Pre-consent cookies

Why this matters

Under ePrivacy (Article 5(3)) and GDPR principles, non-essential storage and tracking require consent before activation. Loading analytics or marketing scripts before user choice can create immediate compliance risk.

How to verify manually

1. Open the site in a fresh private browsing window and do not interact with the banner.
2. Check the Network panel for analytics, ads, heatmap, chat, or social pixel requests before consent.
3. Inspect Application > Cookies and confirm whether non-essential cookies appear pre-consent.

Typical root causes

• GTM tags fire on page view without consent conditions.
• CMP loads after analytics tags instead of before them.
• Scripts are embedded directly in templates and bypass CMP blocking.

GTM fix

1. Enable Google Consent Mode v2 with default denied states for ad_storage, analytics_storage, ad_user_data, and ad_personalization.
2. Update tag firing rules so analytics and marketing tags only fire when consent state is granted.
3. Use consent initialization events before any marketing or analytics trigger paths.

WordPress fix

1. Install and configure CookieYes or Complianz with blocking enabled for analytics and marketing categories.
2. Map services to categories and verify scripts are blocked pre-consent.
3. Clear cache or CDN and retest in an incognito browser session.

Generic fix

1. Block third-party script execution until consent is granted.
2. Store pending scripts with a consent category marker.
3. On consent grant, activate only scripts matching accepted categories.

<script
  type="text/plain"
  data-consent="analytics"
  data-src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XXXXXXX">
</script>

How to confirm the fix worked

• Re-run the scan in a fresh session and confirm the finding disappears.
• Verify that no non-essential cookies are set before interaction.
• Verify that analytics and marketing requests only begin after opt-in.