TL;DR: Visit your website in an incognito window → Banner should appear immediately → Open browser developer tools (F12) → Check Console for errors and Network tab for consently.js → Test cookie blocking by checking Application → Cookies before and after granting consent.

Overview

Testing confirms the Consently banner loads correctly, displays to visitors, and enforces consent by blocking non-essential cookies until permission is granted. Proper testing prevents compliance violations from undetected installation errors.

Before You Begin

Make sure you have:

Time required: 10 minutes

How to Test Your Consently Installation

Step 1: Clear your browser data

Open a new incognito/private browsing window to ensure you're testing with a clean state, free from cached consent preferences.

Chrome: Press Ctrl+Shift+N (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+N (Mac) Firefox: Press Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+P (Mac) Safari: Press Cmd+Shift+N (Mac) Edge: Press Ctrl+Shift+N (Windows)

💡 Tip: Incognito mode prevents stored consent preferences from hiding the banner during testing.
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Step 2: Visit your website

Navigate to your website's homepage in the incognito window.

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Step 3: Verify the banner appears

The consent banner should display immediately when the page loads. Check for:

  • Banner visibility (not hidden behind other elements)

  • Correct positioning (top, bottom, or center as configured)

  • All buttons present (Accept All, Reject All, Manage Preferences)

  • Readable text without layout issues

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If the banner doesn't appear, proceed to the Troubleshooting section below.

Step 4: Open browser developer tools

Press F12 (all browsers) Or right-click the page and select Inspect to open developer tools.

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Step 5: Check the Console for errors

Click the Console tab in developer tools and look for any error messages related to Consently or consent. A successful installation shows no errors.

Common error indicators:

  • Red error messages mentioning consently.js

  • 404 errors (script not found)

  • JavaScript syntax errors

If you see errors, note the exact message for troubleshooting.

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Step 6: Verify the script loaded

Click the Network tab in developer tools, then refresh the page. Filter for consently.js In the search box and verify:

  • The script appears in the network list

  • Status code is 200 (success)

  • Size shows the script loaded (typically 20-40 KB)

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Step 7: Check cookies are blocked

Before interacting with the banner, click the Application tab (Chrome/Edge) or Storage tab (Firefox) in developer tools, then expand Cookies and select your website domain.

You should see:

  • Essential cookies only — If properly configured, non-essential cookies (analytics, advertising, social) should not be present yet

  • No tracking cookies from Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or other services

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⚠️ Important: If you see analytics or advertising cookies already present, your installation has a cookie blocking problem. Non-essential cookies are loading before consent is granted, which violates GDPR and other privacy laws.

Step 8: Grant consent

Click Accept All on the banner to grant consent for all cookie categories.

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Step 9: Test the floating icon

Scroll through the page and locate the floating consent icon (typically in a corner). Click it to verify the preference center reopens, allowing visitors to modify their choices.

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Step 10: Test consent withdrawal

In the preference center, click Reject All or disable specific categories, then click Save Preferences. Refresh the page and check the Application → Cookies tab again—non-essential cookies should be removed or stop functioning.

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Step 11: Check the Consent Log

Return to your Consently dashboard and navigate to Consent Log. Verify your test consent actions appear in the log with:

  • Correct timestamp

  • Your country/location

  • Consent status (Accepted All, Rejected All, or Custom)

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Done!

Your Consently installation is working correctly if all tests passed.

✅ Success indicator: Banner appears immediately, cookies block until consent is granted, and consent choices are logged in the dashboard.

Multi-Device Testing

After desktop testing, verify the banner displays correctly on mobile and tablet devices:

Mobile Testing

Option 1: Use browser responsive mode

  1. Press F12 to open developer tools

  2. Click the device icon (Toggle Device Toolbar)

  3. Select a mobile device from the dropdown

  4. Verify the banner displays correctly at smaller screen sizes

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Option 2: Test on actual devices: Visit your website on your smartphone or tablet to verify real-world display. Check:

  • Banner fits the screen without horizontal scrolling

  • Buttons are easily tappable (not too small)

  • Text is readable without zooming

  • Banner doesn't cover critical content

Tablet Testing

Use responsive mode or an actual tablet to test the mid-size screen experience. The banner should adapt appropriately between mobile and desktop layouts.

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Advanced Testing Scenarios

Testing Location-Based Templates

If you enabled both GDPR and US State Laws templates, test that the correct template displays based on the visitor's location:

Method 1: Use a VPN

  1. Connect to a VPN server in the EU (for GDPR template)

  2. Visit your website in incognito mode

  3. Verify the GDPR (opt-in) banner appears

  4. Disconnect and connect to a US server

  5. Verify the US State Laws (opt-out) banner appears

Method 2:
Manual verification: If you can't use a VPN, verify that both templates are enabled in your dashboard and check the banner content matches the expected model (opt-in vs opt-out) for your location.

Testing Google Consent Mode v2

If you use Google Analytics or Google Ads, verify consent signals pass correctly:

  1. Install the Google Tag Assistant Chrome extension

  2. Visit your website with the extension active

  3. Check that consent mode signals show proper states:
    - Before consent: denied for ad_storage and analytics_storage
    - After consent: granted for accepted categories

  4. This confirms that Google Consent Mode v2 integration works

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Testing IAB TCF Integration

If you enabled IAB TCF settings:

  1. Open your website with the cookie banner enabled.

  2. Open Developer Tools (F12) → go to the Console tab.

  3. Run the following JavaScript to check the consent status:

__tcfapi('getTCData', 2, function(tcData, success) {
  console.log('Success:', success);
  console.log('TC String:', tcData?.tcString);
});

What to expect:

  • Before interacting with the banner (no action yet), success should be true and tcString may be empty.

  • After clicking Accept or Reject, success remains true and tcString will show a valid ID representing the consent choices.

You can then decode this TC string at iabtcf.com decoder to see exactly which purposes and vendors the user consented to.

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Alternatively, click Manage Preferences in your banner and verify that the vendor list and purpose list display correctly under the consent options.

What's Next

Now that your installation is verified, you should:

  1. Monitor your Consent Log regularly to track visitor consent patterns

  2. Review Consent Analytics to understand acceptance rates

Troubleshooting

The banner doesn't appear at all

Why this happens: The script isn't loading, isn't installed correctly, or the banner is unpublished.

Solution:

  1. Open developer tools → Network tab and search for consently.js

  2. If you see a 404 error, the script isn't loading—verify you installed it correctly in your website's <head> section

  3. If the script loads (200 status) but the banner doesn't appear, check that you published the banner in the Consently dashboard

  4. Review your platform's installation guide to confirm correct placement

  5. Check for JavaScript errors in the Console tab that might prevent banner initialization

The banner appears, but cookies aren't blocked

Why this happens: Other tracking scripts load before Consently initializes, or cookies are miscategorized.

Solution:

  1. Verify the Consently script appears in your <head> section BEFORE any other tracking scripts (Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, etc.)

  2. If using Google Tag Manager, configure tag sequencing so Consently fires first

  3. Check the Cookie Manager and verify non-essential cookies aren't miscategorized as Essential

  4. Ensure that Enabled Necessary is turned OFF for non-essential categories

The banner appears multiple times

Why this happens: The script is installed in multiple locations on the page.

Solution:

  1. Check if the script appears in both your theme header AND a plugin/tag manager

  2. Use browser developer tools → Sources tab to search for consently.js and see how many instances load

  3. Remove duplicate script installations, keeping only one instance in the <head> section

The banner looks broken or has layout issues

Why this happens: CSS conflicts with your website theme, or JavaScript errors prevent proper rendering.

Solution:

  1. Check the Console tab for JavaScript errors

  2. Try viewing the site in incognito mode with browser extensions disabled

  3. Test in a different browser to isolate browser-specific issues

  4. If the problem persists, contact support with screenshots and your website URL

Cookies reappear immediately after rejecting

Why this happens: Third-party cookies may be set by external domains that Consently can't control, or page scripts are resetting cookies.

Solution:

  1. Check which specific cookies are reappearing in the Application tab

  2. If they're first-party cookies (same domain as your site), verify they're categorized correctly in Cookie Manager

  3. If they're third-party cookies (different domain), they may be loaded by external services—contact those services to configure consent-based loading

  4. Review your website code for scripts that manually set cookies without checking consent status

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