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Why Your Complianz Cookie Banner Isn't Showing (And How To Fix It)

68 threads Sep 16, 2025 Plugin → Complianz – gdpr/ccpa cookie consent

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One of the most common support queries for the 'Complianz – GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent' plugin is when the cookie banner fails to appear on a website. Based on community troubleshooting, this issue can stem from a variety of sources, from browser settings to configuration conflicts. This guide outlines the most frequent causes and their solutions.

Common Reasons and Solutions for a Missing Cookie Banner

1. Browser Do Not Track & Ad Blockers

The Problem: Your banner works for others but is invisible to you. The banner settings page might also look broken.

The Cause: Your browser is likely sending a "Do Not Track" signal or has an active script-blocking extension (like Ghostery, Brave Shields, or uBlock Origin). The 'Complianz – GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent' plugin respects this signal by default and will not display the banner.

The Fix: Disable any active ad-blockers or script blockers for your site. Alternatively, you can disable the "Respect Do Not Track" setting within the plugin. Navigate to Complianz > Wizard > General > Security & Consent and ensure the relevant option is turned off.

2. Caching and Optimization Plugins

The Problem: The banner appears intermittently, disappears after acceptance, or behaves inconsistently for different users.

The Cause: Aggressive caching, minification, or CSS/JS optimization can interfere with the banner's scripts and the setting of consent cookies.

The Fix: Clear all levels of cache: your browser cache, your WordPress caching plugin's cache, and any CDN or server-level cache. If the problem persists, temporarily disable optimization features (especially JavaScript minification/aggregation) to test if they are the cause. Many caching plugins require specific exclusions for Complianz scripts to function correctly.

3. Theme or Plugin Conflicts

The Problem: The banner is completely absent, with no errors in the browser console.

The Cause: A conflict with your theme or another plugin can prevent Complianz from loading properly.

The Fix: Perform a basic conflict test. Temporarily switch to a default WordPress theme (like Twenty Twenty-Four) and see if the banner appears. If it does, the issue is with your theme, potentially a missing wp_footer() hook in its template files. If the banner is still missing, disable all other plugins except Complianz and reactivate them one-by-one to identify the conflicting plugin.

4. Configuration and Setup Errors

The Problem: The banner is missing on one site but works on another with a similar setup.

The Cause: The configuration wizard may not have been fully completed, or a special character (like a quotation mark ") in the banner title can break the HTML.

The Fix: Ensure you have clicked "Finish" on the final screen of the Complianz wizard. Also, check your banner title in Complianz > Cookie Banner > General for any unusual characters and remove them.

5. Multisite or Cross-Domain Configuration

The Problem: The banner reappears when navigating between a main site and a subdirectory or subdomain installation.

The Cause: By default, consent cookies are set for a specific path or domain. Without configuration, a site in a subdirectory is treated as a separate entity.

The Fix: To share consent across installations, you must force the cookie to be set on the root domain. This typically requires adding a custom code snippet via a Must-Use plugin. The 'Complianz – GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent' team provides guidance and code examples for this specific scenario.

Quick Checklist Before You Dig Deeper

  • ✅ Have you completed the entire setup wizard?
  • ✅ Have you cleared your browser and site cache?
  • ✅ Have you tested in an Incognito/Private browser window?
  • ✅ Have you temporarily disabled ad-blocking extensions?

By methodically working through these common issues, most problems with a missing cookie banner can be resolved efficiently.

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