How to get accurate results

Hi @wbweb2019,
The best method for running the scan is indeed to clear cookies beforehand, and to have “Send a Do Not Track signal” and your Ad-blocker disabled. We have written a detailed article about optimizing the Cookie Scan results, which you can find here: https://complianz.io/cookie-scan-results/

The cookies listed in your post seem completely normal. Summarizing: wp_test_cookie – to check if cookies can be placed
wp_logged_in – to keep users logged in,
wfwaf-auth – auth/login in Wordfence
_ga & _gid – store & track Google Analytics pageviews

Kind regards,
Jarno

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by jarnovos.

Thank you for your quick reply.
I have checked both of those things and they are disabled.
I have cleared my browser cookies and reset the plugin but now the google analytics cookies are not showing. I am doing something wrong?

@wbweb2019
I don’t think you are doing anything wrong. When I visit your page, there are no Analytics cookies being placed at all.

Are there any specific Cookies that you expect to be placed, but are not showing up in the scan? Complianz re-scans for cookies on a regular basis, to keep your cookie list up to date.

Kind regards,
Jarno

Yes, I have google analytics (using Monster Insights). The ga cookies were showing in one scan I did this morning but now they’re not even showing when I use inspect.
Not sure what has changed? Expect I keep clearing browser cookies and resetting the plugin to try to get all the cookies that I mentioned in my first message.

I have just tried to start from scratch. Deactivated the plugin, cleared browser cookies, reactivated the plugin, ran the scanner and now I have all these showing in the list and they’re all classed as Miscellaneous. I’m starting to go a little crazy trying to get this to work.

bulkPage
bulkSecret
WP_DATA_USER_1
bulkTime
wp-api-schema-modelhttps://cultivateit.co.uk/wp-json/wp/v2/
wordpress_test_cookie
_ga
_gid
wp-settings-1
wp-settings-time-1
complianz_policy_id
wordpress_sec_c4ae2691e5decb2d767d088eef62f41a
wordpress_logged_in_c4ae2691e5decb2d767d088eef62f41a
wfwaf-authcookie-f6485b4996896a110a18d151223dc8d5

Hi @wbweb2019,

Please rerun the sync with cookiedatabase.org for miscellaneous cookies to be categorised.

On a dynamic website, where cookies are set on interaction or on certain pages, rerunning the scan multiple times, clearing cache and starting over might give different results. This is not an issue, as Complianz will rerun the scan and sync on the background to complete and adjust your cookie policy for you environment.

As an example a Google cookie; this might be triggered based on an event on your website. If the event has not passed, we can’t identify the cookie. So we need some time to collect all variables.

I would suggest resynching with Cookiedatabase.org and finishing the wizard. Complianz will keep optimizing results in the meantime.

Hope this helps,

regards Aert

Ok, thank you.
I have just tried to do that but it is now not pulling through the Google Analytics cookies which surely are the most important to declare. When I use an incognito window those cookies are showing on the site but are not included in the policy (because they aren’t showing when I am logged in). How can I leave the policy without those cookies showing? Visitors will be shown an incomplete list of cookies.

Hi @wbweb2019,
I have checked the website once more, and Google Analytics now correctly shows up in your Cookie Policy.

As Aert explained in the previous post, the plugin needs some time to fully detect and collect all variables.

Hope this helps,
Jarno

Hi,

Yes, I re-ran the scanner this morning and updated the page.
It still wasn’t showing all the GA cookies so I have added the bottom two myself.

The only thing I’m experiencing now is that the plugin isn’t blocking the GA cookies before consent. Is there anything I can do?

Hi @wbweb2019,

The cookies from GA are being blocked before consent (_gat, _gid).
The only other one being placed before consent is the _gali cookie, which is an API request for Pagespeed. So you are likely using Search Console or some other plugin that uses Pagespeed.

Hi

I’m sorry but that’s not what I’m seeing in an incognito window. The GA cookies are all there straight away and also don’t go when I select ‘Functional Cookies Only’….

@wbweb2019
I am not sure which GA cookies are being referred to. Please see the 3 attached screenshots from the link below to see how it looks like when testing on my end.

Cookies on cultivateit

Hi

Thanks for the screen shots.

I have also tested again in a new incognito window and have found that the stats and marketing cookies are not there to begin with and they only appeared with consent. So that’s great.

However, I am also finding that the cookies still remain even when I change the preference back again. Is that to do with a delay or some other reason?

(I have screenshots but can’t see how to attach them).

@wbweb2019
Are you referring to the deletion of cookies from a visitor’s browser, after they have already been placed? Deleting cookies from someone’s browser could be considered invasive.

When a visitor withdraws their consent, already set cookies are no longer useful, but cannot be removed on third-party domains. Manipulating cookies or data on third-party domains like ‘Google.com’ is not possible as this would cause major security issues.

Please refer to https://complianz.io/withdrawing-consent/ for more information about this.

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by jarnovos.

Ok, thank you. I wasn’t aware that the cookies could remain on someone’s browser but not collect data.

Thank you for clarifying.