Cookie consent for WordPress, explained
WordPress makes adding a consent banner a one-click plugin job, which is the problem: the banner appears, everyone assumes it works, and the tracking tags keep firing underneath it because nobody connected the two.
A banner is not the same as blocking
Most consent plugins show a banner and store the choice. Whether they actually stop GA4 and your pixels depends on configuration. If your tags are added by a separate analytics plugin or pasted into the theme header, the consent plugin may not control them at all, so cookies load even on reject.
The common WordPress gaps
- Two plugins: one adds GA4, another handles consent, and they do not talk, which can also cause a double banner.
- Header-pasted tags that fire before the consent plugin loads.
- No Consent Mode, so a decline means zero data instead of modelled data.
How to do it right
Run your tags through Google Tag Manager and let a consent plugin that supports Consent Mode gate them, rather than scattering tags across plugins and the theme. Then test: reject, and confirm GA4 and your pixels do not set cookies. One consent tool, one tag container, choices that are respected and remembered.
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