Privacy

Cookie consent that actually works

Almost every website has a cookie banner, but far from all of them work as they should. Analytics and advertising tools often load before the visitor has chosen anything, or advertising cookies are set even though the visitor only accepted statistics. That is a legal problem, but also a matter of trust and of how reliable your data is.

What do the rules require?

Under Swedish electronic communications law and the GDPR, consent is required before cookies and similar technologies that aren't necessary for the service are used. Consent must be freely given, informed and active – declining must be as easy as accepting, and visitors must be able to change their mind later.

Common cookie banner mistakes

The most common flaws are tracking that starts before any choice is made, a reject button that is hidden or missing, categories that don't control anything, and a yes to statistics that also enables advertising tools. The banner looks right, but the technology behind it does something else.

Why must analytics and marketing be kept separate?

Visitors must be able to accept statistics without also accepting advertising. That means every tool – Google Analytics, Google Ads, Meta and others – has to be tied to the right category. If you use Google Tag Manager, the tags there also need the right consent requirements, otherwise they may load whatever the visitor chose.

What does Google Consent Mode do?

Consent Mode lets Google's tools adapt to the visitor's choice. It's a good complement, but it doesn't replace controlling the tags themselves correctly. The safest approach is not to load tools that require consent at all until consent has been given.

Test – and test again

Check in the browser which cookies and requests are actually made for each choice: no choice, reject all, statistics only, marketing only and accept all. Repeat the test whenever new tags or campaigns are added, and make sure the privacy policy describes what actually happens.

Set up correctly, it gives better data

Correct cookie consent doesn't just protect you from complaints. It makes your statistics more reliable, because you know what they're based on, and shows visitors that you take their privacy seriously.