You may have received a notice from Google AdSense reminding you to ensure your site complies with the EU user consent policy. You have until September 30, 2015.
European laws require that digital publishers give visitors to their sites and apps information about their use of cookies and other forms of local storage. In many cases these laws also require that consent be obtained.
If your site has visitors from any countries in the European Union (and that’s pretty much everyone), this applies to you.
This isn’t new. The EU has had regulations related to cookie-related data collection for a long time.
What’s new is that Google will be applying this to its own services. This includes AdSense, DoubleClick for Publishers, etc.
Does all this legal and policy talk make your eyes cross? I know, me too. But hey, we have to pay attention to these things.
I Can’t Tell You What to Do
This is a tricky post for me to write because I can’t tell you specifically what to do or how to word your consent policy, and neither will Google. I haven’t even decided how I’m going to approach this yet.
The Google AdSense Team recommends seeking out legal advice to ensure the wording is correct for your site, app, etc. But let’s face it, how many publishers are really going to do that?
I’m being careful how I word this post because I don’t want to be responsible for any actions taken on your AdSense account as a result of my recommendations. I’m just the informant.
I hate to be all vague-a-liscious here :-), but hey, I tread very carefully when it comes to this legal and policy stuff.
UPDATE: I decided to go with the SilkTide solution here. No plugin needed.
The Verbiage is Tricky
The word AdSense Publishers keep getting caught up on is “consent.”
Does that mean our users must physically “accept” some kind of message or is a warning enough? Some believe a visible warning is fine, others are taking it more literally. There seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding this.
Also, does this warning need to be as aggressive as a pop-up? Does it need to be visible on your site at all times? Is adding a snippet to your privacy policy enough?
The answers aren’t really clear at all, but it sounds like we need to do more than just add a snippet to our privacy policy pages.
The good news is there are plenty of plugins out there that will help you add the consent message. The question is, what should that verbiage be? Obviously it depends on the kind of site you have, and that’s where it gets murky.
If you go to Google’s help page regarding this, they send you here for information and options (plugins) to help your site comply. The page was actually created by Google to aid publishers with compliance.
Have you updated your site yet? What are your thoughts?
Greetings Lisa Irby
Hello , very interesting this news, google always trying to optimize everything, but this is already becoming exaggerated.Sometimes google policies hurts but sometimes they bring benefits like hummingbird.
By the way this post is amazing lot of people are sharing their experience and it is very good.
Thanks Lisa Irby for this amazing post.
Adam Barton
“i got this message in my blog and i don’t understand what it means and what should i do”
European Union laws require you to give European Union visitors information about cookies used on your blog. In many cases, these laws also require you to obtain consent.
As a courtesy, we have added a notice on your blog to explain Google’s use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies.
You are responsible for confirming this notice actually works for your blog, and that it displays. If you employ other cookies, for example by adding third party features, this notice may not work for you. Learn more about this notice and your responsibilities.
Thanks for this, I installed a plug in for this, better safe than sorry
I missed the Cookie Consent deadline. Can I apply now? What are the consequences?
There’s nothing to apply for. Just add the code and you’ll be fine.
Hi Lisa
This is really a bullshit law by the European Union if you ask me. Even some of the politicians that vote for the law don’t really understand it and are talking about making changes to the law because the can see how stupid it is. Websites and blogs has been using cookies since the beginning of time. Why do we need to click on those dialog every single time we enter a site. It is just really stupid if you ask me. I have not seen any notice about this matter in AdSense however. Maybe the are only notifying people outside the EU?
Yeah…I knew it was only going to be a matter of time before gov’t started meddling with online business. This is a sign of things to come. That’s what bothers me the most. You have people passing laws without knowing what’s really going on online.
Hi Lisa! I just noticed your cookie consent at the bottom of your site – it looks good! Is this a plugin? May I ask which one you used? Thanks 🙂
Thanks Ava. I used the one on SilkTide. Very easy to implement and no plugin. Here’s the link https://silktide.com/tools/cookie-consent/
Thank you 🙂
Ooh, Lisa, I dont know if you read closely on Google’s CookieConsent.org page but they mentioned Google Analytics, too!! We ALL use GA, so I don’t think just removing AdSense is going to be the solution! EEK!
Serena @ Thrift Diving
Didn’t know that! Wow, good to know. Thank you!
Can anyone recommend a good plugin for this consent? I don’t know which one to choose
Can the consent be in English?
Thank you, i forgot it!
Ah, the EU! It’s not just Adsense that’s suffering. There’s also an EU VAT regulation that came into force in January 2015. It makes selling almost anything online such as information products, especially through automated systems (funnels) a real headache.
It’s stopped a lot of people here in the UK selling information products, me included. I’ve had to rethink my complete business model. And I’m still wracking my brain for how to proceed.
I have not heard anyone talking about this! If I had not been on your mailing list I might not have found out about EU cookie consent. Thanks so much for posting on this issue.
No problem, Pamela. What’s strange is that a lot of people have not gotten the email. I did not, nor is there a notification in my AdSense account. I only found out because of Techcrunch and people on my forum. So I don’t know if Google is just doing this to cover their butts and they aren’t going to enforce this or what. But it’s very strange how a lot of people have never gotten any messages about this. I sure didn’t yet it is definitely legit because the terms are all on Google’s site. Odd!
Well, I haven’t received any notification from Google either, now that you mention it. I just used one of the WP plugins you suggested, “WF Cookie Consent”. It puts a pop up on the bottom or top of your page and the viewer can click consent and read terms or continue on. Better safe than sorry. Let us know if you hear anything new!
This is how the EU Consent notice looks like on the Blogger platform.
http://bit.ly/eu-consent-blogger
Since Google owns Blogger, they already made some changes themselves to all blogspot blogs to comply with this EU Consent law.
Thanks for sharing Elmo. Is this on every blog or did you just find this on one blog? I checked other blogspot blogs and didn’t see the message.
It is present in all of my different Blogger Accounts. Maybe you will receive the notification if one of your blog is receiving traffic from the European countries. Or, using other services besides Google that also utilizes cookies.
15 days more to go Lisa before the dead line. Let’s hope that Google won’t be making any drastic approach into this issue particularly for those who does not comply.
I find it very strange that most people never got warned. Seems they notified Blogger blogs because they own that property and they feel responsible for that content. So in a sense they are covering their butts with the EU, I guess. But why wouldn’t they have a notification in our AdSense account if this is such a big deal? Weird!
When Hearts Blessing spoke about “anonymous traffic” it suddenly came across my mind this question, “What if your competitor website isn’t aware about the EU Consent Law and he is monetizing his website primarily with Google Adsense, or disregard about it because most of his traffic is coming from the US. Then as a bad competitor, you decided to drive massive targeted traffic into your competitor’s website which specifically comes from the UK?”. Let’s say I purchased targeted traffic from FaceBook which comes from the UK. Will this get his Adsense Account banned? If so then, this update has its own flaw.
You’ve got a point, Elmo–however the law is the law there in Europe, and I found out that sites can be fined as high as a half a million British pounds, if someone reports them…and they even provide the tool to do it with…so, nobody in the US is really “safe” from the long arm of EUROPA, IF they have traffic coming from Europe.
What you may not thinking about, though, is that competitor might have already used software to block all foreign countries, so a plan like that wouldn’t work anyway….so there’s that to consider. Blocking of all of the foreign countries, to prevent access to a US Internet site, can be done, because I checked into that. However, in the end, I decided that it wasn’t fair to them, for me block the people overseas, because this law wasn’t created by them…it was created by an organization they had nothing to do with….so, in my opinion, to restrict them wasn’t right, so, I decided to comply, and learn something while I’m doing it. 🙂
Elmo, it really COULD happen the way you’re suggesting, even IF you had a site that obeyed the EU Cookie Law, and someone had it in their mind to attack you, and cause you to lose your Adsense. There are people who would attack you that don’t even know you, if you think about it.
It’s the chance you’re taking when you choose to put Adsense Ads to monetize your site. That can happen to anyone, unless that site had measures in place to catch, and turn back, invalid traffic. Adsense has measures in place to stop invalid clicks, but we site owners, and webmasters are also responsible for paying attention to the traffic we’re getting, and taking security measures to protect our sites.
Webmasters are already held responsible for protecting their sites from surges of baddies that are the source of Denial of Service Attacks, triggered by voluminous hits of Internet traffic designed to shut a website down for hours at a time. If they don’t protect their site in the first place, then, they have no right to complain when something happens, and their site is hacked, and destroyed–of course that’s another subject, but still it’s on the same lines.
KNOW YOUR TRAFFIC. I look at mine daily. I have software that tracks hackers back to the ISP source of their hacks. You have to do it, or risk getting hacked, and viruses passed into your site, then out of your site into someone else’s computer..
Didn’t mean to get on a soapbox about that…..but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve browsed into a site, and had my computer malware software, and antivirus block pages, because somebody didn’t do due diligence.. As far as the EU Cookie Law goes–someone else getting in trouble over that, is the very least of my own worries. I will protect my site first, and everything else comes secondary. 🙂
Again, my .02.
((HUGS))
HB
Good answer Hearts, it is indeed our responsibility as webmasters to protect our site from bad competitors.
well i didn’t get any kind of notification about this
I never did either. A lot of people didn’t but it made all the reputable tech blogs like TechCrunch, etc.
In my own opinion, the majority of bloggers who got the notification are the once using the Blogger Platform. The notification that I got is actually posted from the platform as an announcement and not sent as a message or email.
Oh that makes sense. I was wondering why so many people like myself didn’t get it. I wonder why they wouldn’t send this out as an email or an alert in our AdSense accounts.
You may be right, Elmo. 🙂 It could very well be that Blogger’s staff, who would keep up with any Adsense changes in policy that Google has made, may have have either stumbled on it, OR got an email. In my own research, I did find that some publishers DID get notification of the EU Cookie Law, and they were not on Blogger.
I’m completely self-hosted, and I would rather be safe now, than sorry later–that’s just me. If my traffic were only US-based, I wouldn’t have anything to worry about…but it’s not, so I’m concerned about it. I have a lot of friends I don’t want to have to block, because EUROPA’s reach is a lot longer than people think. It’s my understanding if you’re getting traffic from overseas, you’re held responsible for ensuring their privacy is protected.
In their eyes, it’s almost the same thing as receiving money on the internet. The RECEIVER of the money is held responsible for making sure the each transaction is secure, and protected…and if it’s not, and people’s money gets taken, they’ll trace it back to you, and you’ll get in trouble, for not protecting them…..I know, not the same thing, but it is the same principle
However, the Google policies have definitely changed, because Google’s wording on this page, https://www.cookiechoices.org/ and this quote is from the link Lisa provided, states clearly:
“If you’re using Google products like Google AdSense or DoubleClick for Publishers, you’ll be required by your contract to follow Google’s EU user consent policy. If you are using Google Analytics Advertiser Features, you’ll be required to follow the Policy requirements for Google Analytics Advertisers features. To comply with the disclosure obligations with respect to Google’s use of data, you have the option to display a prominent link to How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps.”
I will comply, because it’s the right thing to do, for one, and for two, my blog is a well-trafficked resource, and those are the ones that usually attract notice first. I don’t want to be negatively noticed, and risk getting shut down for violation of privacy. I also thought about how many times I had found myself being tracked, when I didn’t want to be tracked, and then I had to learn how to stop allowing sites to put tracking cookies on my computer.
With all of that in mind, my site doesn’t contain any more than what’s necessary to run my site sessions, Google Adsense, Analytics, Bad Behavior, and I run an anonymous traffic tracking software that measures traffic that GA doesn’t measure.
I could always be wrong, but I believe that Google hasn’t directly contacted some US publishers who are self-hosted, because it would have caused a total uproar, and violated their freedom of speech. However, when push comes to shove, I believe that Google will begin banning sites without warning for violating certain policies that are now written into their TOS.
People can’t say they didn’t know, because it’s the PUBLISHER’S responsibility to keep abreast of any changes Googles makes in their Adsense, Dart, etc. policies. I know it sounds like I’m taking up for Google, but it’s all about business, and considering that none of us, who are choosing to use Adsense, are Google’s employees, they have no obligation to really tell us anything.
So, in my opinion, and belief, Google, under pressure from EUROPA, has quietly changed their policies, and left it up to the US publishers to sink or swim, according to their own choices. Not everybody gets foreign traffic, but people like me do, so it was a good thing for me to find out, and choose to become compliant on my own.
That’s my .02–and these days, it won’t buy you a cup of coffee, nor a piece of candy, LOL. All of you—be well, be blessed, and have a great day when the dawn breaks, and the sun rises–and it’s another beautiful day the Lord has made. 🙂 ((HUGS))
HB
I totally agree with you. I think this is more about them covering their butts so when publishers do get banned, they have it in their policies! Thank you so much for your reply.
Can anyone recommend a good plugin for this consent? I don’t know which one to choose. TIA!
It’s so frustrating to know that an EU Cookie Law is going to make things harder on all of us who use Adsense Ads to monetize our sites. I have visitors coming in from all over the World, and I would really hate to have to block anyone across the Big Pond, just to stay compliant with this craziness.
Lisa, I’ve been following you for quite some time, and I think you do a fine job of keeping people up to date on changes like this. I came looking for a post of yours on a completely different subject, and found this warning not to ignore this EU Cookie Law that I hadn’t even gotten an email about….not yet, anyway. 🙂
Thanks for the heads up, and keep up the great work you do, Sweetie. ((HUGS))
HB
Thanks Hearts Blessing for stopping by! Well I hope you found what you originally came here for as well! Let me know if I can help. Cheers!
Thank you for responding, Lisa. ((HUGS)) Sometimes your biggest fans are the ones you never see, and I have followed you for the last two years. However, I didn’t have a need to comment until now. I make it a habit of reading people’s blogs in full, and IF I have questions or comments after that I’ll write one, because I would rather see if the answer I need is in the articles I’m reading before I bother the author. 🙂
To answer your question, I certainly did find what I was looking for, Lisa–thank you for asking. 🙂 It was the blog post that encouraged people about the fear of writing e-books, to learn to overcome that fear, and that it’s OK to repackage your blog for the purpose of better organizing the material for those readers who might have need of this.
Your article was very encouraging to me, and it means a lot to know that people like you are out there with all this great information that can be accessed, as well as bought–for what it’s worth, sometime back, I did buy one of your books, which has helped me learn a lot more. 🙂
Thank you for all you do, Lisa. You might not think you do a whole lot, but you’d be surprised at how helpful you are. 🙂 It’s always the smallest things that can make the biggest difference. Be well, and be blessed. :)((HUGS))
((HUGS))
HB
Thank you sooooooooooooo much for those kind words of encouragement, HB! That means a TON to me!
Oh, Lisa, you’re welcome! 🙂 We’re all in this together, and if I can’t say something encouraging to someone, I have no business doing what I’m doing in my own corner of the Internet. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Apologies because this is going to be long, but I hope it will be helpful to someone. ((HUGS))
OK, I come bearing information that I hope will be helpful…..EU Cookie Law…what I did was choose Silktide’s Cookie Consent located here: https://silktide.com/tools/cookie-consent/
They have a 2.0 Version that is much simpler to use. However, because of what Google was writing, the requirements they said was needed to comply, AND because there are countries other than Italy who require explicit consent BEFORE a cookie is ever set on their machine, I opted for Version 1.0 whose link is at the bottom of this page: https://silktide.com/tools/cookie-consent/docs/changes-from-v1/
Why did I choose the more detailed version, rather than Version 2.0? Because Italy is not the only country who requires consent BEFORE a cookie is set. The Netherlands requires it, too.
To cover everything Google is requiring, I chose Version 1.0 and I chose to only have the popup show when a country from Europe chooses to visit(I had to sign up for a free account on an IP tracker to do that). There is a wizard where you can fill in blanks and checkmarks, and Version 1.0 even gives you that option to sign up for a free account that tracks your traffic to your blog via the IP where your blog resides, and only shows the banner when someone from across the Big Pond visits your blog.
IF the US adopts this same requirement as EUROPA, I will edit accordingly.
All of this is free of charge–Silktide has a video on it…and IF your site is hardcoded, and you don’t use a CMS, then you WILL have to put the code they generate on every page of your site. There’s no way around it that I know about, and I’m not a coder. 🙂
Anyway, I went through the wizard, followed the directions, copied the code output, put it in my blog as directed, in my header. php, just before the tag in my THEME folder in my WordPress, saved it, looked at my blog to make sure it didn’t crash, LOL, and then did the test that Silktide offers, and I printed the results they gave in PDF, and stored them.
Though they said I wasn’t showing cookies, I believe that I still have some more things to do…like change Adsense to synchronous, so I can edit the javascript like they say to do, but it was my understanding that I did put the script in the right place, (which was really what I wanted to know before I went any farther with it, LOL) and the popup did show–according to THEM, and not me. I’m from the US, so all I saw, when I emptied my cache, and reloaded my blog, was a quick refresh in place, and that was it.
I still need to send one my foreign visitors who come to my forum over to the blog to make sure it does work….but if Silktide said it worked in their test, I’m sure it does, but I’d still like to know for myself. 🙂
Silktide was very helpful in that you could copy the code put it on your blog, and they would actually let you know if you got it right, because there were messages to reflect that.
I’m about to put it on my other blog, to put it into compliance, too…and though I don’t have Adsense on it yet–I might choose to put Adsense in place later on. 🙂
I’m hoping this isn’t too confusing, and I sincerely hope it’s helpful to anyone who is looking for a possible solution to the EU Cookie Law. 🙂
((HUGS))
HB
I am also currently using Silktide because its so easy to install and its free.
Hello Lisa,
I think that a banner will be just fine for this EU consent. Google does just the same thing like those few examples given by Uche Chukwu above.
I actually just recently noticed that Blogger have already implemented a cookie of their own to all blogspot blogs which includes mine. You can actually check it by visiting any blogspot blogs but you need to change the domain extension into a “.co.uk” for the cookie banner consent to popout.
What do you think Lisa?
I think a banner is going to have to do it for me. I’m sorry but I’m not putting some intrusive pop up on my pages. That’s ridiculous. If it means I have to stop using AdSense then that’s fine. Will check out their page. Thanks!
Hello Lisa !
Does this only apply to webmaster in Europe or does it have to do with all webmasters and site owners all around the world irrespective of the country ?
What if the users don’t agree with the terms but still want to read or have access to the information on that particular site or page ?
Regards
It applies to anyone who has traffic from countries in the EU. So that would be almost all of us.
So after 30 September what will happen to my Adsense account?
So it mean that at the end of 30 September some publisher can be banned from adsense of this EU policies ? So what should I do with this policies?
You should decide what’s best for you. No one knows what will happen really. You could get a warning, you could get your account disabled. No one really knows. I never even got the email but many people said they did.
This is also what really worries me about. When Google does an update, they often act quite aggressively like those previous Google Updates that they had. And then later, realizing their mistakes. So I have a strong feeling that perhaps by the end of September 30, 2015, many Google Adsense publishers may get their account banned due to this EU consent policies.
Thus, I’m thinking of disabling Adsense to all of my sites before the judgment day comes for perhaps a month and simply make an observation. If Lisa’s blog made it and unharmed then I’ll put my Adsense Ads back lol!
The plugins do look very useful. However, it seems that adding the plugin won’t be enough. It looks like we also have to find a way to turn off cookies if that is what a website user wants, which will be harder to implement unless I’m missing something. If a website user clicks that they do not agree to the use of cookies that we need to find a way to turn these off.
Good point Angela
It would be way too easy but time consuming too lol! But I would also suggest getting a way in which an end-user could disable cookie activity. And it may be hard for us too when it comes to getting certain useful information from our site visitors. Yet some people browse websites anonymously!
In my own personal opinion, if your visitor does not agree to accept the cookies generated by your website then it only means that they do not want to visit your website. They always have the freedom to stop browsing your site and leave for their own good.
That’s sort of how I view it too, Elmo. I am not going to go through the hassle of turning off cookies. I think we can word it in a way that states, if you don’t agree to the use of cookies, you can leave. But say it in a nicer way of course. lol
I missed Richard’s reply from last week. He’s from one of the sites I listed here. In case anyone missed his reply… here’s what he suggests. So I take back what I said earlier about the cookies.
——————————————-
Disclosure: I represent one of the vendors listed by Google on the cookiechoices.org site.
I can perhaps clear up some of the issues raised in the article and comments – and you can take this as advice.
When looking at applying the rules in the UK, you can look to the Information Commissioners Office for guidance but it basically breaks down like this:
A general banner that just tells visitors you are using cookies does not meet the rules for ‘consent’. Consent is only valid if there is a reasonable choice, and that means a choice to refuse cookies. You should also note that telling people to change browser settings on its own is not enough – the regulators have ruled that current browser controls are not good enough for this.
Therefore – you need to have a mechanism to give users notice, and then allow them to opt-out directly. If they opt-out – you have to block the cookies they don’t want. You also have to make sure this option is always available (so people can change their minds)
You can of course find ways to incentivise them to opt-in again. Blocking most cookies covered by the law is not difficult, but it does take a bit of effort. This is why Google chose to point to tools like ours – they make things much easier.
Bear in mind that this law does not just apply to Google’s cookies – but many other as well – it is just that Google is now trying to encourage people to take the rules more seriously and comply.
I hope this helps.
The dead line is fast approaching (September 30) and this is harder than I thought.
Hi Lisa,
I have created Google Adsense but it does not look like your ads (from your site), it looks terrible. It has some texts, although I have chosen mode text and display…. I have changed many time but it has no change. Please give me some help.
Thanks,
What do you mean it looks terrible? The layout or the ads?
Thank you very much for this helpful post; I used one of those plugins you shared and the work was really easy.
i don’t know if this EU user consent policy has its grounds but it is really annoying cause I get such message about cookies in every blogger site I visit and I find it really irritating to always click yes, i understand, Yes I agree, etc. The news this policy will affect all google products is definitely not up to my liking!
I know. And I’m not a fan of pop ups at all!
I agree that this whole thing is annoying. Also, I thought Google said you couldn’t use popups on any page that also has Adsense ads. So, how do we get around that?
Hello
Disclosure: I represent one of the vendors listed by Google on the cookiechoices.org site.
I can perhaps clear up some of the issues raised in the article and comments – and you can take this as advice.
When looking at applying the rules in the UK, you can look to the Information Commissioners Office for guidance but it basically breaks down like this:
A general banner that just tells visitors you are using cookies does not meet the rules for ‘consent’. Consent is only valid if there is a reasonable choice, and that means a choice to refuse cookies. You should also note that telling people to change browser settings on its own is not enough – the regulators have ruled that current browser controls are not good enough for this.
Therefore – you need to have a mechanism to give users notice, and then allow them to opt-out directly. If they opt-out – you have to block the cookies they don’t want. You also have to make sure this option is always available (so people can change their minds)
You can of course find ways to incentivise them to opt-in again. Blocking most cookies covered by the law is not difficult, but it does take a bit of effort. This is why Google chose to point to tools like ours – they make things much easier.
Bear in mind that this law does not just apply to Google’s cookies – but many other as well – it is just that Google is now trying to encourage people to take the rules more seriously and comply.
I hope this helps.
PS Although the cookie banner is the most common approach – and mandated in some Eu countries, it is not the only valid model for the UK. You can avoid an intrusive banner, but there must be a clear route to opt-out.
I missed this comment! Thank you, Richard for coming by to clarify!!
“A general banner that just tells visitors you are using cookies does not meet the rules for ‘consent’”
Really? Oh man! I just made an effort on my blog implementing this kind of method.
This is really a very important information for adsense publishers Lisa,
Like you mentioned, its very wise to always pay attention to all these things because they can get serious sometimes if you decide to just ignore them.
Thanks for the update.
I think it’s OK to say you assume they’re OK with the cookies and give them the option to opt out if they’re not, rather than requiring them to accept?
Hi,
Lisa, Can you please make some posts on SEO as well which guide through beginners from scratch or at least what SEO is and how it is done?
One thing more which always trolls me ‘How do we earn or can earn through SEO’ … ?
Regards,
Vicky
It needn’t be an intrusive pop-up; most sites here in the UK use something like the orange banner Lisa has at the top of this site saying “Enjoying My Content? Enroll in a Course!”
It must appear on any page that a visitor may land on so applying the code to just your homepage will not be enough. Once the visitor has provided consent (either implicitly or expressly) they needn’t see it again.
You can advise the visitor that by proceeding then they have implied consent or you can give them an “OK” button or something to expressly consent.
For those asking if your privacy policy link is sufficient, the answer is no – the visitor must get a visual notice alerting them to the use of cookies. This then may or may not link to your privacy policy and/or cookies policy.
Most sites in the EU display such notices, just check out ours http://www.afrodigital.uk or even large players like http://www.bbc.co.uk. Notice how Amazon embeds the notice subtly in to their content on the right, just beneath the banner. And also, notice how Google display theirs at the foot of the site.
Some of you have mentioned that you’ve seen these notices before but can’t remember where. As most of the big sites use geo-location to detect whether you’re in the EU or not to decide whether to show you the notice, I’ve captured some screens for you here:
BBC – https://www.dropbox.com/s/o2s7b5epsskxg6q/Screenshot%202015-08-25%2012.27.50.jpg?dl=0
Amazon – https://www.dropbox.com/s/jpn74cjisqr1gxo/Screenshot%202015-08-25%2012.29.01.jpg?dl=0
Google – https://www.dropbox.com/s/qcunsxjsmht9cmh/Screenshot%202015-08-25%2012.30.53.jpg?dl=0
Number 10 – https://www.dropbox.com/s/9tn6o2svex9qglw/Screenshot%202015-08-25%2012.33.28.jpg?dl=0
I hope those help. Good luck!
Awesome help!! Thank you.
Being UK based I had to deal with this a few years back and the confusion then is still going on now as to what is acceptable purely because every country has a different interpretation of the rules with some disagreeing with applied consent. And sadly this does hit earnings big time for those sites which thrive on providing the information on the first page with the visitor is using.
Anyway the way I approached this was that when a user enters my site what ever the first page they landed on has a banner message informing them that the site uses cookies and further usage would apply consent for me to use them, so when they click through to another page the banner goes. That means I have no adsense advertizing showing on that first page, replacing it with non cookie based advertising which I create. But also in that banner I give them two further options, one to switch off all non crucial cookies and also a link to a page which details what cookies my site uses, which of those I deam crucial and where they come from with an option to block cookies or allow them on this page as well.
This is just the method I have chosen and I coded it myself which is actually not as hard as you think, although being UK based we have to deal with all cookies so had to consider the third party tracking cookies which come with social share functions which are a lot harder to control.
Andy, thanks for the information.
Such great help Andy thank you!
Also, this might be a stupid question, but does this message have to appear on EVERY page of our site or just the home page? I have some very large hand-coded sites and it will take me quite awhile to add some sort of code to every page. Also, do we need to put this notice on pages where we don’t use Adsense, but do use Google analytics? Thanks for your help.
It has to be on every page. Basically, you need a privacy policy and/or a cookie consent policy with information about the cookies you use on your site.
Search online and you can find templates that cn be modified.
Furthermore, you should add a javascript pop up to your site that the user clicks to confirm they agree to seeing Google Adsense display advertising. And it isn’t just about Adsense… It is about disclosure of ALL cookies, including Analytics.
Google have their own downloadable javascript at http://www.cookiechoices.org. The files are placed in the root of your site.
There have been some issues with this particular script, notably, the tendancy for the annoying pop up to keep reappearing on other pages of the site even after the user has clicked “I Accept.”
I found an article a few months ago showing how to modify the javascript to ensure that the pop up goes away after the user clicks. Well, that is until the user next wipes their cache or clears history.
I live in the EU (England) and find the creeping power of the EU alarming. It was always meant to act as a trading zone but it has overstepped its bounds as it becomes powerful and rich.
If you want to learn more about general web law, read the website of one Heather Burns at http://www.idea15.wordpress.com. She is pretty clued up on web law since she has been studying it at degree level.
I often ask her questions about certain things to with web law over Twitter. I do recommend you follow her.
Thanks for the information. I really didn’t know what to do with this information and was hoping it didn’t have to go on EVERY page, but thanks for letting me know that it does.
I was hoping you’d reply. Thanks Darren!
This is getting ridiculous. I already have a statement on my site about the double dart cookie that Adsense uses, but now I have to get users consent for them to view my site? I don’t really even understand what I’m supposed to do. How do I get consent? You mention plugins, but those would only be for wordpress sites. I hand-code my site and so I can’t use a plugin. Thanks for letting us know about this. This is my first time hearing about it. Also, what type of cookies? Just cookies from ads?
Yes, cookies from ads. And no it’s not a stupid question. This is very confusing and Google hasn’t offered much help. My guess would be that it needs to be visible on every page because not everyone enters from the homepage. Not sure about needing it on pages that don’t use AdSense. Good question! Didn’t even think of that.
Thanks Lisa. And I really appreciate you letting us know about this. I had not heard of it before.
If I have a website, but not addsense account does this still matter to us?
Nope. Only matters if you’re using Google ad products on your site.
I’m trying to understand why it even matters – unless I’m Google (or some other big entity), what would the EU even be able to do about it if I don’t bother? And if I do? How would I ever prove consent? They’re not going to go after every Mom n’ Pop website out there as it would be fruitless.
I’m happy to provide transparency but at what cost?
True they probably won’t, BUT I could see Google randomly getting rid of accounts that don’t comply and that is my bigger concern… not necessarily what the EU would do. I hear what you’re saying though.
Hey Lisa thanks for your input on this. I guess for now I’ll be waiting for some of the Big AdSense sites to see how they go about it.
You’re welcome. I’m sorry I couldn’t be more helpful, but this is a tricky matter.
Wow. I was fortunate enough to snag an EU cookie consent plug in a few weeks ago, but had not read about Google’s new requirement as I do not use Adsense, yet.
Do you think simply using the strictest wording you can find might comply with all possible variations on the requirement? It would be great to use just one notice for everyone!
Thanks for the heads up!
Valerie what plugin are you using?
Lisa, I’m with Mitch Mitchell on this one (let’s hear it for the old-heads!) If the EU wants to come visit my site, they’ll be the first Europeans on my digital continent. LOL
I know I have visitors from all over the world. What we really need to worry about is the Martians.
Cheers,
Mitch
I’m dying over here! Martians!!! LOL
I’m wracking my brain here trying to think of which sites I’ve seen something about “this site uses cookies” (besides in the privacy policy) and if it was a pop-up or just at the top of the site or in the side bar or what – because then I’d like to do something similar – but not a pop-up; don’t like pop-ups – I do know I will be more aware now next time I’m on a site that has that sort of wording, and will take extra note.
– but will also follow your links to read up on this a bit more – thanks for the post!
Yeah I’ve seen those too and normally ignore them. lol I’m like you… I am not a fan of pop ups either. It would be nice if just some small text in the footer would work, but not sure.
Every site I visit now seems to have a cookie popup, including Facebook and Twitter. Most users know what cookies are already but the power that be in Europe and decided we need to tell users about the cookies.
Cookies are for anonymous statistical data and discloses nothing personal about the visitor whatsoever. It is ridiculous that we need to add unnecessary friction to the general website user experience in order to satisfy out of touch legislators.
Mind you, this is legislation as such. This is a “directive” which means each member state can implement by whichever means they deem appropriate. This might also be why governments and tech corps are unsure what to do. It’s like they’re playing pass the parcel with the responsibility.
Evidently, Google have stepped up and offered a solution with their Cookie Choices website at http://www.cookiechoices.org
What’s the difference with the EU user consent policy from the Standard Privacy Policy? Are they just basically the same? I actually already have a Privacy Policy page and yet I also got a notice for EU user consent policy.
With the EU policy, users have to somehow consent. That’s the key word.
Isn’t putting the Privacy Policy page to the top navigation not good enough for that consent?
That’s why this is tricky. It’s hard to know for sure. Making someone consent sounds like you are requesting an “OK” or “ACCEPTANCE.” Most people won’t ever click the privacy policy and Google almost made it sound like it needs to be more “in your face.” But who knows.
You can use a “soft opt in” which means you can already assume it is okay to use cookies and then give users the option to opt out by rejecting cookies in their browser.
Think of it as going ahead and doing what you want and then mentioning what your policy is. It is better to do that than to ask everyone who visits the site to press a button to opt IN.
All websites should have privacy polices among legal boiler plate and other “cover your ass” wording. These pages are typically linked to in the footer of a website.
Well, your cookie pop up needs to have a button that links to this page if the user wants to “learn more” when they see the pop up notification.
Just an update, make sure you read some of the replies here from others who live in the UK. They’ve been dealing with this for years and it sounds like the privacy policy is not enough. You need a pop up or some kind of acceptance.
Thanks Lisa for all of your valuable responses.
Yep, I already read them and its nice to know about it but I wanted to see your own approach to this issue as I prefer more to follow your own style.
Lisa, please check my blog. I need to know if that will do the job.
Hello , very interesting this news, google always trying to optimize everything, but this is already becoming exaggerated , I’m in Mexico , but it’s the same all over the world , I will be attentive to your blog and google , Greetings
It is not Google that want this, it is the EU. The U.S. and the EU have a kind of rivalry and a difference in opinion as to how things should be done. At one point, Germany accused the US of “industrial espionage” and relations have not been good.
even i can’t understand whats going on 🙁
but Lisa Irby i have seen your work is awesome u often help others about adsense
thats too great May God bless u 🙂
Hey Lisa,
I’m one not up on the legal lingo myself but most people arent. I do have a policy in regards to Google Adsense but I’ll check to see if there were some updates since I put it there about 2 years ago. Thanks for the warning Lisa!
No problem Sherman, yeah the legal lingo always makes me shut down mentally, lol.
My thought is that Google and Europe need to leave us all alone. I’m not responsible for anyone from the European Union coming to my site and shouldn’t be; that’s why I live in the United States.
Actually, I never knew there were cookies associated with Adsense (I’m sometimes intentionally dense) but at this point, those ads have been around for at least 10 years now, so anyone who doesn’t know what they are is moronic; yeah, I said it! lol
I hear ya Mitch, loud and clear!! All of this sort of makes my head hurt to be honest. 🙂
You wrote that Google and Europe should leave you alone. Actually they do, but then you should leave them alone either.
I’m not a lawyer, but the way I see it is, that there is a cookie consent regulation in Europe and everyone in Europe and everyone who wants to do business in Europe has obey the European law – even Google. If an American website uses Google to earn money from Europe, the website has to comply with the European law. Unfortunately there is no legal certainty. No one knows exactly how to apply the law precisely until some people will sue their competitors and courts will sentence a few persons, because they were doing it wrong. That’s why Google cannot tell you how to handle the cookie thing.
BTW if you would have a German website, you would have to tell your visitors your full name, your address, telephone number, email address and more and some courts said, that you are not allowed to use a telephone answering machine, because you have to answer every call in person. 🙂
Interesting, I have also been kinda ignoring this issue
Does this only apply if you use adsense? I presume
thanks for the heads up!
Yes, and any other Google products like DoubleClick, etc.
It’s any cookies, not just Adsense, Analytics or Double click. It is rare for a website not to use cookies. I’m going to look at a WordPress plugin for my WordPress websites that have not yet got the pop up installed.
And if I don’t like the plugins I can fall back on my own custom javascript taken from the Cookie Choices website provided by Google.
If you want to get this script it can be located here: http://web.archive.org/web/20140910195653/http://www.cookiechoices.org/