Cookie scanner

Cookie scanner enables the platform to remove cookies when cookie categories are blocked and automatically generate a cookie declaration for your website. When you create a domain in the CookieHub Dashboard, the cookie scanner automatically crawls your website and collects information on the cookies used, including details like expiration, hostname, and path. Each cookie is then assigned a suggested category based on its known purpose in our Cookie Database. Cookies that are not in the database are placed in the Uncategorized category.

The suggested category is a starting point, not a final classification. Review it before you publish, and pay particular attention to cookies placed in Necessary. That category is exempt from consent, and whether a cookie qualifies depends on what it does on your site, not on its general type. A cookie that is necessary on one site can be optional on another. You can change the category of any cookie in the Cookies tab of your domain.

The cookie scanner performs a monthly crawl of your website to check for any changes to the cookies used and automatically publishes those changes to your cookie declaration. This ensures that your cookie declaration is always up-to-date and in compliance with data privacy regulations.

The Cookie scanner will automatically generate a report after every scan. It helps to validate that cookies are set up correctly and are not being set before the user gives their consent. Once a scan is complete, the report is automatically sent to all linked users, providing details on any necessary actions and the current status of the cookie configuration.

The Cookie Database is another critical part of the cookie scanner, as it maintains a database of cookies detected, suggests a category for each, and provides details on the purpose of each cookie. You can easily change category assignments and descriptions about each cookie in the CookieHub Dashboard by clicking the Cookies tab for each domain.

FAQ

Why does the cookie scan report display ‘Action required’?

After each scan, you will receive an automatic email with a detailed cookie scan report. This report provides a list of cookies in use on your website and additional information about each one.

In addition to listing the cookies, CookieHub’s crawlers will examine your website’s CookieHub setup to ensure full compliance with cookie laws. If any issues are detected, you will see a ‘Action required!’ message at the top of the report. This message will contain details about what needs to be addressed.

Cookie Categorization

If one or more cookies are uncategorized, you will receive this message. When CookieHub has no suggested category for a cookie, it places it in the ‘Uncategorized’ section, and you need to categorize it yourself. To categorize these cookies, log in to the CookieHub portal at dash.cookiehub.com, select your domain, go to the ‘Cookies’ tab, and click ‘Edit’ for each cookie in the ‘Uncategorized’ section. Then, select the category that matches what the cookie does on your site (Necessary, Preferences, Analytics, or Marketing).

Consent Required

This message appears when cookies are not correctly configured to require user consent. In the cookie scan report, you will find a table displaying each cookie, along with a ‘Consent required’ flag set to ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ If it’s set to ‘Yes,’ the service setting the cookie is correctly configured to respect user choices, and no changes are needed. However, if you see ‘No’ next to a cookie placed in the Analytics, Marketing, or Uncategorized sections, it means the cookie is being set even if the user has denied that category. To resolve this, ensure you have implemented CookieHub correctly on your website, following the guidance provided in the CookieHub Installation.

I’ve recently performed a website scan, and it seems that not all cookies are being detected. What might be the issue?

The scanner’s ability to detect cookies depends on your subscription plan. Typically, it scans the first x number of pages on your website, which is usually sufficient to identify all cookies in use. The maximum number of pages scanned varies by subscription type: 50 for the Free plan, 100 for the Starter and Basic plans, 1,000–10,000 for the Business plan, and 10,000+ for the Enterprise plan.

If the scanner isn’t finding all the cookies on your site, you have a couple of options. You can increase the number of pages it scans by upgrading.

Another approach is to exclude dynamic pages from the scanner to increase the coverage of unique pages. For more details on this, please refer to the Crawler Settings.

It’s also possible that your website contains numerous sessions and local storage entries that the scanner isn’t detecting. To address this, ensure that the ‘Include localStorage and sessionStorage’ option is enabled. You can find this checkbox under the ‘Scans’ tab in the Crawler Settings.

I have a substantial number of dynamic pages that share the same starting URL, such as /blog/, for instance. Is it possible to omit these pages from the cookie scan?

If you have numerous pages beginning with the same URL, you can exclude them from the cookie scan. This can be especially useful if your website contains a large number of blog articles or similar content. To exclude these pages, navigate to the ‘Scans’ tab, and within the Crawler Settings, you can specify them in the ‘Excluded URL Prefixes’ text box. Simply enter one relative URL prefix per line.

Is it possible to configure the scanner to begin crawling from a different URL on my website rather than the home page?

Yes, you can do that. In the ‘Scans’ tab, under Crawler Settings, you’ll find the ‘Entry URL’ text box. Here, you can specify the relative path that CookieHub’s scanners will use as the starting point for the crawl. It’s important to note that this setting won’t block the scanner from crawling your website’s home page if it encounters a link to it while starting from the specified relative URL.

Is it possible to deactivate the automatic monthly cookie scan?

Yes, you have the option to do so. To disable the automatic monthly cookie scans, go to the ‘Scans’ tab and under Crawler Settings, simply uncheck the ‘Automatic Cookie Scans’ option.

Can CookieHub scan websites that demand authentication?

Yes, our scanner is capable of crawling websites that require authentication. We offer options to send a bearer authentication header and to crawl websites using HTTP authentication. You can configure these settings by navigating to the ‘Scans’ tab, then Crawler Settings, and selecting ‘Authentication’.