# Diffuse Tools > Embeddable website widgets: cookie notice, store locator, contact button, donations and Google Reviews. Customisable without coding. Full content, including complete blog articles: https://diffuse.tools/llms-full.txt ## What is Diffuse Tools? Diffuse Tools is a set of embeddable widgets you add to an existing website with a snippet of code. Each widget is configured from a dashboard at https://app.diffuse.tools/ rather than in code, so the styling and content can be changed without a developer or a redeploy. It is built by Diffuse, a web agency based in the Netherlands. ## Products - **Cookie Notice** (https://diffuse.tools/cookie-notice): Achieve GDPR/CCPA compliance with our simple yet beautiful Cookie Banner. Includes support for Google Consent Mode v2. No coding required. Start with a free trial. - **Store Locator** (https://diffuse.tools/store-locator): Make sure your customers know where to find you with our good lookin' store locator based on Google Maps. Try for free! - **Contact Button** (https://diffuse.tools/contact-button): Add a free WhatsApp, Messenger or custom contact button to your website. Customizable without coding. Setup in minutes! - **Donations** (https://diffuse.tools/donations): Easily receive donations with our Donations Tool. Try for free! - **Google Reviews** (https://diffuse.tools/google-reviews): The best solution for displaying your Google Reviews with ease and style. No coding skills required! ## Other pages - **Partner Program** (https://diffuse.tools/partner-program): Become a partner and use our tools in all of your projects. Get a 30% discount on all of our products. - **Blog** (https://diffuse.tools/blog): Straightforward guides for people who run a website, explained without the jargon. - **Privacy Statement** (https://diffuse.tools/privacy): How Diffuse handles personal data. - **Terms & Conditions** (https://diffuse.tools/terms): Terms of service for Diffuse Tools. ## Comparisons - [How we compare](https://diffuse.tools/compare): all of the below in one table. - [Complianz alternative: for sites that are not on WordPress](https://diffuse.tools/alternative/complianz): Complianz is a WordPress plugin, and a good one. If your sites are not all WordPress, that is the whole conversation. - [Cookiebot alternative: a simpler option for smaller sites](https://diffuse.tools/alternative/cookiebot): Cookiebot prices by how many pages your site has. If yours is content-heavy, that adds up fast. Here is an honest comparison. - [CookieYes alternative: flat pricing, no pageview counting](https://diffuse.tools/alternative/cookieyes): CookieYes charges by pageviews, per domain, in dollars. If your traffic is growing, here is what that means next to a flat monthly price. ## Common questions ### Contact Button - How can I add a WhatsApp chat widget to my website? - How can I customize the Contact Button? - Does the Contact Button work with my CMS or site builder? - Can I change the chat button to use other messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, Signal or Instagram? - Can I use the contact widget for free? - Will the Contact Button work on any domain? ### Cookie Notice - How do I implement a Cookie Notice on my website? - How can I adjust the Cookie Notice to the style of my website? - How can I adjust the texts of the cookie banner and cookie settings popup? - Do you have default or example texts for the Cookie Notice that I can use? - What are the different types of cookies? - My website only uses Google Analytics, do I need a cookie notification? - I notice a drop in traffic in my web analytics after implementing the Cookie Notice, what's wrong? - Is my website GDPR compliant after implementing your Cookie Notice? - What happens if visitors click away the cookie banner using the cross? - How long are the user's preferences stored? - How can users change the cookie settings? ### Donations - Can I add the Donations Tool to any website? ### Google Reviews - How can I add Google Reviews to my website? - How can I customize the Google Reviews widget? - Does the Google Reviews widget work with my CMS or site builder? - Can I use the Google Reviews widget for free? - Will the Google Reviews widget work on any domain? ### Store Locator - Can I add the Store Locator to any website? - How can I manage my locations? - Can I customize the Store Locator to match my brand identity? Answers to all of these are in https://diffuse.tools/llms-full.txt ## Blog - [What are essential cookies? A plain-English guide](https://diffuse.tools/blog/what-are-essential-cookies) (2026-08-24): Some cookies need permission. A small group doesn't. Here is how to tell which is which, without the legal jargon. - [Cookie notice, cookie banner, cookie policy: what's the difference?](https://diffuse.tools/blog/cookie-notice-vs-banner-vs-policy) (2026-08-23): Three phrases that get used as if they mean the same thing. They don't, and the one you're missing is usually the one that matters. - [How to choose a cookie notice tool: 8 things to check](https://diffuse.tools/blog/how-to-choose-a-cookie-notice-tool) (2026-08-22): They all look the same on the pricing page. These are the questions that tell them apart, in plain language. - [How to add a cookie notice to your website](https://diffuse.tools/blog/how-to-add-a-cookie-notice-to-your-website) (2026-08-21): What needs to happen, in what order, and how to tell whether the one you already have is doing anything. - [What is Google Consent Mode, and do you need it?](https://diffuse.tools/blog/what-is-google-consent-mode) (2026-08-20): If you use Google Analytics or Google Ads and you have visitors in Europe, this affects you. Here is what it is, in plain language. ## Links - Dashboard and login: https://app.diffuse.tools/ - Support: support@diffuse.tools - Sitemap: https://diffuse.tools/sitemap.xml --- # Frequently asked questions ## Contact Button URL: https://diffuse.tools/contact-button **How can I add a WhatsApp chat widget to my website?** Sign up to create a Contact Button for your website. In the admin panel, simply choose WhatsApp as your prefered platform and enter your phone number. Copy and paste the installation code into your website and you're done! Follow our installation instructions here. **How can I customize the Contact Button?** After signing up, you will be able to fully style* and edit the Contact Button to your needs. Our easy-to-use editor requires no programming skills! Next, copy and paste the generated installation code into your website and it works. Read our installation manual to get step by step guidance. * You need a Pro plan to get complete styling abilities of the widget. **Does the Contact Button work with my CMS or site builder?** Absolutely! After generating the installation code from the admin panel, you can just paste the code into the of your website. Do you have platform specific questions on how to implement the script? Send us an email and we're happy to help! **Can I change the chat button to use other messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, Signal or Instagram?** Yes you can! Click here to see the list of supported platforms. You can even create a custom button, starting conversations with your customers wherever you like. **Can I use the contact widget for free?** Yep! Sign up and pick our Free plan. If you need more options, you can always upgrade to our Pro plan from the admin panel. **Will the Contact Button work on any domain?** When signing up, you need to enter your domain name. We will then generate a unique license key for this domain. When you copy the installation code from the admin panel, your unique key is automatically included. You can always read our installation manual for further instructions. --- ## Cookie Notice URL: https://diffuse.tools/cookie-notice **How do I implement a Cookie Notice on my website?** For the integration of the cookie banner and the setup of Google Tag Manager, please refer to the installation instructions. We explain step by step how to install the Cookie Notice. **How can I adjust the Cookie Notice to the style of my website?** You can easily adjust the appearance of the cookie banner and cookie settings from our intuitive Tools Dashboard. Read our installation guide for more instructions. **How can I adjust the texts of the cookie banner and cookie settings popup?** When you configure the Cookie Notice from our Tools Dashboard, you are able to edit all the texts used by the Cookie Notice. The default language is English. Pro-users are able to easily add translations. **Do you have default or example texts for the Cookie Notice that I can use?** When you configure the Cookie Notice, default texts are available. If you use the Pro version, you will be able to easily add translations. **What are the different types of cookies?** Cookies can be divided into four different categories: Essential cookies (essential): These cookies are used to make the website function properly. You do not need the user's permission to post it. That is why these cookies are set to 'always on' in our cookie notification. If you have set up Google Analytics correctly, you can also group this under these cookies. Things such as 'remember me' or remembering the number of items in your shopping cart are also part of these essential cookies. Preference cookies (preferences): Preference cookies ensure that a website can remember information that influences the behavior and design of the website. This includes remembering the preferred language or the region where the user lives. Even without approving these cookies, your website must still be functional. Analytische cookies (statistics): For these analytical/statistical cookies you must request permission if you collect data from your visitors that track their surfing behavior. Google Analytics is an example of this. However, if you set up Google Analytics correctly you cannot treat these cookies as Analytical cookies and you can always load them. Advertising cookies (marketing): These Marketing cookies are used to track visitors and thus show advertisements based on their surfing behavior. All scripts / cookies with retargeting or remarketing purposes (such as the Facebook pixel, Google Adwords, LinkedIn website retargeting, etc.) are part of marketing cookies. **My website only uses Google Analytics, do I need a cookie notification?** The short answer is yes. The easiest way to set this up is by using Google's new Consent Mode. Read our Installation Manual for further instructions. **I notice a drop in traffic in my web analytics after implementing the Cookie Notice, what's wrong?** This happens because GDPR law states that you cannot track users unless they explicitly consent by enabling tracking and third-party cookies. This does not apply if you have set up Google Analytics using Google Consent Mode. Head over to our Installation Manual for more information. **Is my website GDPR compliant after implementing your Cookie Notice?** When you correctly implement the Cookie Notice into your website, your website complies with the new GDPR cookie law. In our Installation Guide we will explain you how to do this. **What happens if visitors click away the cookie banner using the cross?** When visitors click away the cookie banner without accepting the cookies, only the essential cookies are placed. The banner will be displayed again on every page. Only when the user allows all cookies or changes the cookie settings, the banner will no longer be displayed. This choice is remembered for one year, unless the user removes the cookies from the browser in the meantime. **How long are the user's preferences stored?** The preferences of the user are remembered for the period of one year. This applies to the device with which the website is visited. For this purpose a cookie is stored with the name 'cookie_consent'. This cookie falls under the essential cookies. For the sake of completeness, you should include in your privacy statement that your website places the 'cookie_consent' cookie and what its function is. **How can users change the cookie settings?** This can be done by including a link in your website with the class 'diffuse-cookie-settings'. This link will look like this: Change cookie settings. After clicking on this link, the cookie settings are displayed. Click here for an example on this website. --- ## Donations URL: https://diffuse.tools/donations **Can I add the Donations Tool to any website?** Yes you can! Our Donations Tool supports all CMS or website platforms. You only need to copy/paste the code snippet from the Diffuse Tools control panel and add it to the source code of your website. We recommend using Google Tag Manager for the easiest implementation. Check out our documentation on how to do this. --- ## Google Reviews URL: https://diffuse.tools/google-reviews **How can I add Google Reviews to my website?** Sign up to create a Google Reviews widget for your website. In the admin panel, connect your Google Place ID and Google Places API key. Copy and paste the installation code into your website and you're done! Follow our installation instructions here. **How can I customize the Google Reviews widget?** After signing up, you will be able to fully style and edit the Google Reviews widget to your needs. No programming skills needed! Next, copy and paste the generated installation code into your website and you're done. Read our installation manual to get step by step guidance. **Does the Google Reviews widget work with my CMS or site builder?** Absolutely! After generating the installation code from the admin panel, you can just paste the code into the of your website. Do you have platform specific questions on how to implement the script? Send us an email and we're happy to help! **Can I use the Google Reviews widget for free?** Yep! Sign up and pick our Free plan. If you need more options, you can always upgrade to our Pro plan from the admin panel. **Will the Google Reviews widget work on any domain?** When signing up, you need to enter your domain name. We will then generate a unique license key for this domain. When you copy the installation code from the admin panel, your unique key is automatically included. You can always read our installation manual for further instructions. --- ## Store Locator URL: https://diffuse.tools/store-locator **Can I add the Store Locator to any website?** Absolutely! The Store Locator supports all CMS or website platforms. You only need to copy/paste the code snippet from the Diffuse Tools control panel and add it to the source code of your website. We recommend using Google Tag Manager for the easiest implementation. Check out our documentation on how to do this. **How can I manage my locations?** The locations can be easily managed within our control panel. Just create your free Diffuse Tools account if you haven't already and we'll take you from there. **Can I customize the Store Locator to match my brand identity?** Oh yes! The Store Locator has a lot of styling options to make sure it always looks good on your website. Define text colors, styles or even add a Custom Map Style. --- # Full blog content ## What are essential cookies? A plain-English guide URL: https://diffuse.tools/blog/what-are-essential-cookies Published: 2026-08-24 Tags: cookie-notice, consent Cookies are small files your website leaves on a visitor's computer or phone so it can remember things about them. Most cookies need permission before you are allowed to use them. A small group does not: the ones your website genuinely cannot work without. Those are called **essential cookies**. Working out which of yours are truly essential, and which only feel essential, is the part most website owners get wrong. ## A simple way to think about it Imagine someone puts three things in a shopping basket on your site, then clicks through to another page. Something has to remember what they picked. That something is a cookie. Without it, the basket empties every time they move. The site simply does not work. That is an essential cookie. The visitor came to shop; remembering their basket is part of giving them what they asked for. Now picture a different cookie, one that records which pages they looked at so you can check your visitor numbers on Monday. Useful to you. But nothing breaks for the visitor if it is missing. They never asked for it. That one is not essential, and you need permission first. > **The test:** if you removed the cookie, would the visitor notice something > stop working? If yes, it is probably essential. If the only person who would > notice is you, it is not. ## Usually essential - Remembering that someone is logged in - Remembering what is in a shopping basket - Keeping your site secure, for example stopping someone submitting a form from a fake copy of your page - Remembering the cookie choice a visitor just made. You genuinely do need a cookie to remember that someone said no to cookies ## Usually not essential - Visitor statistics, including Google Analytics - Advertising, and showing ads to people who visited before - Social media feeds and share buttons - Embedded YouTube videos and Google Maps - Live chat widgets, unless the visitor opened the chat themselves That last group is the one that catches people out. A video or a map on your contact page can quietly leave cookies the moment the page loads, long before anyone has clicked anything on your banner. ## Why the difference matters If you treat something as essential when it is not, it gets used before anyone agreed to it. That is the actual problem, not the label you gave it. There is a second issue too. Essential cookies are not offered as a choice, because there is no point offering a choice you cannot say no to. So anything you mislabel is something your visitors can never refuse. ## How to check your own site You do not need any tools for a rough check. 1. Open your website in a private or incognito window. 2. Refuse everything on the cookie banner. 3. Have a look at what cookies are there anyway. In most browsers you can see this by clicking the small icon to the left of the web address, then looking for "cookies" or "site data". Anything sitting there that is not on the essential list above is worth asking your developer about. Most people find one or two surprises. ## Do you have to mention essential cookies at all? You do not need permission for them. You do still need to be open about them. Visitors are entitled to know what your site stores and roughly how long it keeps it. That belongs on a cookie page, linked from your banner. It is a short page, and writing it once is a lot less work than explaining later why it was never there. If you would rather not sort this out yourself, our [Cookie Notice](/cookie-notice) tool handles the asking, the remembering, and the holding-back of everything that needs permission. --- *This is general guidance, not legal advice. If your site handles anything sensitive, it is worth asking someone qualified where you are.* --- ## Cookie notice, cookie banner, cookie policy: what's the difference? URL: https://diffuse.tools/blog/cookie-notice-vs-banner-vs-policy Published: 2026-08-23 Tags: cookie-notice, consent If you have gone looking for a way to handle cookies on your website, you have probably seen these three phrases used as if they are interchangeable. They are not. And the difference is worth five minutes, because the piece people usually skip is the piece that actually does the work. ## The banner is the box on the screen That is it. The banner is the thing visitors see: the bar along the bottom or the little window that appears asking about cookies. It is the most visible part and, on its own, the least useful. A banner that pops up, collects a click, and changes nothing behind the scenes is decoration. This happens more often than you would think. Someone adds a banner because the site needed one, and it never gets connected to the things it is supposed to be controlling. Think of it like a light switch that is screwed to the wall but not wired to anything. It looks right. It clicks. The light does not change. ## The policy is the page that explains The cookie policy is a page on your site, usually linked in the footer, that lists what your website stores, what each thing is for, and how long it stays. It is not the same as your privacy statement, though plenty of sites combine them. That is fine, as long as the cookie detail is genuinely in there and someone can find it. The usual problem with cookie policies is not that they are missing. It is that they were written once, three years ago, and the site has picked up a chat widget and two embedded videos since. ## The notice is the whole thing working together This is the one people mean when they say they need "a cookie notice", even if they are picturing the banner. A cookie notice is the banner, plus the choice it collects, plus remembering that choice, plus, most importantly, actually acting on it. For it to be doing its job: 1. Nothing optional runs until someone says yes 2. Saying no is as easy as saying yes 3. The choice is remembered for next time 4. The choice is applied straight away on the next visit, before anything loads 5. Visitors can change their mind later without hunting for it Points 1 and 4 are the ones that get skipped, because you cannot see them by looking at the page. ## How to tell which piece you are missing Open your own site in a private window and refuse everything. Then: - **Cookies appear anyway?** You have a banner, not a notice. It is not wired up. - **Nothing explains what the cookies do?** You are missing the policy. - **The banner asks again every single visit?** The choice is not being remembered. - **No way to change your mind?** That needs to be there, and it needs to be about as easy as agreeing was. ## Why this matters when you are buying Because it decides what you are actually getting. A banner is the easy part, an afternoon's work. Holding back the optional stuff, remembering what people chose, and applying it properly next time is the hard part, and it is the part that counts. Plenty of tools sell you a banner and let you assume you bought a notice. When you are comparing options, do not look at the screenshot of the banner. Ask one question: **what actually happens when someone says no?** Our [Cookie Notice](/cookie-notice) tool covers all five points above, including the ones you cannot see from the page. --- *This is general guidance, not legal advice. If your site handles anything sensitive, it is worth asking someone qualified where you are.* --- ## How to choose a cookie notice tool: 8 things to check URL: https://diffuse.tools/blog/how-to-choose-a-cookie-notice-tool Published: 2026-08-22 Tags: cookie-notice, tools Cookie notice tools are hard to compare, because every one of them describes itself the same way. Customisable. GDPR-ready. Installs in minutes. Here is what actually differs, starting with the thing that matters most. ## 1. What happens when someone clicks "no"? This is the whole ballgame, and it is rarely answered on a pricing page. A tool that shows a banner and writes down the answer has done the easy half. The half that counts is making sure the optional things (your visitor statistics, your ads, your embedded videos) genuinely do not run until someone agrees. Ask it plainly: *if a visitor refuses, what stops running?* If the answer involves your developer wiring things up, that is a real answer, but it means there is work on your side. ## 2. Does it remember people? If someone says no today and your banner asks again tomorrow as though nothing happened, that is a problem. It is annoying for them, and it means the choice is not really being kept. Easy to test: make a choice, close your browser completely, come back. Does it remember? ## 3. Can people change their mind? Someone who said no in January should be able to say yes in March without digging through browser settings. That usually means a small button or a footer link that brings the cookie settings back. If the only way to change a decision is clearing your browser history, that is a gap. ## 4. Does it keep a record? If you are ever asked to show that someone agreed, you need something to point at. Some tools keep a log of who chose what and when. Many do not. Whether you need this depends on how cautious you want to be. Worth knowing before you are asked, rather than after. ## 5. Will it slow your site down? A cookie banner loads on every single page, and it has to load early. A heavy one makes your whole site feel slower, which affects both your visitors and how you rank in Google. Ask how big it is. If a consent banner is measured in hundreds of kilobytes, that is worth a raised eyebrow. ## 6. Does it work with Google Analytics and Google Ads? If you use either, and you have visitors in Europe, Google now expects to be told what each visitor agreed to, rather than simply being switched off. Handled well, you keep more useful information about the people who did say yes. Handled badly, you lose numbers you were perfectly entitled to have. Ask whether the tool supports Google Consent Mode. ## 7. Will it look like your site? Not vanity. A banner is the first thing a visitor sees, and one that clearly does not belong gets dismissed on reflex. Check you can change the colours, the shape, the font and where it sits, and check that is included on the plan you are actually buying, not just the expensive one. ## 8. What does it cost as you grow? Some tools charge per website, some per visitor, some per answer collected. Those add up very differently. If your traffic went up tenfold next year, what would you be paying? Better to know now. ## If you only ask two questions Ask these: **What actually stops when someone says no?** and **does it remember them next time?** Those two separate the tools that work from the tools that look like they work. Our [Cookie Notice](/cookie-notice) tool is built around both, works with Google Consent Mode, and takes its styling from your site rather than fighting it. --- *This is general guidance, not legal advice. If your site handles anything sensitive, it is worth asking someone qualified where you are.* --- ## How to add a cookie notice to your website URL: https://diffuse.tools/blog/how-to-add-a-cookie-notice-to-your-website Published: 2026-08-21 Tags: cookie-notice, how-to Most people treat adding a cookie notice as one job: put a banner on the site, tick the box, move on. That gets you something that looks finished. Here is what actually needs to happen, and roughly in what order. ## 1. Find out what your site is already doing Before you choose anything, have a look at what your website stores today. Open your site in a private or incognito window, refuse everything if a banner appears, and then check what is there anyway. In most browsers you click the small icon just left of the web address and look for "cookies" or "site data". Try a few pages, not just the homepage. Contact pages and blog posts often carry things the rest of the site does not: an embedded map, a video, a chat widget. Whatever is already sitting there before anyone agreed to anything is your actual starting point. It is usually longer than people expect. ## 2. Sort it into groups Put what you found into rough piles: - **Necessary**: the site genuinely does not work without it - **Statistics**: counting visitors and pages - **Marketing**: advertising, and following up with people who visited - **Convenience**: remembering preferences that are nice but not required Be strict about the first pile. If nothing a visitor would notice breaks when you remove something, it does not belong there. ## 3. Make sure the optional things can be held back This is the technical bit, and it is the one that decides whether any of the rest means anything. Everything outside that first pile has to be able to *not run* until someone says yes. Depending on how your site was built, that might be handled by the cookie tool automatically, or it might need your developer to connect a few things. If you are working with an agency or a developer, this is the thing to ask about specifically. Not "can you add a cookie banner", because they will say yes, but "can you make sure nothing optional loads until someone agrees". ## 4. Add the banner Now the visible part. It should: - Appear before the optional things load, not at the same time - Make refusing as easy as accepting, on the same screen - Have everything optional switched off to begin with - Link to a page explaining what your cookies do - Have nothing pre-ticked One simple rule: if saying yes takes one click and saying no takes three, that is not really a choice. ## 5. Remember the answer, and use it The choice has to be remembered, and applied straight away next time, before anything loads. This is the step most often missed, and it fails quietly. Everything looks perfect while you are testing, because you are always arriving fresh. ## 6. Let people change their mind A small button or a footer link that brings the settings back up. That is all it takes, and it needs to be there. ## 7. Write the cookie page A short page listing what your site stores, what each thing is for, and how long it stays. Link it from the banner. It does not need to be long. ## 8. Test it like a visitor, not like the owner Not "does the banner appear". Check that: - After refusing, nothing optional turns up anyway - After closing the browser and coming back, your choice was remembered - Changing your mind through the settings actually does something - It all works on a phone, where banners most often go wrong ## The bit worth not skipping Steps 3 and 5 are invisible. You cannot see them by looking at your site, which is exactly why they get dropped when a deadline is close. A site with a lovely banner and neither of them is arguably worse off than a site with no banner at all. It tells visitors their choice was respected when it was not. If you would rather not manage all this yourself, our [Cookie Notice](/cookie-notice) tool handles the holding-back, the remembering, and the changing-your-mind, and you make it look like your site. --- *This is general guidance, not legal advice. If your site handles anything sensitive, it is worth asking someone qualified where you are.* --- ## What is Google Consent Mode, and do you need it? URL: https://diffuse.tools/blog/what-is-google-consent-mode Published: 2026-08-20 Tags: cookie-notice, consent, analytics If you use Google Analytics to see how many people visit your site, or Google Ads to advertise, you may have been told you need something called Consent Mode. Here is what it is, without the jargon. ## The problem it solves Your cookie banner asks visitors whether they are happy to be tracked. Some say yes. Some say no. Before Consent Mode, you had two options for the ones who said no: track them anyway, which you are not allowed to do, or switch Google off completely for them, which means they vanish from your numbers entirely. Neither is great. The first is a problem. The second means your visitor figures quietly stop reflecting reality. ## What it changes Consent Mode adds a middle option. Instead of switching Google off, your website tells Google what each visitor agreed to. Google then adjusts what it does accordingly. Someone who said yes is measured normally. Someone who said no is not tracked, but Google still knows a visit happened, without storing anything about who they were. The practical upshot: you keep a more honest picture of your traffic, without tracking people who asked you not to. ## Do you actually need it? **If you use Google Ads and advertise to people in Europe:** yes, in practice. Since March 2024 Google has required it for advertisers targeting the EU in order to keep using features like showing ads to people who have visited before. **If you only use Google Analytics:** it is not compulsory, but without it your numbers get less accurate as more people decline. **If you use neither:** this does not apply to you. A cookie banner on its own is what you need. ## How it fits with your cookie banner Consent Mode is not a banner and it does not replace one. It is the part that carries the message. Something still has to ask the visitor and record the answer. That is your cookie notice's job. Consent Mode is what passes that answer along to Google. In order: 1. A visitor arrives, and nothing is assumed: the answer starts as "no" 2. Your banner asks what they are happy with 3. Their answer is passed to Google 4. Google adjusts what it does for that visitor Miss step 3 and the banner is for show. People click "accept", and nothing downstream is any different. ## The two mistakes worth avoiding **Assuming yes until told otherwise.** It has to start as no, and only become yes once someone actually chooses. Starting the other way round means collecting things you were not allowed to collect. **Forgetting people come back.** The answer needs to be remembered and used again on the next visit, before anything loads. Otherwise you are effectively starting from scratch every time. ## Getting it set up If someone else built your site, this is a good thing to ask them about directly: *does our cookie banner tell Google what people chose?* If you are looking after it yourself, most decent cookie notice tools handle it for you. Ours does. Our [Cookie Notice](/cookie-notice) tool supports Google Consent Mode, so the answer your visitor gives is passed on without you needing to wire anything up. --- *This is general guidance, not legal advice. If your site handles anything sensitive, it is worth asking someone qualified where you are.*