Automatic cookie scanning

A cookie scanner visits your website, much as a browser would, and records every cookie and similar tracker it finds, along with who sets it and what it is for. For example, the scan might show an analytics cookie, an advertising pixel and a chat widget cookie, each sorted into a category such as necessary, statistics or marketing. Cookiebot is one tool that offers this.

Most websites collect more trackers over time as marketers add plugins, ad pixels and embedded videos. Nobody remembers them all, yet privacy rules in the UK and EU expect you to tell visitors what is running and to ask for consent where it is required. A scan gives you an accurate list for your cookie banner and your cookie policy. If your site is a single simple page with no third-party scripts, a manual list may be enough.

• Ask how often the scan runs and whether it happens automatically or only when someone starts it.
• Check whether the scan covers every page, including pages behind a login or inside a checkout.
• Test whether new cookies are flagged to you when they appear, so the banner and policy do not go out of date.
• Find out whether the tool sorts each cookie into a category or leaves that to you.