The Cookies tab has two jobs: finding what is on your site, and keeping the list your visitors read. Tracker Watch on the Settings tab repeats the scan every week and tells you when something new turns up.
Where to find it:
- The scan and the declaration: AiX Consent, Cookies tab.
- Tracker Watch: AiX Consent, Settings tab, the Tracker Watch box and the Check for new trackers now box.
- Alerts: the top of the Dashboard.
Scanning your site:
Press Scan my site now. The scanner fetches up to twelve of your own pages the way a stranger would, with nobody signed in: your home page, your blog page, your WooCommerce shop, cart and checkout pages if you have them, and your most recently updated pages and posts. It names the service behind each third-party script and embed, and reads the cookies your server sets. Next to the button you see when the last scan ran and how many pages it read.
A scan stops after about 25 seconds, so the screen never waits on a server that is slow to load its own pages.
Reading the results:
The results start with a line such as Found 6 services across 9 pages, then a table:
- A tick box, or a green tick when the service's cookies are already in your declaration.
- Service, with a short note when there is something to know.
- Group, the group the service belongs in.
- Cookies: how many are still to add, all listed, or sets none.
- Seen on: the pages it was found on, with and 2 more when there are more.
Tick the ones you want and press Add the ticked cookies to my declaration. You can edit every one afterwards.
On Juniper Lane Pottery, the latest scan found Google Analytics, Hotjar, Meta (Facebook) Pixel, Mailchimp, TikTok Pixel and Stripe. Every service shows all listed except the TikTok Pixel on /gift-cards/, which has 1 to add.
Extra notes in the results:
- If your server sets a cookie that is not in your declaration, a box lists those names. They come from WordPress or another plugin, so add them below with a line saying what they do.
- If any page could not be read, a box lists each address with the reason, usually a firewall or a password-protected staging site.
How the scanner finds cookies:
The scanner reads the HTML of your pages. For cookies that only appear once a script runs, or once somebody presses play on a video, it uses the built-in list of what each service is known to set. You can always add a row by hand.
Your cookie declaration:
This is the list shown in the choices panel and on your cookie policy page. Each row has a Cookie name, Group, Set by, Expires and What it does, and a Remove link.
- Press Add a cookie for a new empty row.
- Fill in the five fields.
- To delete a row, press Remove, or clear its name.
- Press Save the declaration.
The list starts with WordPress's own cookies and this plugin's own cookie, rxc_consent, already filled in, plus cookies from sister plugins such as WP Conversion Tracker when they are active. Rows are kept in group order, the same order as the banner.
Cookie families:
A name ending in a star covers a family. A row for _ga_* covers every _ga_ cookie Google Analytics creates on your site, and wordpress_logged_in_* covers every signed-in cookie WordPress sets.
Putting it on a page:
The [rxc_cookie_table] shortcode shows the declaration anywhere a shortcode works, grouped and always current. Use [rxc_cookie_table category="analytics"] for one group only. The Copy button copies the shortcode for you, and the cookie policy page built on the Policies tab already has it.
Tracker Watch:
Once a week the site is scanned again and compared with every tracking service ever seen on it. When a service turns up for the first time, you get one email and a Dashboard alert headed Tracker Watch found something new, naming the service and the page it was seen on.
The alert has two buttons: Review and add its cookies, which opens the Cookies tab, and I have dealt with it, which clears the alert.
How Tracker Watch decides what is new:
- A service is reported once, even if it sits on an older page that only some scans read.
- The very first scan sets the starting point, so you are not emailed about tools you have always had.
- Nothing is added to your declaration for you. You decide what goes in.
The Tracker Watch settings:
On the Settings tab, the Tracker Watch box has.
- Scan my site every week and tell me when a new tracking service appears. On from the start.
- Send the alert to. Leave it empty to use the site's admin address.
Underneath you see when it last checked and when the next check is due. Press Save settings after a change.
Check for new trackers now:
The Check for new trackers now box has a Check now button. It runs the weekly check straight away and compares it with what has been seen before.
A real example:
Juniper Lane Pottery's marketing helper added a TikTok Pixel to the Gift Cards page. At the next check, the owner got an email headed A new tracking service appeared on your site, naming TikTok Pixel (Marketing) seen on the gift cards page. The pixel was already held until visitors chose Marketing, because the TikTok Pixel is on the built-in list. The owner pressed Review and add its cookies, added its cookie, then pressed I have dealt with it.
Tips:
- Scan again after adding a plugin, a page builder widget or a new embed.
- After adding a new tracker's cookies, consider Ask everyone again on the Settings tab, so returning visitors are asked about it.
Next steps:
See The Five Cookie Categories Explained for filing rows, and Cookie Policy Page, Do Not Sell Page And Data Request Form for the page that shows this list.