Tags firing after a refusal
For a tag that depends on consent, this may indicate an unintended transfer and warrants a review of the configuration and applicable law. Consent Matrix reports an observation; it does not determine a violation.
SENRIKO CONSENT MATRIX
Free Cookie Consent Checker
Your tags after “Accept all”: reporting, or silent?
Test whether analytics and advertising tags actually respect your cookie consent banner.
SENRIKO Consent Matrix opens your page in three clean browser sessions: before any consent choice, after Accept All and after Reject All. Then it shows what GA4, Google Ads, Meta Pixel and Google Tag Manager actually do in each one.
Free, no signup required. The full result is visible immediately: no account, no “unlock to see which tags”.
| Tag | Banner untouched | Accepted all | Refused all |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Analytics 4 | Nothing | Sent data | Cookieless signal |
| Google Ads | Nothing | Loaded, sent nothing | Nothing |
| Meta Pixel | Sent data | Sent data | Sent data |
| Google Tag Manager | Loaded, sent nothing | Loaded, sent nothing | Loaded, sent nothing |
Meta Pixel reported after a refusal. Google Ads stayed silent after consent.
HOW THE CHECK RUNS
Check whether tracking fires before consent
A cookie banner that looks right does not prove the tags behind it wait for an answer. On many sites the banner is in place while analytics and advertising scripts load and report the moment the page opens. This check watches what the browser actually sends.
We open your page three times from a server in Germany, each time in a clean browser with no history. The only difference between the visits is the answer we give the consent banner.
- 01 · Banner untouched
Before consent
The page opens and nobody touches the banner. We record which tracking tags load and which network requests leave before the visitor has made any choice.
- 02 · Accepted all
After Accept All
We press accept the way a visitor would. Analytics and advertising tags that wait for consent should start reporting now, and any that stay silent are losing you data.
- 03 · Refused all
After Reject All
We press reject. A tag that depends on consent and still sends data about the visit is reporting against the answer it was given.
WHAT IT WATCHES
What does the cookie consent checker test?
Every tracking request the browser sends in each of the three visits, matched against the tags we recognise.
Google Analytics 4
Google's website analyticsWhether GA4 sends hits before consent, after acceptance and after refusal, and whether it switches to Google’s cookieless consent-mode signal.
Google Ads
Google advertising: conversions and remarketingConversion and remarketing requests, visit by visit, so a tag that stays silent after Accept All is as visible as one that reports after Reject All.
Meta Pixel / Facebook Pixel
Meta's advertising pixel for Facebook and Instagram adsThe pixel’s own network signals, compared across the three consent states.
Google Tag Manager
Google's container that loads other tagsWhether the container loads. GTM itself is a loader, so what matters is what it fires in each state.
Also recognised
- TikTok
- LinkedIn Insight
- Microsoft Ads
- Microsoft Clarity
- Hotjar
- Yandex Metrica
Cookie consent and tag gating
We answer the banner through the consent tool’s own interface where we know it (OneTrust, Cookiebot, Usercentrics, Didomi), and through known banner rules or the button’s text elsewhere. The result names the consent tool and how it was answered.
Comparing the three visits exposes two opposite problems: tracking that runs before consent or after a refusal, and tracking that stays switched off even after the visitor accepts. The second is the expensive one, because your ad platforms keep optimising on conversions they never received.
To see which of these tags a page carries in the first place, with their IDs, use the conversion tracking checker.
WHAT WE LOOK FOR
Two mistakes, opposite directions
One of them is a question about consent. The other leaves no trace on the page, which is why it can run for months.
Tags silent after consent
After the banner was accepted, the observed tag did not send a signal within the test window. If that tag is expected on this page and depends on consent, measurement may be understated. Verify the real user journey and server-side tagging.
WHY THREE VISITS
Cookie banner checker vs. cookie scanner
Both look at the same page but answer different questions.
What is on this page?
- Visits the page once, usually without answering the banner
- Lists the cookies and scripts it finds
- Tells you a tag is installed, not whether it waits for consent
Does the visitor’s choice change what is sent?
- Visits three times: banner untouched, Accept All, Reject All
- Records what each tag sends in each visit
- Shows whether the banner holds tracking back, and whether consent lets it through
A cookie scanner is useful for an inventory. To check whether your cookie banner actually blocks tracking, you need to compare what happens after each answer.
WHAT COMES BACK
A result you can send to whoever maintains the site
The whole result appears on one page as soon as the three visits finish, and the link works for 30 days for anyone you send it to.
What we saw, in one sentence
A plain reading of the three visits, written as an observation about the page rather than a judgement about your business.
The matrix itself
Every tag we recognise, in every consent state, with the word for what it did.
The requests behind it
The network calls we intercepted, sanitised before they were stored, for whoever has to fix the tagging.
FAQ
Questions about testing tracking and cookie consent
How do I check if tracking fires before cookie consent?
Enter the page’s address and run the check. The first of the three visits opens the page in a clean browser with no history and leaves the cookie banner untouched. Every analytics or advertising request that leaves during that visit was sent before the visitor made any choice, and the result shows it in the “Banner untouched” column.
Can I check whether a cookie banner actually blocks tracking?
Yes. The result compares three visits to the same page: before consent, after Accept All and after Reject All. Where the banner blocks tracking, the tags stay silent before consent and after refusal, and report after acceptance. A tag that sends data before any choice, or after Reject All, is flagged for review.
Does the checker test GA4 and Google Ads?
Yes, whenever their activity can be observed in the browser. For each visit it records whether Google Analytics 4 and Google Ads sent data, only loaded, sent nothing, or sent Google’s limited cookieless signal. Tags fired from your own server cannot be seen by any browser check.
Does it test Meta Pixel or Facebook Pixel?
Yes. The Meta Pixel, formerly the Facebook Pixel, is one of the tags we recognise, and its visible network signals are compared between the three consent states. Events sent through Meta’s Conversions API from your server are not visible to it.
Is this a GDPR compliance checker?
No. It detects technical, browser-side behaviour related to consent: which tags send data before a choice, after acceptance and after refusal. It does not decide whether a site complies with the GDPR or any other law. That depends on the jurisdiction, where the visitor is, the legal basis, the purpose of each tag and the consent setup as a whole, which one browser check cannot establish.
What if tracking stays silent after I click Accept All?
It can be a sign of a configuration mistake, for example a tag that waits for consent and is never told it arrived. It does not always mean something is broken: the tag may fire on another page, only after an action such as a form submission or a purchase, or from your server, where no browser can see it.
BEFORE YOU READ ANYTHING INTO IT
What this check cannot tell you
- 01
One page, one moment. A tag that fires elsewhere, or an hour from now, is outside this snapshot.
- 02
One location: our server in Germany. Consent banners are often shown only in some countries, and behaviour differs by region.
- 03
Server-side tagging sends conversions from your own server, where no browser can see them. We say so rather than reporting them as missing.
- 04
This is not legal advice or a compliance finding. Lawfulness depends on the tag's purpose, legal basis, visitor location, and settings that one browser check cannot establish.