When you add analytics to your website, a cookie consent banner appears for your visitors. It lets each person accept, reject, or choose exactly which cookies they're happy with — and no analytics run until they decide.
Where to Find This
The banner appears automatically on your live public website. There's nothing to switch on: it turns up as soon as you add a tracker such as Google Analytics (Services → Integrations tab) or connect HubSpot. You'll see it yourself when you open your public site in a normal browser.
What You'll Learn
- When the banner appears
- What your visitors see and choose
- What happens to analytics before someone agrees
- How a visitor can change their mind later
When the Banner Appears
The banner only shows up when there's actually a tracker to ask about. If you haven't added Google Analytics or connected HubSpot, your visitors see no banner at all — there's nothing to consent to.
Once a tracker is configured, the banner appears the first time each visitor arrives, until they make a choice.
The banner never shows inside the website editor. It's only for real visitors on your live site, so it won't get in your way while you're building pages.
What Your Visitors See
When the banner first appears, it explains in plain language that the site uses cookies and offers three clear choices:
- Accept all — turns on every optional tracker
- Reject non-essential — keeps only the cookies the site needs to work
- Choose cookies — opens a preferences window to decide tracker by tracker
Accept all and Reject non-essential are shown with equal prominence, so neither choice is pushed harder than the other.
Choosing Cookies
If a visitor clicks Choose cookies, a Cookie preferences window opens with two groups:
Essential
These are Always on and can't be switched off, because the site needs them to work. They include:
- Session Cookie (Sign-in) — keeps someone signed in
- Cookie Preferences — remembers the choice they make in this window
- Payment security — protects checkout from fraud, on payment pages only (provided by Stripe)
Analytics
These are optional and start switched Off. Each tracker has its own On/Off toggle, so a visitor can allow one and refuse another. Depending on what you've set up, this can include:
- Visitor statistics — counts visits and shows which pages are most popular (Google Analytics)
- Returning visitors — recognises repeat visits and remembers details in forms (HubSpot)
The visitor turns each one on or off, then clicks Save choices.
What Happens Before Someone Agrees
Analytics stay completely switched off until a visitor gives permission. Nothing about how they use the site is recorded until they click Accept all, or switch a specific tracker on and save. If they reject a tracker, it never runs.
This means your visitor numbers in Google Analytics only count people who agreed to be measured. That's expected — it's how consent-based tracking is meant to work.
Changing Your Mind
Once a visitor has made a choice, the banner disappears and a small cookie button takes its place on the page. Anyone can click it at any time to reopen the Cookie preferences window and change what they allow. If they switch off something they'd previously allowed, the site clears those analytics cookies straight away.
Related Articles
- Adding Google Analytics — set up the tracker that most often brings up the banner