Privacy-first analytics · cookieless marketing · ethical SEO Written by Sophie Darge
Darge

About the author

About

Digital marketing, SEO and privacy-first analytics — minus the surveillance.

I’m Sophie Darge — a digital marketer who’s convinced you can grow a business online without harvesting every click, scroll and mouse-movement from the people who visit you.

For years I was a Google Analytics power user. Dashboards, custom dimensions, funnel visualisations, user-level tracking — you name it, I had it running. Then GDPR landed, cookie banners sprouted on every site I touched, and I started asking an uncomfortable question: do we actually need all this data?

Turns out, most businesses don’t. A lightweight, privacy-friendly analytics tool will tell you what genuinely matters — which pages pull their weight, where your traffic comes from, what’s converting — without the legal headaches, the consent pop-ups, or the faint sense that you’re spying on people. Darge.com is where I write down everything I learn making that switch work in the real world.

What I write about

01 — Measure

Privacy Analytics

Hands-on guides and honest comparisons for Plausible, Fathom, Matomo, Umami and Simple Analytics — cookieless, consent-free, and owned by you.

02 — Grow

SEO Strategy

Technical audits, Core Web Vitals, keyword research and content strategy that lifts organic traffic — without leaning on invasive tracking.

03 — Market

Cookieless Marketing

First-party data, contextual targeting and consent done properly — how to thrive in the post-third-party-cookie world.

The principle behind every post

The best analytics setup is one your visitors never notice — because it respects them.

No dark patterns. No data hoarding. No year-stamped clickbait. Just practical, plain-spoken advice from someone who has actually made the switch and lived with the trade-offs. If that’s the kind of marketing you want to do, you’re in the right place.

Have a question, a correction, or an idea for a collaboration? Get in touch — my inbox is always open.