Does Google Optimize comply with GDPR and Cookie Laws?
There are 2 answers to this question.
- If you simply use a standard installation of Google Optimize then the answer is yes, BUT it won’t be much use to you (read below).
- If you use a smart loading technique and a special cookie notice, then you can use Google Optimize while remaining 100% cookie law compliant.
Let me explain.
The problem
To make it short:
- To use Google Optimize you need to have Google Analytics running on site.
- Google Analytics requires cookies.
- If your visitors are from the EU countries you need to ask them to agree to cookies.
- You can load Google Analytics and Google Optimize only after you get their consent.
What this means is that testing landing pages is almost impossible. The only pages you can test can’t be the ones that the visitor lands on.
Why?
Because your users will see the whole, unmodified page until they agree to cookies. Only then Google Optimize will start running and modify the page in front of their eyes.
But there are walkarounds.
The walkarounds
There are 3 walkarounds how you can test landing pages with Google Analytics and be GDPR and Cookie Law compliant at the same time.
- Hide the tested content until someone agrees to cookies and show it only after it has been modified by Google Optimize.
- Test things that are below the fold but lock page scrolling until visitors agree to cookies. This way they will not see the original content before it changes.
- Blur the content of the page until your visitors agree to cookies and then slowly remove the blur as the content loads.
All 3 of these methods can be easily achieved with just a few clicks using our WP Full Picture PRO plugin for WordPress.
