Today, I will be talking about WordPress cookie consent – what it is, why you need to respect it, and how you can implement it on your website. It’s a subject that we all love to hate: on the one hand, those popups asking you to consent to cookies are very annoying, but on the other, they are there for a reason, as I shall explain.
What Are Cookies and Why Do I Need to Ask Visitors to Consent to Them?
Cookies are text files created and stored by a server whenever it connects to your site. It contains data like your username, password, location, browser and device type, etc., to identify your computer on the network.
Privacy laws have gotten stronger in recent years and now encompass how electronic data is captured, stored, and used. Previously, servers could gather a lot of data about you and your habits online without you even knowing about it. However, governments globally –particularly the European Union (EU) – are trying to give users better control over the data collected about them and how it is stored and used.
The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became active in May 2018. It requires websites that reach users in the EU to obtain their explicit consent to cookies that capture personal data, plus they must also agree to the use of cookies used for tracking purposes.
Cookie consent legislation is not restricted just to the EU. For example, the State of California in the USA has the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which has similar rigid protections that must be adhered to. Failure to obtain users’ explicit consent to the use of cookies in jurisdictions that require it can lead to legal consequences. Therefore, my advice is to get users’ consent regardless of where they are.
You may have seen some websites have a full-blown cookie policy alongside (or included in) their privacy policy. Generally speaking, it is not essential to have a cookie policy, although you do need to state how your site uses cookies.
How Do I Add Cookie Consent in WordPress?
The easiest way of staying on the right side of the cookie laws is to use a WordPress cookie consent plugin. Generally, these will display a cookie consent popup whenever a user first lands on your site. The user is usually given options to either consent to them all, choose the ones they are happy with or reject their use entirely. However, if a user does not consent to cookies, access to the website or specific content should be restricted.
There are numerous WordPress cookie consent plugins available, and I will now show you seven of the most popular on the market. All of them will ensure that you gather the necessary consent, while some will also help you create a cookie policy.
CookieYes GDPR Cookie Consent & Compliance (CCPA Ready)
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This article was written by Simon Wright and originally published on Learn WordPress with WPLift.