Why your cookie banner shows twice (and how to fix it)
Two cookie banners fighting for the same screen is a dead giveaway that something is installed twice. It annoys visitors, looks unprofessional, and usually means your consent is being recorded in two places that do not talk to each other.
The usual cause: two consent tools
Almost always, a consent tool has been added twice: once by your theme or platform, and again manually or through Google Tag Manager. For example a Shopify or WordPress plugin adds one banner, and a hardcoded Cookiebot or OneTrust snippet adds another. Both load, both show.
How to find the duplicate
- Open your browser dev tools, Elements tab, and search the page for the banner's container or class name; two matches means two installs.
- Check your theme or platform settings for a built-in cookie banner toggle that is on.
- Check GTM for a consent or cookie tag that duplicates a hardcoded one in the site template.
Fix it without breaking consent
Keep one tool only, the one wired into Consent Mode and your tags, and remove the other completely. Do not just hide the second banner with CSS: a hidden banner still may not be collecting valid consent, and you can end up with tags firing against no real choice. After removing it, confirm the remaining banner still blocks tags correctly and that choices are remembered between visits.
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