Tracking without a consent tool

Severity: Warning
Impact: High
Effort to fix: Medium
Issue code: track_no_consent

Why it matters

Analytics or ad pixels load, but no consent banner tool or Google Consent Mode default was found. Visitors from the EEA, UK and some US states may need to agree first, and Google Ads needs Consent Mode for EEA traffic.

How to fix it

Add a consent management platform (e.g. Cookiebot, CookieYes, OneTrust) and set a Consent Mode default. Check the rules that apply to your visitors.

How it affects your score

Tracking issues have their own Tracking score and never lower the SEO site health score. They still appear in the Action Plan, the issues CSV, Slack messages and Linear tickets. Weakens rankings, crawling or measurement. Fix after critical issues.

Find the affected URLs

Open Crawl > Issues and pick Tracking without a consent tool. Each affected URL is listed with its evidence, and Copy URLs or Export URLs hands the list to a developer. The issue also appears in the Action Plan, ranked by impact (high) and effort (medium), and in the issues CSV under the code track_no_consent. After fixing, run a new audit and use Compare to confirm the URLs moved to fixed.

Guides that cover this issue

Consent checks and tracking before consent