Effect of the cookie choice

What we check

If the home page shows a cookie notice on the first visit, we load it a second time in a fresh browser and look on the first layer of the notice for a button that rejects everything ("Reject all", "Only necessary", "Ablehnen"). Then we click it and watch what the page does afterwards.

• No reject on the first layer, but an accept: warning; in the United States a note.
• Tracking or advertising services keep loading or load anew after rejecting: critical, and where consent comes first (EU, UK, Switzerland and the international version) it sets the check to 0.
• New statistics cookies or entries in the browser storage after rejecting: serious defect.
• Notice stays visible after the click: note, the choice may not be saved.

Without a cookie notice there is nothing to check here; whether one would be needed is covered by the check of the cookie notice. What loads before any choice is rated by the check of third parties.

Why it matters

A cookie notice is a promise: whoever rejects is not tracked. Many websites do not keep it. The notice disappears, the tracking runs as before, often without the operator knowing. The tool was installed, but the scripts were not tied to the consent.

Legally, the effect counts, not the banner. For visitors from the EU and the UK consent is required before statistics and advertising services load, and the supervisory authorities require rejecting to be as easy as accepting. In the United States an opt-out that has no effect can count as a deceptive practice, and California treats manipulative consent designs as dark patterns.

A banner without effect is also a reputation risk: anyone who checks sees at once that the promise is empty.

How to fix it

Reject on the first layer

Activate the "Reject all" or "Only necessary" button next to "Accept all" in the consent tool. Almost all tools have this option, it is just not always preset. Design both buttons as equals, not one as a grey link.

Tie services to the consent

Statistics and advertising scripts may only load once consent is given.

• With Google Tag Manager: set up Consent Mode and let the tags fire only with consent given. The consent tools offer templates for this.
• Without a tag manager: embed the scripts through the tool's blocking function (usually type="text/plain" with a data attribute of the category) instead of directly.
• WordPress: plugins such as Complianz, Borlabs Cookie or Real Cookie Banner recognise common services and block them when the integration is activated.

Save the choice

If the notice stays visible after the click, the tool does not save the decision. Common causes: a cache that delivers the page without the cookie state, or two tools that interfere with each other.

How to check it yourself

Open the page in a private window with the developer tools open (F12), tab "Network". Click "Reject". Filter for google-analytics, googletagmanager, facebook, hotjar or the name of the statistics service in use. If new requests appear afterwards, the choice has no effect. Under "Application › Cookies" you can see whether cookies such as _ga or _fbp were set.

Frequently asked questions

The banner only has "OK". Is that not enough?

Not for statistics and advertising services when visitors from the EU or the UK are reached: there, consent is required, and consent presupposes a real choice. A plain "OK" is information, not a choice.

What does "first layer" mean?

What visitors see before clicking anywhere. A "Reject" that only appears behind "Settings" is harder to reach than "Accept". Supervisory authorities in the EU require both to be equally easy.

After "Reject", Google Analytics still loads. How can that be?

The cookie tool only closes the notice but does not block the services. The scripts have to be embedded so that the tool releases them only after consent. That is a setting in the tool or the tag manager, not a text block.

Is this legal advice?

No. We technically check what happens after a click on "Reject". Whether the solution meets the legal requirements is for a professional to judge.