymity)

  • Each hit completely independent
  • No session logic
  • Zero correlation possible
  • Ideal for healthcare, government, finance

7. Privacy-Safe Attribution

How Conversions Are Attributed Without Tracking People

SealMetrics uses:

  • Last-click attribution
  • UTM parameter processing
  • Anonymous channel assignment

Conversions are linked to channels — not to individuals.


8. Compliance by Design

GDPR

  • No personal data → GDPR does not apply
  • No identifiers, no profiles, no tracking of individuals

ePrivacy Directive

  • No cookies
  • No local storage
  • No access to terminal equipment

CCPA / PECR

  • No personal information
  • No sale or sharing of user-level data

European Infrastructure

  • 100% hosted in Dublin (Ireland)
  • No international data transfers

This is privacy-by-design, not privacy-by-policy.


9. Real-World Implementation Example

<!-- Basic Sealmetrics Implementation -->
<script>
(function() {
var options = {
account: 'ADD-ACCOUNT-ID',
event: 'pageview',
use_session: 1
};
var url = "//app.sealmetrics.com/tag/v2/tracker";
function loadScript(callback) {
var script = document.createElement("script");
script.src = url;
script.async = true;
script.onload = function() { callback && callback(); };
document.head.appendChild(script);
}
loadScript(function() {
options.id = Math.floor((Math.random() * 999) + 1);
if (window.sm) {
new window.sm(options).track(options.event);
}
});
})();
</script>