Privacy policy

This site sets no cookies. (Our password-protected statistics page sets one sign-in cookie, in our own browser only.)

Our ad links pass through our link service, which uses your country and browser type to screen out bots and to check that the campaign is meant for your country. It keeps only daily totals for each campaign. It then opens this site with the campaign’s details and a random click ID in the address. The site keeps those in your browser’s session storage, which your browser clears when you close the tab. If you then follow a link to a store, it may pass through the same link service, which hands the click ID on so the sale can be credited to the campaign. The click ID is random and doesn’t identify you. If you don’t arrive from one of our ads, the site stores nothing in your browser, apart from the two cases under Visit statistics (below): the Amazon tracking ID for one of our channels, and the setting that turns visit counting off.

Some of our guides and ad pages have a version for each common need, such as pet hair or a tight budget. When the link you followed names one (for example /lp/robot-vacuums?for=pet-hair), or the ad keyword it carries (utm_term) does, the page opens with our pick for that need first and says why, and the page’s usual top pick stays on it, labelled “Top pick”. The page works this out in your browser from its own address and nothing else: no cookies, no location, no browsing history and nothing about you. It stores nothing in your browser, and anyone who opens the same link sees the same page. Our visit statistics (below) note which version was shown, never anything about you.

The guide and pick at the top of the home page can differ from one visit to the next, so we learn which ones readers find useful. When the link you followed names a topic (an ad about robot vacuums, say), it’s that topic’s guide. During a shopping event such as Prime Big Deal Days, it’s our guide to that event. Otherwise it’s drawn, now and then at random and mostly by how often readers went on to a store from each guide lately (store clicks, not commissions), counted separately by device type, by how visitors arrived and by whether they’re in the US. The draw uses a number our server works out from your IP address, browser and the date, so you see the same guide all day; the number is never stored, and nothing is stored in your browser. The picks inside every guide, and their order, never change this way. Our visit statistics note which guide was shown, never anything about you.

When you follow one of our links, the store or affiliate network may set its own cookies to credit the sale. Third parties, including Amazon, may serve content, collect information directly from visitors, and place or recognize cookies on visitors’ browsers. Their privacy policies apply once you are on their sites.

The site is hosted on Cloudflare Pages. Like any web host, Cloudflare processes your IP address and basic details of each request to deliver the pages and protect the site. See Cloudflare’s privacy policy.

We count visits ourselves, to learn which pages help and where readers give up. It uses no cookies, keeps no IP addresses, and nothing is shared with anyone else. When a page opens, a small script on it sends our own server, at this site’s address:

• the page’s address and type (guide, review, product page), and the page or website that linked to it (for another website, only its name)
• your window’s width, and the language of the page and of your browser
• the campaign and version, if you came from one of our ads, the campaign tags (such as utm_source) in the address of a newsletter or post that linked here, and which version of the page you saw when the address picked one (such as the version for pet hair)
• when you leave the page: how far down you read, how long it was open and how long it was in view while you were using it, which of our store buttons were on screen, and how many times you tapped each kind of link or button (such as the menu, the contents list, a product name, a question, or a link to another website, of which we keep only the website’s name). We never record the words on the page or anything you type
• when you click a store button: which product and button, how long after the page opened, which of our Amazon tracking IDs the link carried, a random reference for that click, and the ad’s click ID if you came from one of our ads

Cloudflare, which runs that server, adds your country and who runs your network; the network’s name is kept only when it’s a hosting company, which points to a bot. Your IP address and browser details are turned into a code that recognises a browser for one day only. It’s made with a random key that changes every day and is deleted after two days, so the code can’t link your visits across days or to other websites, and once the key is gone no one can work out whose it was. The IP address itself is never stored, and from the browser details we keep only coarse labels: phone, tablet or computer, the system (such as iOS) and the browser (such as Safari).

Our links to Amazon carry one of our Amazon tracking IDs, so Amazon’s reports show us which products were bought through our links, never who bought them. When the address you arrived at says you came from one of our posts on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube or Pinterest (its utm_source), or from one of our ads, the links to Amazon carry that channel’s tracking ID instead of our usual one, so we can see which channel helped. The page keeps the channel’s tracking ID in your browser’s session storage until you close the tab, so the next pages you open use it too; it holds our ID and nothing about you, and nothing else about the links changes.

Visits from search engines, other crawlers and automated browsers are left out of the visitor numbers. They’re recognised by the browser’s name, a flag automated browsers carry (the script sends it), the network they come from, or their speed. Page-by-page records are deleted after 35 days and click records after 180 days; daily totals are kept for 400 days. Only we can see them, behind a password.

We don’t count our own visits: we open this link once in each browser we use, which saves one setting in that browser’s storage for this site (not a cookie), and nothing is sent from that browser after that. You can do the same; this link turns counting back on.

To check that counting works, we sometimes open pages with a test code in the address (it starts with ?insights=test). A tab opened that way keeps the code in its session storage until the tab is closed; its visits are kept apart from the statistics and deleted after six hours. Ordinary visits never carry a code.

We also use Cloudflare Web Analytics, Cloudflare’s own page-view statistics. It sets no cookies, and Cloudflare says it doesn’t use your IP address or browser details to identify or follow you. See Cloudflare’s privacy policy.

If you email us, we use your address and message only to reply.

We don’t keep personal information about visitors: the visit statistics hold no IP address and nothing that recognises a browser for longer than a day. The only personal information we hold is what you send us by email, and you can ask us to show, correct or delete it.

Questions about this policy, or a request about your information: use the email on the contact page.

Last updated: September 30, 2026.