What is the IDE cookie?
The IDE cookie is used by Google to deliver, personalize, and measure the performance of targeted advertisements across the web.
Table of Contents
About IDE
| Vendor | |
|---|---|
| Cookie Domain | doubleclick.net |
| Category Category The functional category of the technology, such as Web Analytics or Social Media. Learn more | Advertising & Paid Media |
| Consent Category Consent Category The consent category this cookie most commonly falls under across sites we scan, normalized into four standard categories. Learn more | Targeting & Advertising |
| Prevalence | Very Common |
| Popularity Popularity Popularity is calculated from our dataset of 4.5B+ cookies analyzed across hundreds of millions of web pages. Learn more | Found on 39.7% of scanned pages |
| Expiration Type | Timestamp |
| Expiration Duration | 24 days |
| Party Type Party Type Whether the cookie is first-party or third-party. Learn more | 3rd-Party |
| Risk Level Risk Level Rates how sensitive the data stored by this cookie is (High, Medium, or Low) based on data classification and distribution. Learn more | Medium |
| Vendor Privacy Policy | https://policies.google.com/privacy |
| Vendor Website | https://www.google.com |
What is the purpose of IDE?
The IDE cookie is a persistent, third-party advertising cookie set by Google (which acquired DoubleClick in 2008) under the doubleclick.net domain. It is a core tracking mechanism within Google's advertising suite, including Google Ads, Campaign Manager, and Display & Video 360. Its primary function is to track user behavior across various websites to build behavioral profiles and measure ad performance.
This cookie stores a randomly generated, unique identifier. When a user views or clicks on an advertisement and subsequently visits other websites, this identifier allows Google's ad servers to recognize the user. This enables advertisers to measure conversion rates (e.g., determining if an ad click led to a purchase), implement frequency capping to limit how often a user sees the same ad, and deliver personalized retargeting ads based on the user's prior interactions and browsing history.
What are the Privacy Risks of IDE?
Risk Level: Medium
The IDE cookie carries a unique pseudonymous identifier that enables persistent cross-site user tracking and behavioral profiling for targeted advertising purposes. Although it does not directly transmit explicit Personally Identifiable Information (PII) such as names or emails, it allows Google and its advertising partners to build detailed profiles of user browsing habits across multiple domains. This capability represents a moderate privacy risk as it relies on behavioral tracking patterns usable for ad delivery.
How to Remove IDE from a Website
To remove the IDE cookie, a website administrator must identify and remove or reconfigure the Google tags responsible for firing it. This typically includes tags for Google Ads (such as Conversion Tracking or Remarketing), Google Floodlight Counters, or Google Ad Manager. If these tags are hardcoded, they must be removed directly from the site's source code; if they are deployed via a tag management system such as Google Tag Manager, the respective tags must be paused or deleted. Because IDE is set by Google's advertising and measurement products to function, it generally cannot be removed without removing or disabling the Google advertising tag/service that sets it - there is no account-level toggle that keeps the ad tags active while preventing this specific cookie. If you need to retain some Google advertising functionality, contact Google or review the product's tag configuration to determine which features can be disabled, but be aware that doing so will reduce or disable remarketing, ad personalization, and conversion measurement.