Do you know how to manage cookie compliance with WordPress? The easiest way is to use an off-shelf solution to avoid the constraints of in-house development. Installation, technical configuration, and customization can be done.
Why do you need to manage cookies in WordPress?
Like any other CMS, WordPress will necessarily lead you to use cookies. Whether they are yours or those deposited by a third party providing you with an extension, you must manage their compliance. It is always possible to develop an internal management solution or a free extension, but it is simpler to use an off-the-shelf solution.
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Have you dreamed your whole life of starting a business without tracking solutions? Exit tracking? This article may shatter some illusions.
Because, yes, like any CMS, WordPress leads to the use of cookies and identifiers during your visitors’ browsing:
- Because WordPress’s essential configuration places purely technical cookies when the administrator logs into the admin interface;
- Because many of you will not limit yourselves to using the basic configuration;
- Because many third-party extensions, to make your life easier, offer you arms loaded with cookies…
There you are, launching your site with many projects in mind: traffic acquisition; conversion; lead management; chosen marketing; data protection; GDPR.
Entrepreneurs shout, “Good luck, enjoy it to the fullest,” while lawyers say, “Good luck, take it easy.”
Is developing a cookie consent solution from scratch a bad idea?
Managing your cookies will involve identifying them and categorizing them by the purpose of use (audience measurement, advertising targeting, sharing, video…).
To do this, you need an automated consent management solution. Could you possibly develop the solution in-house? Technically, it’s doable, and it’s cheaper. Is it a good idea?
Before you dive in, consider the following aspects:
- Developing an in-house solution from scratch will require you to take on maintenance tasks and additional costs that a third-party provider would typically handle. More work outside your core business.
- If you use an off-the-shelf tag management solution, you are interposing a “trusted third party” between you and your visitor. This third party collects and stores consents, positions, and cookie deposits. It thus guarantees their traceability and integrity, and it is up to you to respect the choice transmitted to you…
- You can always download a free extension under WordPress to do this work. But be careful:
- Even if their providers will still say that they are GDPR compliant, CNIL certified, seen on TV, and approved by Martians… make sure of it anyway.
- Many extensions need to be compliant. Sometimes they only display an information banner on cookie use and do not manage consent.
- A paid solution provider monitors and performs the necessary updates to ensure the product adapts to regulatory changes. That includes doing it yourself and using a free solution. But think about it anyway.
How to manage GDPR compliance of your cookies under WordPress?
There are a large number of scripts and solutions on the market that take care of cookie management. Their handling is simple, making installing and integrating the answer easy. This will make it possible to take charge of the website’s tags and display a customizable consent module on all your pages.
Install and configure a cookie consent solution on your site
Depending on the answer chosen, installation on the site is done by following several steps:
- If you plan to self-host an internally developed or third-party-provided solution, the structure is done by copying the corresponding files into the root of your site. Otherwise, the answer is already installed on your provider’s server.
- Then, it would be best if you informed the solution of the services concerned and deposit cookies. To do this, you will edit a file in which you will insert lines of code designating each of them (e.g., Google Analytics, Addthis sharing bar…).
- To display the solution on the site, you will configure the header.php file by inserting a JavaScript code. This automates the insertion of a script between the <HEAD> and </HEAD> web tags of each site page, which will call the solution, whether hosted locally or on a third-party server.
- To measure your site’s audience or facilitate sharing your article on social networks, you must have inserted specific codes for these services into each site page. Another will replace all these codes that will call the cookie management solution while activating the relevant service.
- The technical documentation associated with your solution should describe these actions in detail.
Be aware that not all themes offered under WordPress allow you to edit the code of the files above directly. Sometimes, you must use another piece that provides this editing feature.
Also, be careful not to display two cookie banners on your site! If you plan to replace an existing solution, remove it from the source code.
If you’re not comfortable with coding and JavaScript, don’t worry. Free plugins make it easy to edit files without getting your hands dirty.
Customize the display of your cookie management solution on the site
Now that the technical integration of the solution is done, you can customize its production and operation. This can be done, for example, by editing the solution’s CSS file directly or by using a simplified back-end that offers the following features:
- Customization of the welcome message or consent request that appears on the site’s first visit;
- Determination of the area where the message should appear in the browser;
- Configuration of the background color;
- Display a link back to a section to learn more;
- Design of the cookie lifespan;
- Customization of the content and style of the acceptance and refusal buttons.
And what about Axeptio?
Axeptio provides an easy-to-use cookie management solution.
By logging into a back-end interface, you can create a project and configure the operation and the graphic elements of a consent management module on your site.
This interface will provide a code to implement on all site pages. Naturally, this step is automated, using the “simple custom CSS and JS” plugin and copying the code only once. You will still need to review the source code of the tags depositing cookies on your site.
For more information on how to integrate this solution on your site, technical documentation is available.
In addition, it is free for the simplest sites that use a minimal number of tags (e.g., an audience measurement solution and a sharing bar on social networks).
And if you need it, Axeptio can help you install the solution.
