At Sciential we believe that from 2025 onwards there will be more focus on compliance with GDPR regulations. In the past years the 3rd party cookies are under a continuous debate and regulations for tracking became stricter every year. Therefore in this blog we provide an overview of the most important points to double check making sure you are compliant and not at risk.
Additionally, we provide a step-by step-tutorial so you can check if your website pixels are tracking visitors that declined the cookies.
1. Review Your Cookie Banner
Start by evaluating your cookie banner to ensure it aligns with GDPR regulations. Confirm that it:
- Seeks explicit user consent before tracking begins.
- Clearly explains data collection purposes.
- Allows users to manage or withdraw consent easily.
2. Verify Tag and Pixel Behavior
Check that tags and pixels load only after consent is granted. Ensure:
- No tracking occurs for users who decline cookies.
- Pixels like those for remarketing or conversions respect consent settings.
3. Check Google Consent Mode Configuration
If using Google Consent Mode, make sure it reflects user preferences. Test scenarios for different consent levels and verify GA4 compliance.
4. Audit GA4 and Tag Manager Settings
Ensure GA4 and Google Tag Manager are configured to respect user choices in your cookie banner, make sure to:
- Triggers only activate after the correct consent.
- Consistency between your cookie banner and analytics behavior.
We’ve developed a short tutorial to double check if your GA4 settings are inline with you cookie banner:
- Log into analytics.google.com
- Go to Admin (Settings button in the bottom left)
- Click on Data collection and modification
- Go to Consent settings and check if you can see the green checkmark with Receiving consent signals
- When you see issues detected in your property, then you will have to act on it by setting up consent mode.
- This can be done by linking the Consent signals of your consent management platform (CMP, e.g. Cookiebot) with the web analytics platform.
Do you have issues finding the right data collection section in Google Analytics, let’s have a look together!
