Get started with CookieHub

This guide takes a new website from nothing to a working, published consent dialog. It follows the order the Dashboard expects: an account, a domain, an installation, a check, a look at the cookies the scanner found, and then publishing. Each step links to the page with the full detail.

Before you startCopy Anchor Link

You need:

• The website's domain name, such as example.com. A subscription covers one top-level domain with its subdomains.
• A way to add a script to the website: access to its HTML, a Google Tag Manager container, or an administrator account on WordPress, Wix or Shopify.
• A decision on how to install. Use one method only; installing CookieHub twice on the same website causes problems. Choosing an installation method compares them.

If you already have an account, skip to Add your domain.

Create your accountCopy Anchor Link

1. Go to cookiehub.com and click Start free trial.
2. Enter your email address and the domain where you will use CookieHub, then click Create account.
3. Open the verification email from CookieHub and click its link.
4. Back on the website, enter your name, choose a password and click Confirm details.

You land in the Dashboard, and the domain you entered is already there as your first domain, so you can go straight to Install CookieHub. Paid plans come with a 14-day free trial, no card required; the service is suspended at the end of the trial unless you add a payment method. See Subscriptions & pricing.

Add your domainCopy Anchor Link

To add another domain to the account:

1. Open My domains and click Add domain.
2. Choose a subscription plan and a billing period, monthly or yearly. Paying yearly gives you one month free.
3. Enter the domain name.
4. Choose the regional settings and policy framework: GDPR and LGPD compliant, or CCPA, GDPR and LGPD compliant. If you have another domain in the account, you can copy its settings instead.
5. Click Add domain.

The domain gets an 8-character domain code. Every installation method uses it to connect your website to this domain's settings. See Add domain.

Install CookieHubCopy Anchor Link

Open the domain and click the Implementation tab. Its assistant shows the steps for each method; the three most common are below.

HTML tagCopy Anchor Link

For any website where you can edit the HTML, and for platforms without a CookieHub app.

1. In the Implementation tab, choose Manually insert the code.
2. Copy the code and paste it at the top of your pages' <head>, before any other script. CookieHub must load before anything that sets cookies.
3. On a paid plan there are two codes: a production code for the live website and a development code that works on any domain but shows a watermark. Use the development code on staging and never in production.

Automatic cookie blocking holds back the scripts of commonly used services until the visitor has allowed their category. For scripts it does not recognise, mark them for a category yourself; see Conditional HTML tags. Full page: HTML tag.

Google Tag ManagerCopy Anchor Link

If your tags already run through Google Tag Manager, use the CookieHub CMP template from the Community Template Gallery rather than the HTML tag.

1. In your GTM container, add a new tag and choose the CookieHub CMP template from the gallery.
2. Enter your domain code.
3. Set its trigger to Consent Initialization - All Pages, save, and submit the container.

The template sets Consent Mode defaults and gives your other tags CookieHub triggers to wait on; with GTM, automatic cookie blocking is not used. Full page: Google Tag Manager.

WordPress, Wix and ShopifyCopy Anchor Link

Install the CookieHub plugin or app for your platform and enter the domain code in its settings. See WordPress, Wix and Shopify; other systems are under Content management systems.

Check that it worksCopy Anchor Link

1. Open your website in a private browser window. The consent dialog should appear on the first page.
2. Make a choice, reload, and confirm the dialog does not return. Your choice is stored in the cookiehub cookie.
3. In the Dashboard, open the domain's Implementation tab. Installation status reports what the last scan found: whether CookieHub was detected, whether it loads once, and whether cookies are set before consent. It updates after each scan; on a paid plan you can request one from the Scans tab. See Cookie scans.

If the dialog does not appear, or cookies are set before consent, start with Troubleshooting.

Review your cookiesCopy Anchor Link

The cookie scanner crawled your website when you added the domain. Open the domain's Cookies tab:

• Every cookie found has a suggested category. The suggestion is a starting point; check it, and pay particular attention to Necessary, the one category that does not need consent. A cookie belongs there only if your website cannot work without it.
• Cookies the scanner could not place are Uncategorized. Give each one a category, so visitors choose between things they understand.
• Add any cookie the scanner did not reach, for example one set after a login.

See Cookie categories and Cookie management.

Adjust the dialogCopy Anchor Link

Open the domain and click Customize. The Cookie banner tab sets the theme, position, action buttons and colours of the dialog visitors see first; the Preference center tab sets the view where they choose by category. Texts and translations, the languages offered and the regions with their consent types are under the domain's settings. See Customization, Languages and Regions.

The defaults are a compliant starting point: explicit consent for GDPR regions, nothing that needs consent set until the visitor allows it.

PublishCopy Anchor Link

Every settings screen ends in two buttons. Save changes keeps your work without changing the website; Save & publish saves it and sends it to your website. A domain with unpublished changes shows a Publish button on My domains, which publishes them all at once. Until you publish, visitors see the previously published configuration.

What happens nextCopy Anchor Link

• The scanner runs again on the schedule of your plan, and emails a scan report to the domain's users. A report marked Action required names what to fix. See Cookie scans.
• The domain's Action Center tab flags Consent Mode and installation problems the diagnostics detect. See Help with Google Consent Mode and Google services.
• When you change what the dialog asks, Reset user consents on the domain's overview asks returning visitors again.

Where to nextCopy Anchor Link

• How CookieHub works on a page: what the script does for each visitor.
• Configure: domains, the dialog, cookies and scans in depth.
• Compliance: the laws and frameworks, and the preconfigured settings for each.