Mastering website tags and cookies: a best practice guide for privacy compliance

Managing website tags, trackers, and cookies is like playing an endless game of whack-a-mole—new ones pop up constantly, and there’s no end in sight. And with the New York Attorney General recently issuing regulatory guidance on this very topic (read our deep dive here), the compliance stakes are getting higher. 

Staying compliant with tag and cookie scanning and categorization is no small feat, especially when the marketing team is adding new tags faster than you can say “cookie consent.” You need a proactive, ongoing tag and cookie management strategy to ensure you’re meeting regulatory compliance expectations and respecting consumer privacy preferences. 

I want to roll through some best practices to help privacy managers, IT teams, and marketing stakeholders tackle this challenge together. From taming rogue trackers to aligning with privacy laws, keep reading to understand: 

• Why proper tag and cookie management is important
• 5 best practices for a proactive management strategy 

Why proper tag and cookie management matters

In the digital marketing and adtech landscape, tags, cookies, and trackers are mission critical. They’re the building blocks of everything from website analytics and user experience optimization to personalized advertising and attribution. Without them, marketers would be flying blind, unable to measure campaign performance or deliver relevant content to their audience. 

(For a great explainer on website tracking technology, check out this recent event recording for a great primer from Ketch Head of Product Max Anderson and Chris Tarbell, Special Counsel at Kelley Drye.) 

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While these tools power the digital economy, they can also open a Pandora’s box of privacy concerns if not managed correctly. There are two major privacy reasons to care about tracker management: 

Regulatory compliance 

Regulators are increasingly savvy about how digital technologies interact with consumer data. The recent New York Attorney General's statement on website privacy controls is a wake-up call for businesses: it’s not enough to deploy a basic cookie banner, disconnected from your actual data usage practices. Regulators are demanding you demonstrate control over how consumer data is collected, used, and shared.

Every tag, cookie, and tracker on your site must align with the legal standards of the regions in which you operate. For example:

• Under GDPR, you can't drop a single non-essential cookie without first obtaining user consent
• The CCPA (and the updated CPRA) require businesses to provide clear opt-out mechanisms for data sharing.

Regulators are starting to delve into the technical nitty-gritty, ensuring that businesses are genuinely compliant and not just paying lip service to privacy laws. A robust tag and cookie management strategy isn’t just good practice—it’s a non-negotiable in today’s regulatory climate.

Respecting consumer privacy choices (or, in other words: do what you say you’re gonna do)

Beyond compliance, there’s a more fundamental reason to get your tag and cookie management right: consumer trust. If a user tells you, “Don’t share my data,” they mean it. But too often, a disconnect between privacy settings and the actual behavior of website tags leads to a broken promise. 

1. Opt-outs are ignored,
2. Trackers keep firing, and 
3. Consumer data is shared with third parties despite explicit preferences to the contrary.

If you’ve promised not to track someone, you need to be able to prove that no tags or cookies outside of the “strictly necessary” category are activated. The right tools and best practices can help you uphold this promise. 

5 best practices for tagging, cookies, and tracker management on your website

With the right strategy and tools, you can navigate this challenge confidently. Effective tag and cookie management isn’t just about avoiding fines or keeping regulators off your back—it’s about building a business that practices transparency and control with data practices. 

Let’s dig into tactics: here are 5 best practices for creating a robust tag and cookie management strategy. 

1. Conduct regular scanning across digital properties

A key step to managing cookies and tags is regularly scanning your website for what is being collected. It’s easy to underestimate how many tags are operating on their site.

Most businesses use automated tools to conduct cookie scanning, identifying the various cookies and trackers operating on their websites. There are generally a couple ways you can do this:

• Use a tag management system (TMS): a tag management system, like Google Tag Manager or Adobe Launch, helps businesses manage all the tags on their website from a central dashboard. A TMS helps you see the tags firing on your website.
• Use a consent management platform (CMP) with scanning features: Many consent management platforms include automated cookie scanning tools that can perform regular scans of the website to detect all active cookies and trackers. This usually happens on a weekly or monthly basis, depending on the platform settings and business preferences. 
• Manual audits: If you have complex websites or specific compliance needs, manual cookie audits are sometimes conducted. A privacy or IT team manually reviews the website’s cookies using browser developer tools. This is time-consuming but ensures a detailed understanding of what each cookie does and whether it's compliant.

At minimum, make sure you select a scanning tool that can:

1. Conduct automated scanning across all of your digital properties at a weekly or monthly interval, depending on your website size and tracking tool complexity. 
2. Alert you when new cookies or trackers are detected. 

2. Classify tags and cookies according to privacy purposes

Not all cookies and tags are created equal. Some are essential for website functionality, while others support marketing and personalization efforts. To ensure compliance with global regulations, cookies should be categorized and only activated based on the user’s explicit consent.

In privacy speak, we refer to these categories as “purpose of processing.” In other words: what’s the purpose for which you need this data? Analytics? Advertising? You need a method for tagging your tags and cookies with the correct privacy-related purpose, so you can accurately connect these tags to visitors’ consent choices.  

While a TMS is great for managing and deploying tags, it’s not designed for cookie categorization. You likely need a consent management platform with cookie categorization capabilities to get this best practice checked off. 

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3. Connect visitor consent choices to tag and cookie behavior

Once your tags are properly categorized, it’s time to connect them to your visitors’ privacy choices. This is where integration between your Consent Management Platform (CMP) and Tag Management System (TMS) becomes essential. 

A CMP-TMS integration ensures that when a visitor opts out of data tracking, your website’s tags and cookies respect that choice in real time. This is a non-negotiable best practice for complying with modern privacy regulations. There are two common mistakes to avoid here:

Disconnected systems

One of the biggest issues occurs when your TMS (e.g., Google Tag Manager) isn’t properly connected to your CMP. In this scenario, when a visitor opts out using the consent banner, the CMP doesn’t relay that information to the TMS. As a result, tags that should be disabled continue to fire, collecting data without consent. This breakdown can happen due to incorrect configuration or using incompatible tools. 

Ensure that your CMP and TMS are fully integrated and tested regularly to avoid this major mishap.

Hardcoded tags

Sometimes tags are hardcoded directly into the website page code, bypassing the TMS entirely. This usually creates a significant blind spot in your privacy governance. Hardcoded tags don’t respond to consent management because they aren’t controlled by the TMS. Even if your CMP and TMS are perfectly synced, these rogue tags can continue to collect data against user preferences. 

The solution? By embracing a CMP that natively integrates with your tag management system (TMS) AND tags directly on your site, you’ll get immediate notifications when a new script tag appears, whether it’s in your TMS or javascript placed directly on a page. The best consent management platforms can surface hardcoded, on-page scripts that sit outside of your tag manager.

4. Don’t forget about non-cookie trackers

Cookies are the most well-known tracking tools, but they’re not the only ones. Website tags, such as JavaScript and pixel tags, can also collect substantial user data. Javascript and pixel tags can set and collect cookies, as well as collect other information, such as browser and operating system. Many of these tracking pixels can escape privacy regulations because they don’t involve cookies directly. This doesn't make them any less of a privacy concern.

Ensure that all tags—whether cookie-based or not—are subject to the same compliance scrutiny. Audit and monitor the firing of all tags on your site and ensure they comply with consent management protocols.

5. Communicate changes transparently

Transparency is crucial for maintaining user trust and compliance. Make it easy for visitors to understand what cookies and trackers your site uses, and why. This means clear cookie banners, accessible privacy policies, and a preference center where users can adjust their settings at any time.

When it comes to disclosing tracker usage to your visitors, here’s how tag and cookie management software can help: 

• Automated tracker management. Choose a platform that automatically identifies and manages inactive trackers. For example, Ketch will flag and propose the removal of trackers not seen in the last 180 days, ensuring your site remains compliant and clutter-free.
• Simplified action items. Platforms with organized sections like “Needs Review” and “New Trackers” help you easily track what needs attention, reducing the chance of rogue tags slipping through the cracks.

By leveraging these features, you not only comply with regulations but also show your users that you respect their privacy choices, fostering a stronger relationship built on trust.

In conclusion: a strategy for compliance and trust

Managing tags and cookies for privacy compliance isn’t just about avoiding fines; it’s about maintaining user trust in an era where data privacy is increasingly valued. By implementing best practices like comprehensive scanning, clear categorization, and automated syncing with consent preferences, you ensure that your business respects consumers while complying with regulations.

A well-maintained cookie and tag management strategy is not just a regulatory checkbox—it’s a sign to your customers that you value their privacy and are committed to doing data right.

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