Using HTTP cookies, websites can "distinguish" and "remember" their visitors and their personal preferences, settings, and actions taken.
A "cookie" is a small text file which stores Internet settings. Almost every website uses this technology. It is downloaded by your Internet browser at your first visit to the website. At a subsequent visit to this website using the same device, the "cookie" and the information stored in it is sent either back to the website which created it (first-party "cookie") or to another website it belongs to (third-party "cookie"). In this way, the website recognizes that it has already been visited from this browser and in some cases changes the displayed content.
A common example of cookies is the fact that when a user signs into a given site, he/she then no longer needs to do that again until the cookie expires or is deleted.
Additionally, cookies are also used to ensure the visitor's safety, personalized tools, and to obtain more relevant content aligned with his/her interests.