But only for necessary things - the purposes that you can Google Analytics are never necessary to the running of your site.

Undeniable Google Analytics is.

But are these third party…? Maybe I’m just way behind. If you use cookies to track usage of your site, isn’t that kinda second party?

No. The web site and the user are the first two parties. They have a relationship.

Third parties are parties who do not have a direct relationship with both parties.