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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​

Traditional Analytics (❌ Requires Consent)​

  • 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

Sealmetrics Consentless Approach (✅ No Consent Required)​

  • 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. Session-Based Tracking

Sealmetrics uses a privacy-preserving session tracking approach.

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

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

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 src="https://t.sealmetrics.com/t.js?id=YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID" defer></script>

That's it. One line. The tracker automatically:

  • Captures pageviews on load
  • Handles SPA navigation
  • Sends data via privacy-safe beacon requests

Tracking Conversions​

// Track a conversion
sealmetrics.conv('purchase', 99.99, {
  currency: 'EUR',
  product_id: 'SKU-123'
});

// Track a micro-conversion (funnel step)
sealmetrics.micro('add_to_cart', {
  product_id: 'SKU-123'
});

10. Summary

Sealmetrics consentless tracking provides:

  • 100% traffic capture — no data loss from consent rejection
  • Full GDPR/ePrivacy compliance — privacy by design
  • Session-based tracking — temporary IDs that expire with browser session
  • Simple implementation — one script tag
  • Rich analytics — conversions, funnels, attribution

No cookies. No consent banners. Complete data.