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Why Your Google Analytics Traffic Dropped After Installing Complianz (And How to Fix It)

46 threads Sep 9, 2025 Plugin → Complianz – gdpr/ccpa cookie consent

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If you've recently installed the Complianz – GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent plugin and noticed a significant drop in your Google Analytics traffic, you're not alone. This is a common concern that arises from a fundamental shift in how user data is collected, combined with potential configuration issues. This guide will walk you through the reasons and the most effective solutions.

Why This Happens: Understanding the Drop

A decrease in tracked users is often expected and is a sign that your cookie consent banner is working correctly. Privacy laws like the GDPR require you to obtain user consent before setting statistical cookies, like those from Google Analytics. Therefore, users who do not accept your cookie policy will not be tracked, which will naturally lead to a reduction in your analytics data. However, a drop of 70% or more often indicates a configuration problem that is blocking Analytics even when it shouldn't be.

Common Causes and Their Solutions

1. Incorrect Consent Settings for Statistics

The Problem: The plugin is configured to require explicit consent for statistics cookies, even if your regional privacy laws or specific setup might allow for analytics without consent under certain conditions (e.g., using anonymized IPs).

The Solution: Review your statistics configuration in the Complianz wizard.

  • Navigate to Wizard > Consent > Statistics – configuration.
  • Ensure the setting "Do you want to ask consent for statistics?" is set to "No" only if your legal situation permits it. The Complianz team suggests that if you target visitors from Germany, Austria, Belgium, or Spain, you should typically set this to "Yes".
  • If you set it to "No," verify that all three checkboxes under "Does the following apply to your website?" are selected, confirming your analytics are anonymized.

2. Plugin Conflicts (Especially Jetpack)

The Problem: Other plugins that also handle analytics or scripts can conflict with Complianz's management of Google Analytics. A recurring culprit found in the support threads is the Jetpack plugin.

The Solution: Disable conflicting integrations.

  • Go to Complianz > Integrations > Plugins.
  • Try disabling the integration for any other analytics or tag management plugin listed (e.g., Jetpack, MonsterInsights, Site Kit by Google, GTM4WP).
  • Clear your cache and test if analytics tracking resumes without consent.

3. Google Tag Manager (GTM) Configuration

The Problem: If you implement Google Analytics via Google Tag Manager, your tags might be set to fire on "All Pages" instead of waiting for the appropriate consent signal from Complianz. This can cause them to be blocked entirely or fire incorrectly.

The Solution: Configure GTM triggers based on consent.

  • Follow the guide for importing the Complianz triggers into Google Tag Manager.
  • Instead of using a simple "All Pages" trigger, set your Google Analytics tag to fire on the "cmplz_event_statistics" trigger. This ensures the tag only fires after a user has given the necessary consent.

4. Caching or Optimization Plugins

The Problem: Caching plugins can serve a cached version of your page where the consent banner has already been accepted or rejected, interfering with the dynamic loading of scripts based on user choice.

The Solution: Temporarily bypass your cache for testing.

  • Temporarily disable any caching or optimization plugins (e.g., LiteSpeed Cache, WP Rocket).
  • Also, disable any settings within these plugins that minify or combine JavaScript files.
  • Check if analytics tracking behaves correctly with the cache off. If it does, you will need to reconfigure your cache settings to exclude Complianz-related scripts or find a compatible configuration.

5. The Shift to GA4 and Consent Mode

The Problem: Google's updated Consent Mode v2 requires specific parameters (analytics_storage, ad_storage, etc.) to be sent to accurately track consent states. In the free version of Complianz, the implementation of the full Consent Mode v2 is a premium feature.

The Solution: Be aware of the plugin's capabilities.

  • The free version of Complianz will handle basic blocking of analytics scripts before consent but does not implement the advanced Consent Mode v2 parameters required by Google to report on consent signals.
  • If your Google Analytics account shows warnings about "missing consent signals," this is likely the reason. Resolving these specific warnings requires the premium version of the plugin.

Testing and Verification

After making any configuration changes, always test thoroughly:

  1. Use your browser's developer tools (F12) to inspect the page source and check if the Google Analytics or GTM script is present.
  2. Use a browser extension like Google Tag Assistant to verify whether tags are firing before consent, after consent, or not at all.
  3. Test from a clean browser session or in incognito mode to simulate a new user's experience.

Remember, some traffic drop is a normal and legal consequence of implementing proper cookie consent. However, a drastic loss usually points to a technical misconfiguration. By methodically working through these common causes, you can find the right balance between compliance and analytics.

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