Guides
Does my website need a cookie banner?
Only if it uses cookies it does not need in order to work: analytics, advertising, or embedded videos and maps. If the site only uses technical cookies, like the one for the language or the shopping cart, it needs no banner, though it does need a privacy policy that says so.
What the law says
In Spain it is article 22.2 of the LSSI, and the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) explains how to apply it in its cookie guide. The idea is simple: to store something in someone's browser that is not needed for what they asked for, you need their permission first.
Which cookies need permission
- Analytics such as Google Analytics.
- Advertising pixels: Meta, Google Ads, TikTok.
- YouTube videos and Google Maps embedded in the page: they set their own cookies even if it does not look like it.
- Third-party chats and widgets that follow the visitor.
Which cookies do not
Technical ones: remembering the language, keeping you signed in, holding the shopping cart. Also a preference the visitor picks, such as a colour theme.
If you have a banner, make it a real one
The AEPD asks for rejecting to be as easy as accepting, with both buttons visible from the start, and for nothing to load before the person chooses. A banner that only says "Accept" does not comply.
How to get rid of it
- Link the map instead of embedding it: a link to your Google Maps listing sets no cookies.
- Do without analytics. The searches people find you through come from Google Search Console, which needs nothing installed on the site.
- Leave out advertising pixels.
On top of that, the site loads faster and nobody has to fight a notice the moment they arrive.
What I do on my sites
The sites I build carry no tracking cookies, and the map is linked, not embedded. That is why they need no banner. The legal notice and the privacy policy are included.
This is a practical explanation, not legal advice.
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