EU Cookie Policy Google Adsense

35 Comments

  1. All those plugins seem to only inform the user – not seek consent.

    What to do if the user doesn’t consent to accepting cookies from your site? Are you allowed to show an adsense ad before the user agrees to cookies?

    1. Hi Oliver

      Most of the above plugins do seek consent and have options for seeking “explicit consent” approach and thus disable cookies allowing users to continue browsing the website.

      The whole point of seeking consent is that if the user doesn’t allow accepting cookies, then h/she shouldn’t be seeing any cookie-using-elements.

      For example, the CookieCuttr plugin as mentioned above adds advanced options such as disabling Google Analytics until the visitor has accepted cookies or disabling other cookie-using-elements on the website with a friendly message.

      I guess you are allowed to show the AdSense ad before the user makes any decision.

      Let me know if I can be of any further help.

      1. My problem is that Google does not clearly state what they expect me to do.

        When I go to their blogpost on https://adsense.blogspot.ie/2015/07/introducing-new-user-consent-policy.html I see the cookie-consent-message on top of the page. Meanwhile I already got 5 cookies from them. So what’s the point really?

        Is there a way to implement Adsense ads for non-cookie-consenters or do I have to remove it for them? Who can say?

        1. That’s true, they haven’t mentioned clearly what can be done apart from just asking to comply with the law.

          Depending on your website and business, I don’t think you need to take the “explicit consent” approach (You can see from what Adsense is doing). I, however, recommend seeking legal help if this is something you are really concerned about.

          I don’t think there’s a way to display Adsense ads without making use of cookies.

  2. Don’t users have control over cookies and third-party cookies via browser settings?

    I’ve seen these notices on some websites in the last few months and I wonder what the reason for the laws are. It seems like something users already have control over.

    1. Absolutely Steven! Users can control this from their browser settings, one reason why the Law is really stupid. It just messes the UI and might affect revenue of several publishers.

      Not many websites had taken it seriously (apart from big and corporate ones) but this enforcement from Google Adsense will compel many publishers to comply with it.

      1. Yes, I agree that this law is really stupid since people have the ability to turn cookies off in their browser. I have several websites that are not wordpress sites. I am clear on how to implement code telling people my site uses cookies, but don’t know how to turn them off if the user refuses them. How do I do that?

  3. BTW, it’d be handy if you added a checkbox to your comments so non-regular readers like me can get an email notification of replies (I use Jetpack for that).

    Thanks.

    1. Thank you for your comment and suggestion Steven. Really appreciate it.
      I have added that now!

  4. The problem is getting consent BEFORE placing cookies. Information is not enough.

    As far as I know there is no way to use adsense without cookies, aka call the adsense script with a flag ‘no-cookies’.

    That google requires the eu-consent is OK, but they should provide a technical solution as well. On there cookie info page they even write down ‘every provider will have a solution’, but google doesn’t just writing a lot of confusing text.

    what is ‘commercial reasonable’ for example, I have a couple of euro a day website with a lot of single page visitors ( it has good information so users won’t need to browse on) so I will loose most income with any kind of ‘consent before add’. So for me it’s not commercial reasonable and I can omit the consent???

    Google is just covering their ass,

    1. That’s a fair analysis, Bram. I agree they are just trying to show that they agree with it.

      Google has added the consent automatically with all blogger powered websites, I guess that’s the technical solution they have provided.

      They also launched a website last month – https://www.cookiechoices.org/ to help publishers with cookie consent. On the website, they link to few providers mentioned above in the post along with some code and guidelines of implementing it in ios and Android Apps. But yeah they could have done more helping with all AdSense publishers.

      I strongly agree with your view of Impact this could have!

  5. That’s the news but is there any technical solution provided by adsense or specially from Google or the publishers getting any kind of problem.
    Over all its nice that you came up with some nice solutions and nice post.

    1. Hi Rajeev

      Thank you for the compliment.

      As per for your first part of the question, I have seen Google has already added the consent notification bar in their publishing platform – Blogger. So, all blogger powered blogs automatically display the consent when served from EU locations.

      For WordPress, plugins are the way! (I wish Google had helped with that as well but again the community has given us so many good and free plugins as listed above).

      For ios and Andoird Apps, Google has published necessary helpful code under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License that might help several developers.
      More about on Google’s own website here – https://www.cookiechoices.org/

      My understanding is all other platforms do have something in place already.

  6. From my understanding you do not need to use any of the plugins you have suggested…

    You need to relies the term “consent” doesn’t mean they have to physically click a button. The user IS consenting by continuing to browse your site.

    If they do not agree with your cookie policy then it is up to them to remove themselves from the site. Everyone here is panicking about what if I user clicks “Deny” but the fact of the matter is, there should not be a deny if any.

    This is why you see fairly large sites only say “okay” or “Read more” there is never a “Deny” option because if you clearly state this in your cookie policy then it is all above board and legal compliant.

    All a user needs is a message that can be visible somewhere on their site which states “we use cookies”. Their continued browsing is consent.

    I really feel as if you should update your article to point this out

    1. Hi Daniel

      That’s a good point. I agree with you that we don’t need to seek any explicit consent as few plugins mentioned above allow for that.

      Now the question is how do that consent as required by law? – “require that consent be obtained.”

      If you look at how Google itself has implemented the consent in its blogger powered websites;

      “This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services, to personalize ads and to analyze traffic. Information about your use of this site is shared with Google. By using this site, you agree to its use of cookies.”

      with two buttons;

      LEARN MORE GOT IT

      So, yes like you have mentioned, there’s no need of “Deny” option and I guess users can control that from browser if they really need to.

      The important point from the legal requirement is to display the information and “obtain consent”.

      1. Okay, thanks for this bit of information. I’ll get right on implementing this on my websites. Thanks so much for your post.

  7. I use AdSense on my site but never received this email from Google about the cookies. Could it be because I have an active Privacy Policy link at the bottom of every page?

    1. Hi Tori

      Is your email address updated with Google Adsense account? I am sure they didn’t just send it to the EU publishers.

      Having an active Privacy Policy link shouldn’t matter to Google.

      Anyway, the official blog post (https://adsense.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/introducing-new-user-consent-policy.html) is also an authentic source of information and the email was just to spread the information.

      The email as you can see in the screenshot above wasn’t specific to publisher apart from mentioning their Publisher ID.

      1. Yes, my email is updated with Google. I found out about the cookie thing from a blogger who was talking about it. I guess I’m just curious as to why I didn’t get the email or why Google hasn’t put a big notification about it on our AdSense homepages!

        1. I agree. They should put a big notification if it is really that important! I guess they will do it nearer to the deadline.

          But hey, have you checked your messages directly in your Google Adsense dashboard? (This links should directly take you to your messages)

          Or click on the notifications icon on top right corner and it should have your messages there.

          1. I have checked that multiple times and still nothing 🙁

  8. Hey Guys,
    I know we are all paying close attention to Google’s new Cookie Consent Policy which now requires all publishers using AdSense to obtain visitor permission prior to collecting/using their data.
    Just wanted to offer quick reassurance that compliance doesn’t need to take more than a few minutes!
    Once activated, our Cookie Consent Banner tool proactively notifies your site’s visitors that it uses cookies, and asks for visitors’ consent all in one clean, intuitive step.
    Where most services are all or nothing: on or off, ours offers geo-targeting, and the option to personalize your banner’s message. The solution is entirely free, works seamlessly on mobile, and a breeze to install on any site!
    Hoping this helps to relieve any anxiety around the new requirements, and lets folks get back to enjoying the power of Adsense’s features.
    All the best,

  9. thank! very helpful and exhaustively. I used your methods

  10. I have to implement in my android application that use adsense to monetization?

      1. i have made a mistake the app is a game it onli store the score on the phone for users have share button and twitter and use admob.

  11. Did you know websites exist that don’t use WordPress? Nice solutions for one group of webmasters. Your title is wrong. It doesn’t tell ME how to comply. It tell WP users how to comply. If you think your URL is enough of an indicator that this is just WP related…wrong.

    1. Hi Doug,
      Thank you for your comment. Yes, I know WordPress only powers 25% of the web.
      I completely agree with you that this only provides solutions to WordPress users. That’s what we are passionate about, here at WPism – helping WordPress users.
      We write content with our audience in mind and it won’t take you long to figure out this blog is targeted to the WordPress community.

      But hey if there’s any other platform you need help with, let me know and I should be able to help you. Here’s more for popular platforms:

      For Blogger Users: Blogger automatically adds the notification (you can further customise it editing the HTML code). More information in blogger help forum – https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/blogger/_YGz8o6wwks

      For Drupal Users: Here’s the EU Cookie Compliance module that you can use – https://www.drupal.org/project/eu_cookie_compliance

      For Joomla Users: Here’s one of the popular extensions – https://extensions.joomla.org/extension/eu-e-privacy-directive

      I could go on but I would never be able to cover all platforms and CMS. So, if there’s any specific platform you need help with, please let me know!

  12. The funniest thing is that this site wpism.com doesn’t show Cookie Consent message to me (I’m from EU) and is showing adsense ads at the same time.

    1. Hi Alex,

      I had temporarily disabled to debug few things! I use the Cookie Law Info plugin and it should be up now!!

  13. Avatar of AMAN KUMAR SINGH AMAN KUMAR SINGH says:

    Now using jetpack we can add Cookie consent banner on wordpress site and it is too easy.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *