Are you wondering, “What is cookie consent and cookie consent banner?” These terms are crucial for anyone who owns or operates a website, especially if you are starting to delve into the digital world. Let’s break down these concepts into simple terms and see why they are essential for your online presence.
The current article is "7.7. Cookie Consent Banner" of our Complete SEO Guide Box.
Previous Article: 7.6. WordPress Cookies Usage. Next Article: 7.8. Create Privacy+Cookie Policy
Contents
Cookie consent refers to obtaining permission from a website visitor to store or retrieve any information on their computer, smartphone, or tablet. It’s a crucial concept in the digital world because of data protection and privacy laws like the GDPR in the European Union. You may see a pop-up or banner with a statement about using cookies on a website that uses cookies. In addition, it is asking for your consent to use them. The site should also offer a way to learn how it uses cookies. This transparency and choice are essential to respecting users’ privacy and complying with the law.
A Cookie Consent Banner is a small popup that appears when you first visit a website, informing you about the site’s use of cookies and asking for your consent to set those cookies on your device. This banner is a requirement under various data privacy laws, most notably the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union. The banner typically includes a brief explanation of why the website uses cookies and options to accept or decline the use of cookies. Some banners may also link to the website’s cookie policy or privacy policy, where visitors can get more detailed information about the types of cookies used and how their data is handled. The primary purpose of these banners is to give website visitors control over their personal data and privacy when web browsing.
You typically do not need a cookie consent banner if your site uses only necessary or strictly essential cookies since they are critical to the website’s functioning, like enabling core functionalities such as user authentication or maintaining the website’s security. These cookies are often exempt from the consent requirement because they don’t track users for marketing purposes or gather personal information for analytics.
However, even if you only use necessary cookies, it’s still a good practice to inform your visitors about using them through a privacy policy or other means. Laws and regulations might differ depending on your website’s location or serving audience. You must check the requirements of your jurisdiction and target audience.
Suppose you followed our Complete SEO Guide Box from the beginning. In that case, you should know that we disabled the default cookie behavior for the comments section. Now, it asks the user for consent if they want to use the comment cookies. So, the comments section already asks the user for consent.
Suppose you don’t let your users to authenticate on your website (logging in and having an account). In that case, authentication cookies are also out.
Both cookies are considered necessary cookies, so you don’t need a cookie consent banner for them.
We use Plausible Analytics that doesn’t use cookies, so a cookie consent banner is unnecessary. However, suppose you use Google Analytics instead or any other analytics service that does use cookies. In that case, you will need a cookie consent banner and a cookie consent service. We will use the Termly Policy Generator for all our policies. They also provide the cookie consent service and storage that you can use.
Of course, if you use any plugins or themes that have any “remembering” features or show you some analytics/statistics about users – they use cookies, and you will need a cookie consent banner with the service.
You need to check each plugin and theme we didn’t cover if they use cookies.
More Information
If you’re curious about the latest information on how WordPress uses cookies, we recommend checking out the official WordPress documentation. It will provide you with all the up-to-date information you need.
Another good resource is the article from Termly about WordPress cookie usage and cookie consent.
Conclusion
Now that you understand what is a cookie consent and a cookie consent banner, you’re one step closer to making your website more user-friendly and compliant with the laws. It’s not just about following regulations; it’s about building trust with your visitors by being transparent about how you use their information.
The current article is "7.7. Cookie Consent Banner" of our Complete SEO Guide Box.
Previous Article: 7.6. WordPress Cookies Usage. Next Article: 7.8. Create Privacy+Cookie Policy
If you find any mistakes or have ideas for improvement, please follow the email on the Contact page.