Easily identify tracking scripts on your site

Contents

• Background

• How do the tracking scripts reports work?

• How can the report help you become and remain compliant?

• Conclusion

Background

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was implemented in May 2018 and applies to all websites that collect data on EU residents. Companies who don’t comply are liable to fines, potentially up to €20 million or 4% of annual global revenue. The French government fined Google €50 million in January 2019 for failing to get valid consent for users for personalised ads (source).

To comply with GDPR, users must be able to provide consent to have their data processed or tracked, including via tracking scripts such as for web analysis or CRM tools. Many website owners use a Consent Management Platform to provide users with the relevant information regarding how their data is used.

But having a Consent Management Platform alone is not enough! You have to make sure the information is correct. This is where Ryte can help. The tracking scripts reports show you which external scripts you have on your website that need to be included on your user consent section. The list under "Publisher" (host) shows the third party hostnames you need to list on your consent bar, and the report shows the individual scripts in more detail.

How do the tracking scripts reports work?

In Website Success, there are now 2 new reports to help you become and remain GDPR compliant: “Tracking scripts” and “Non-compliant tracking scripts”. You can find them in the navigation under Website Success >> "GDPR compliance".

Tracking scripts report

The All tracking scripts report gives an overview of third party tracking scripts on your website that require prior consent, including scripts that have been added via Tag Management Systems such as Google Tag Manager. It’s important to crawl your entire website so the Crawler can crawl every page looking for tracking scripts. You see all relevant information, including publisher of the script, and where exactly (i.e. on which URLs) the script is on your website. This means you can easily see which scripts are present on your website. You can ensure the scripts are up-to-date, and mentioned on your website’s consent bar so users can opt in or out.

Non-compliant tracking scripts report

This report shows you specifically which scripts fire before the user has given consent via a consent management tool. Like the “All tracking scripts report”, you see the publisher of the script, and on which URLs it appears on your website. Scripts that are shown in this report fire before the user has opted-in via the user consent bar. Therefore, you must ensure that these scripts are incorporated accurately onto your user consent bar to comply with GDPR, otherwise you could be at risk of monetary penalties.

Figure 1: The non-compliant tracking scripts report

How can the report help you become and remain compliant?

Set up your user consent bar

Setting up the consent opt-in widget requires website managers to be aware of the different tracking scripts present on their website. Manually detecting these tracking scripts takes time and effort, especially for larger domains.

With Ryte, you can automatically detect scripts that are present with one website crawl. This means you save time having to identify the scripts manually. You even see the company and publisher of the scripts so you can easily categorize the scripts in the consent opt-in widget of their website.

Ensure your consent bar is up-to-date

After you set up your consent bar, you must ensure it stays up to date. Third party scripts are added continuously to websites - a number of tools, for example, would require a script to be added to the website. The Consent Opt-In widget needs to constantly remain transparent and up to date for users for you to remain legally compliant.

With Ryte, you can ensure your consent-bar remains up-to-date. Every time you crawl your website, the crawler will detect and show you the scripts that fire before the user has given consent. If scripts appear, you can immediately add them to your consent bar and privacy section to ensure you remain legally compliant. Make sure you schedule your website crawls so you’re notified every week whether you have undetected scripts on your website.

Detect tracking scripts on your website

For many marketers and well developers, it is not always clear which scripts are active. There could be a number of scripts still lurking on your website that were added years ago that you’re not aware of. A lack of awareness puts companies at high risk of non-compliance with GDPR laws since it states that visitors must be able to opt-in before their data can be collected.

These reports help site managers proactively ensure GDPR governance by identifying scripts that need to be added to a consent widget, and identifying outdated scripts that can be removed from the website.

Conclusion

Since the GDPR came into force in May 2018, it is vital to ensure that users can consent to having their data processed. Therefore, if you do not offer users the option to opt-in, you will be liable for fines. Ryte’s GDPR reports help you identify tracking scripts on your site, including those that fire before the user has given consent. This means you can easily set up your consent bar and ensure it is up-to-date, helping you provide transparency for your users, as well as assisting you in becoming and remaining GDPR compliant.

Learn more about how to use the reports in our webinar!

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