WordPress cookie consent that holds trackers until visitors choose

What is WordPress cookie consent?

WordPress cookie consent means asking visitors before non-essential cookies and trackers run on a WordPress site, then honoring and recording their choice. Analytics tags, advertising pixels and embedded videos have to wait for the answer. A banner that shows a message while those trackers load anyway is a notice, not consent.

WPCentrify runs cookie consent on every WordPress site you connect. It shows a banner with Reject all, Accept all and Manage preferences, holds trackers until the visitor chooses, sends Google Consent Mode v2 signals, lists the third parties each site loads and records every answer with the banner wording that was showing.

WPCentrify cookie consent at a glance

• Holds analytics, ad pixels and embeds until the visitor chooses, including code pasted into the theme header.
• Reject all sits beside Accept all with the same weight, and every category starts switched off.
• Google Consent Mode v2 signals, basic by default, while trackers from other companies are held too.
• Respects Global Privacy Control.
• Records every answer with the banner and policy version that were showing, exportable as CSV.
• Lists the third parties each site loads, by name, and checks the live page from outside.
• Writes privacy policy, cookie policy and terms of use pages from templates.
• Runs on every site you manage from one dashboard, and stands down if another consent plugin is active.

What it holds back until visitors choose

Trackers reach a WordPress site in three ways: added by a plugin, pasted into the theme, or loaded later by another script such as a tag manager. WPCentrify holds all three until the visitor accepts the category they belong to.

• Analytics: Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager containers, Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar and similar tools.
• Advertising: the Meta pixel, Google Ads, TikTok, LinkedIn and other ad tags.
• Embeds: YouTube, Vimeo and Google Maps. An embed shows a short note and an Allow and show button instead of loading behind the visitor's back.
• Everything else it recognizes: chat widgets, call tracking and pixels sent with fetch or beacon requests, not only script tags.

What keeps working: carts, logins and form submissions, because they are strictly necessary. Security checks and payment forms such as reCAPTCHA, Cloudflare Turnstile and Stripe are never held back, because a contact form nobody can send is worse than any tracker. If the business relies on a product to run, such as call tracking that swaps phone numbers, you can mark it to always load and the decision is recorded with the reason.

Google Consent Mode v2, without letting other trackers through

Google Consent Mode tells Google tags whether the visitor said yes. WPCentrify sends Consent Mode v2 signals on every site with the banner switched on, so Google Analytics and Google Ads behave the way the visitor chose.

• Basic mode by default. Google tags do not load until the visitor accepts.
• Advanced mode if you choose it for a site. Google tags load at once and send cookieless pings while consent is denied.
• Everything else is still held. Consent Mode only speaks to Google. Meta, Microsoft Clarity, TikTok and the rest wait for the visitor too.

Our guide explains basic and advanced Consent Mode and why Google Analytics numbers drop when consent works.

See what each site loads

You cannot ask consent for trackers you do not know about. What's on my site lists the third parties each site loads, gathered from real page views and from checks of the site's pages, and names the product behind each one, such as Google Analytics, Meta Pixel or Microsoft Clarity.

• A third party it does not recognize is shown as a question for you to answer, not ignored.
• Decide which category a product belongs to, or mark it to always load, and the decision is recorded.
• Is it working? checks the live homepage the way a visitor gets it and tells you if anything that should wait is loading early.

Privacy policy, cookie policy and terms, written for you

A banner should link to a cookie policy and a privacy policy, and many sites have neither. From the same Consent tab, WPCentrify writes a privacy policy, a cookie policy and terms of use from templates filled with the business's details, plus a HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices for US clinics.

• It asks only for the details the chosen documents need.
• Pages are created as drafts by default, so they can be reviewed first.
• A page you already have is never replaced unless you tick it.
• It is guidance, not legal advice, and the screen says so.

What it does not do

• It is not a Google-certified CMP and does not support IAB TCF. Google requires a certified CMP for AdSense, Ad Manager and AdMob publishers serving personalized ads in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland. If that is you, use a certified tool.
• It has no "Do Not Sell or Share" opt-out link. Global Privacy Control is respected, but a separate opt-out flow for US state laws is not built.
• It cannot delete other companies' cookies, because browsers do not let any site do that.
• The live page check reads the page as it arrives. It cannot see trackers that a script adds after the page has loaded, which is what the in-browser test covers.
• It is not legal advice. It gives you the tools and records; which rules apply to a site is a question for whoever handles its privacy compliance.

How to turn on cookie consent for a WordPress site

1. Connect the site. Install the WPCentrify plugin on the WordPress site and connect it to your dashboard. Nothing else needs installing for cookie consent.
2. Review what the site loads. Open the site's Consent tab and look at What's on my site. It lists the third parties the site loads, by name, so you can decide how each one is treated.
3. Set the banner and Consent Mode. Under What it says, set the wording, links, colors and position. Leave Google Consent Mode v2 on basic unless you have decided advanced mode is right for the site.
4. Publish the banner. Publish it. The site's page caches are emptied so visitors get the new banner straight away.
5. Check it works. Open Is it working? and check the live page, then open the site in a private window and confirm in DevTools that trackers wait for Accept all.