Scan your website for cookies

In development

After configuring your property, it’s time to scan your website for cookies.

Before you scan your website

If you’re using an analytical tool like Google Analytics, it’s important to set up an internal filter before scanning to exclude Cookifi scanner traffic.

This can be done via Google Tag Manager (GTM) or directly in your gtag.js implementation, depending on how you’ve set up your analytics.

In this example, we’ll walk through excluding Cookifi scanner traffic from Google Analytics (GA4).

Via GTM

1. Go to Variables.
2. Create a new URL type variable. Select Query as the component type, and enter traffic_type as the query key:
3. Click Format value and check Convert undefined to:
4. Click the + icon:
5. Click the + icon again:
6. Within Variable Configuration, click anywhere to choose a variable type. Scroll down and select the Undefined value variable:
7. Save the URL type variable.
8. Open the Google Tag for GA4. In Configuration settings, add a new parameter traffic_type. For the value, insert the URL variable created above:

Voilà - you’re done and can jump to create an internal filter in GA4

Via gtag.js (codebase implementation)

If GA4 is implemented directly in your codebase, replace your existing script with the following:

Caution

If you have additional configuration parameters in your GA4 config code, ensure they are preserved before replacing the script.

Modified GA4 Config Script

<!-- Google tag (gtag.js) -->
<script async src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-xxxxxxxxx'></script>
<script>
window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
gtag('js', new Date());

function getTrafficType() {
const urlParams = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search);
const trafficType = urlParams.get('traffic_type');
return trafficType ? trafficType : undefined;
}

gtag('config', 'G-xxxxxxxxx', {
'traffic_type': getTrafficType()
});
</script>

Make sure to replace the G-xxxxxxxxx placeholders on line #2 and #14 with your actual GA4 measurement ID.

Create an internal filter in GA4

Once GA4 is receiving the traffic_type parameter, you need to filter out scanner traffic:

1. In GA4, navigate to Admin > Data collection and modification > Data filters:
2. Click Create filter and select Internal traffic:
3. Enter a name for the filter (e.g., Cookifi scanner), and cookifi for the parameter value: Make sure to activate the filter by selecting the Active filter state.

Run a scan

In development

In the Cookifi admin panel, navigate to Scans and click Add:

Select the property you wish to scan. Note a valid sitemap needs to be associated with a property.

Click Run.

After scanning, Cookifi will categorise detected cookies into the appropriate categories.

You can review and modify them in the Cookies settings of your property.

Note

Once your first manual scan has been completed, Cookifi will automatically scan your website for new cookies every month.

The scan frequency can be adjusted in Settings.