How to check your cookie banner in 10 minutes
Short answer: Open your site in a private window with DevTools and check five things: nothing non-essential loads before a choice; “Reject all” sits next to “Accept all” and looks the same; optional categories start switched off; refusing really stops trackers; and your Google tags report the choice through Consent Mode. Or run a free automated scan that does all of it.
What you need
- Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari, with its developer tools.
- A private window, so earlier choices don’t hide problems.
- Ten minutes, and a note of what you find.
The six steps
- Start as a stranger
Open your site in a private (incognito) window so no earlier choice is stored. Open DevTools with F12 (or Cmd+Option+I on a Mac), go to the Network tab, tick “Preserve log”, and reload.
- Look before you click
Without touching the banner, type google-analytics, googletagmanager, doubleclick, facebook, tiktok, clarity and hotjar into the Network filter one by one. Then open Application → Cookies. Advertising and analytics requests or cookies at this point mean tracking before consent.
- Compare the two buttons
On the first layer, is there a “Reject all” (or “Only necessary”) next to “Accept all”? Same size, colour and contrast? If refusing takes more clicks than accepting, or is harder to see, the choice isn’t equal.
- Open the settings
Click “Settings” or “Customise” in a fresh private window. Every optional category should start switched off. Only strictly necessary cookies may be on, ideally locked.
- Reject, then reload
Click “Reject all”, clear the Network log and reload. Search the requests and cookies again: nothing non-essential should load, be set or be updated.
- Check what Google hears
Open a request to google-analytics.com/g/collect and find the gcs parameter: G100 means both storage signals are denied. It should read G100 before a choice and after “Reject”, and G111 only after “Accept”.
What your findings mean
- Trackers or cookies before a choice: see how to fix it.
- Trackers still firing after “Reject”: see how to fix it.
- No reject option on the first layer: see how to fix it.
- A faint or tiny reject button: see how to fix it.
- Optional categories switched on: see how to fix it.
- No banner, but trackers: see how to fix it.
Where a manual test falls short
A manual check tests one page, once, in one browser. Tags change with every release, key pages like checkout often load their own scripts, and it’s easy to miss a request among hundreds. That’s why untick runs the same steps automatically, on up to 15 key pages, and can repeat them every day, emailing you only when something new appears.
Questions people ask
Do I need a cookie banner if I only use Google Analytics?
For visitors in the EU and UK, generally yes: Google Analytics sets cookies and sends data to Google, which regulators treat as needing consent. A site that only uses strictly necessary cookies doesn’t need one.
Is “continuing to browse” consent?
No. EU consent has to be an active choice, and regulators’ guidelines say scrolling or continuing to browse doesn’t count.
How often should I test my banner?
After every change that touches tags: a new marketing pixel, a theme or plugin update, a redesign or a new consent tool version. Most broken banners are broken by a release, not on day one.
Does a certified consent tool make my site compliant?
It helps, but configuration and the tags around it decide the outcome. Most fines hit sites that had a banner: tags fired before it, or refusing didn’t stop them.