Do I need a consent banner on my website?

If your website uses cookies, it will most likely need a consent banner to comply with applicable privacy laws such as GDRP. In addition, having a consent solution can build trust with your users by showing that you are transparent about how you collect and use their information.

Note: This guide is only for informational purposes. If you want to be sure that your consent banner fulfills all legal requirements, we recommend that you consult a lawyer or legal adviser.

What is a consent banner?

A consent banner or a cookie banner is usually a pop-up notification that allows users to choose their cookie preferences and provides information about how cookies are used on the website.

To be compliant with most privacy laws, the consent solution should do the following:

  • Provide users the option to accept or decline cookies according to their category.
  • Inform users clearly about what cookies are used on your website and to what purpose.
  • Allow users to make changes to their consent or withdraw it.

Does my website need a consent banner?

To give a short answer, most likely yes.

According to EU’s privacy laws, a website needs to ask users’ explicit consent to use cookies that are not strictly necessary.

If your website uses non-essential cookies, such as cookies used for analytics, advertising or personalisation purposes, it needs a consent solution to be compliant.

How do I find out what cookies my website uses?

You can use a cookie scan tool to see what cookies your website uses. We recommend Termly, which also includes a consent solution. 

What if I do not have a consent banner on my website?

If your website does not have a consent banner that complies with applicable privacy laws, it may risk receiving a fine in case someone decides to sue you over a breach of a data privacy law. Collecting user data without a consent solution and transparent privacy and cookie policies may also compromise users' trust towards your business.

What are GDPR and other privacy laws?

GDPR, or the General Data Protection Regulation, regulates how businesses can collect and process personal information. If your business is located in EU or targets people living in the EU, it has to comply with GDPR.

Depending on where your business operates, it may be that you may also need to comply with other regional privacy laws, such as the Data Protection Act in UK or CCPA and CPRA in California. We recommend that you find out which laws and regulations apply in your case.

To comply with privacy laws, your website needs to give users with the option to set their cookie preferences and provide the following information:

  • What cookies your website uses
  • Why these cookies are used
  • Who provides these cookies (ie. the cookie vendors)
  • How users can set their cookie preferences

You can read more about regional privacy regulations on Termly's website:

What is a cookie policy?

The consent banner should include a link to your cookie policy, which is usually a separate page on your website. The cookie policy should tell what cookies you use on your website and why you use them.

You can read more about cookie policies in our guide: What should be included in my cookie policy?

How do I add a consent banner to my website?

The easiest way to add a consent banner to your website is to use a compliance plugin or tool. We recommend Termly, which can help you create a GDPR compliant consent solution. Termly can scan your website for cookies, generate a tailored cookie policy and banner, and automatically block third-party cookies until the user consents to them.

Read more about how you can add the Termly consent banner to your website:

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