Web analytics compliance, explained honestly

Do you actually need that cookie banner? For a lot of sites, it's there for one reason: the analytics tool they picked.

I'm James, founder of Privatus Analytics. I'm not a lawyer, and this isn't legal advice, but here's how the rules work, in plain words.

Picture a new visitor. They searched, they clicked, they're interested. The first thing they see isn't your headline. It's a grey box asking them to accept cookies. Some click accept. Some click no. Some just leave. Everyone who said no is invisible to you from that moment. For many sites that's a large share of their visitors, gone from every report. So the banner costs you twice. It gets in front of your offer, and it blinds your analytics. Why is it there? In Europe and the UK, consent rules cover two things. Storing or reading things on your visitor's device, like cookies. And personal data, like an IP address tied to a person. Google Analytics sets cookies to recognise a returning browser, so in most of Europe it needs consent first. You didn't choose the banner. Your analytics tool chose it for you.

Privatus Analytics stores nothing on the device. No cookies, no local storage, and no fingerprinting. Your visitor's IP address is used in memory to count the visit and find the country, then it's gone. It's never stored. Several regulators, including France's, exempt audience measurement from consent when it's done this carefully, and that is exactly how this is built. So for most sites, measurement here doesn't need a banner, and every visitor is counted. I'll be straight with you. This is the least settled corner of the law, and your own setup decides your position. Our compliance pages give you our reasoning, law by law, with template text for your privacy policy. One more thing people miss. The banner is about everything on your page. Ads, embedded videos and chat widgets set their own cookies, so switching analytics is the first step, not the last. Visitors who send a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal aren't recorded at all, and any visitor can opt out.

Your analytics no longer needs a banner. The visitors who said no are back in your numbers. And the first thing people see is your site, not a grey box.

Measure your site without asking permission. Start free at privatusanalytics.com.