Auto-blocks cookies before consent

Prior consent blocking holds back cookies and tracking scripts, such as analytics, advertising pixels and embedded social widgets, until a visitor agrees to them in the cookie banner. Until that choice is made, only strictly necessary cookies are set. For example, a visitor lands on your site, sees the banner and the marketing pixel stays switched off until they click accept. Cookiebot is one tool that offers this.

A banner that only displays a message does not stop trackers from running. Under the EU ePrivacy rules and the UK equivalent, many non-essential cookies need consent before they are set, so trackers that fire before the visitor answers can put you in breach even though a banner is visible. Automatic blocking removes the need for a developer to rewire each script. If you run no tracking or advertising scripts at all, you may not need it.

• Ask whether blocking works automatically or whether each script must be tagged or edited by hand.
• Test your own site in a browser with the developer tools open, and check that no tracking cookies appear before consent is given.
• Check how the tool treats scripts added later through a tag manager or a plugin.
• Find out what happens if the banner script fails to load, and whether trackers stay blocked.