Test your Cookie Banner CMP tool
Quickly check if your website complies with GDPR
Verify consent mode v2 in Google Analytics
1: Quick GDPR Test for Your Website
Perform this quick test to check if your cookie banner is working correctly and to identify any potential issues. The test is not comprehensive but detects the most common problems.
- ❌ Not approved? Then you should review the implementation of your cookie banner tool. Contact us for free advice.
- ✅ Approved? Proceed to step two to verify that you are collecting all the data you need.
2: Consent Mode v2 – Does GA4 Receive the Correct Data?
Now, ensure that your Google Analytics tracking, including Consent Mode v2 and anonymous pings, is working properly.
- Go to your website and decline cookies. (If you cannot easily access your cookie banner again, you are not GDPR-compliant).
- Visit Google Tag Assistant and enter your full domain, e.g.,
https://adveriser.com/. - Let your website fully load in the new tab, then return to the Tag Assistant tab.
- ✅ If “Google tags found” appears under your domain name in the top left corner, your tags are loading as expected even when cookies are declined, allowing you to proceed to step 3.
(If you are using Google Tag Manager, you might see “GTM-XXX is not enabled for debugging,” which is fine). - ❌ If Google Analytics 4 does not load when cookies are declined, it means you are GDPR-compliant. However, this also results in poorer data quality in GA4 since anonymous pings are not being sent, which weakens essential conversion tracking. You should review your configuration and ensure it is set up correctly.
For those using paid marketing, such as Google Ads or Facebook advertising, high-quality data is crucial for optimizing profitability.
3: Upon Consent – Are the Correct Signals Sent?
Now, test if the correct consent signals are being sent:
- Again, go to Google Tag Assistant and enter your full domain, e.g.,
https://adveriser.com/. - Let the website fully load in the new tab, then return to the Tag Assistant tab.
- Click the first row at the top left, which corresponds to the page you visited.
- At the bottom right, click the “Consent” tab. You should see a column with “Default” (initial) consent settings, which are the consents that load before any user input: “functionality_storage” and “security_storage” should be granted, all other settings should be denied
- Next, under “Page update”, you should see: If all cookies are accepted, all settings should be granted. If cookies are declined, the settings should match the “Default” consents as described above.
- ✅ If you have successfully completed all the tests, you now know that the core functionality of your GDPR cookie banner tool is working properly. Congratulations!
- ❌ If it’s not working it means you are missing out on valuable data.
Notice that the step 1 test is not comprehensive. You should also check:
- Scripts and external forms (e.g., HubSpot)
- Possible iframes
- Lesser-known cookies
Additionally, verify that Google Analytics collects consent data, and if you are using Google Ads, ensure that Enhanced Conversions are properly configured.
