Is my cookie banner actually working? A two-minute test
A banner can look right and still let every analytics and ad tool run before anyone has agreed. You can find out in two minutes, with any consent plugin, using only your browser.
Why this happens
Showing a banner and holding tools back are two separate jobs. Many setups do the first and not the second: the banner appears, and meanwhile Google Analytics, a Meta Pixel or a heatmap tool has already loaded and started sending data. The visitor's choice then changes nothing that matters.
This is easy to miss, because from the outside the site looks exactly as it should.
The test
- Open your site in a private or incognito window. Your normal window may already have a saved choice, and you want to see what a first-time visitor gets.
- Do not press anything on the banner.
- Open the developer tools (
F12, or right-click → Inspect) and choose the Network tab. - Reload the page.
- In the filter box, type the names below, one at a time.
| Type this | If requests appear, this is running |
|---|---|
google-analytics or collect? | Google Analytics |
googletagmanager | Google Tag Manager or the Google tag |
facebook | Meta Pixel |
clarity | Microsoft Clarity |
hotjar | Hotjar |
licdn or linkedin | LinkedIn Insight Tag |
tiktok | TikTok Pixel |
Reading the result
- Nothing appears until you press Accept: the tools are being held back. Press Accept and reload once more: they should now appear. Then you know both halves work.
- Requests appear before you have pressed anything: those tools are running without an answer. The banner is not controlling them.
- Requests to
googletagmanagerappear, but nothing else: the tag manager itself has loaded. Whether that matters depends on what its tags do before consent. If your setup relies on Google Consent Mode, the tags may be loading and waiting, which is a different arrangement from not loading at all. See Consent Mode v2 on WordPress.
Then test "no"
Open a fresh private window, press Reject, and reload. Run the same filters. Nothing optional should appear on this page or the next one you visit. A common fault is a banner that honours the choice on the page where it was made and forgets it on the next.
Common causes when it fails
- The tool was pasted straight into the theme or a header plugin. A consent plugin can only hold back code it recognises or code you have told it about.
- A caching or "optimise JavaScript" plugin has combined or moved the scripts. See why banners break behind caching.
- The banner only sets consent signals and leaves the scripts to behave. That works for tools that honour the signals and for no others.
This test shows what your own browser was sent on one visit. It is a good check and not a legal opinion: what the law requires of your site depends on where your visitors are and what you do with the data.
Want it handled for you?
TidyConsent is a free WordPress plugin that holds eleven common tools back until each visitor agrees, works behind page caches, and sets Consent Mode v2. Or let us look at your site first.
Get the free plugin Scan my site