Cookie consent for ad plugins

Ad plugins, one by one

What matters for consent with Ad plugins

What our tests found on Ad plugins

• Good to know · Advanced AdsWhat Advanced Ads stores in visitors' browsers

  Advanced Ads: 2 cookie(s) or browser key(s) for visitors, recognised by Cookie Rocks from 2.9.8.

  Name	Kept in	Category	What it is for
  advanced_ads_page_impressions	cookie	Preferences	Counts the visitor's page views to show ads only after a set number
  advanced_ads_visitor	cookie	Preferences	Remembers ad display conditions for the visitor

  Seen in our tests, 2 November 2026, Advanced Ads.

  Full detail

  Advanced Ads can store these in a visitor's browser: advanced_ads_page_impressions (cookie, preferences: Counts the visitor's page views to show ads only after a set number); advanced_ads_visitor (cookie, preferences: Remembers ad display conditions for the visitor). Cookie Rocks recognises them from 2.9.8, with this category and purpose, and lists them in the cookie policy when it sees them.

• Depends on a setting · Ad InserterAd blocking detection loads Google and ad scripts before the choice

  setting “Use external scripts (ad blocking detection)” · by default: on

  • Off by default; the problem starts when you turn it on.
  • Adds bait tags for Google Analytics, Tag Manager, Quantcast and Media.net.
  • Also loads an image from dummyimage.com and checks Google's AdSense script.
  • Sets the cookies aiADB, aiADB_PV, aiADB_PR and aiBLOCKS.

  What to do: Turn off Use external scripts, or define AI_ADB_NO_GOOGLE_ANALYTICS, AI_ADB_NO_GTM, AI_ADB_NO_QUANT, AI_ADB_NO_MEDIA_NET, AI_ADB_NO_DUMMYIMAGE and AI_ADB_NO_GOOGLESYNDICATION in wp-config.php.

  Read in its code, 16 October 2026, Ad Inserter 2.8.19.

  Full detail

  Ad Inserter's ad blocking detection is off by default. When it is on with Use external scripts (on by default), every page footer gets bait tags before any choice: <object> tags pointing to google-analytics.com/analytics.js, googletagmanager.com/gtag/js, secure.quantserve.com/quant.js and contextual.media.net/dmedianet.js, an <img> from dummyimage.com, and after load a HEAD fetch to pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js whose address is base64-encoded in an inline script. Cookies: aiADB (30 days by default) and aiADB_PV (365 days) when a blocker is handled, aiADB_PR for redirection, and aiBLOCKS (365 days) for per-block close and view limits.

• Depends on a setting · Ad InserterAd Inserter can make each ad block wait for a consent cookie

  setting “Cookies list (per block)” · by default: empty

  It has no banner and no consent signals. A block can wait for a cookie from its Cookies list; the check runs in the browser only with Client-side insert or show.

  Read in its code, 16 October 2026, Ad Inserter 2.8.19.

  Full detail

  Ad Inserter shows no banner and does not use WP Consent API or set Consent Mode defaults. Each block can wait for a cookie listed in its Cookies list (whitelist or blacklist, empty by default); JSON cookies are read with the syntax name[key][*]=value after decodeURIComponent and JSON.parse. The check runs in the browser only with Client-side insert or Client-side show; server-side checks are frozen by page caching. Blocks waiting for consent are re-inserted on the page only on IAB TCF signals, on the events of one consent plugin, or when ai_load_blocks() is called; tcf- conditions hide the block if window.__tcfapi is missing after three tries.

• Set before the choice · Ad InserterAd Inserter hides ad code from banners that read the page

  setting “Dynamic blocks” · by default: Client-side insert

  Blocks with a browser-side check or lazy, manual or delayed loading are printed encoded, so a banner reading the page cannot see the ad address. Default blocks are printed in clear.

  What to do: Put the consent condition in each ad block's Cookies list (whitelist) instead of relying on a banner reading the HTML.

  Read in its code, 16 October 2026, Ad Inserter 2.8.19.

  Full detail

  With Dynamic blocks set to Client-side insert (the default), an Ad Inserter block that has a check run in the browser (cookie, URL parameter, referrer or client list, scheduling, a device selection other than all) or uses lazy, manual or delayed loading is printed with its code base64-encoded in a data-code attribute of a div (ai-dynamic, ai-lazy, ai-manual). Ad Inserter's own script decodes it and inserts it, and the inserted scripts run. A consent plugin that reads the page markup cannot see the ad network address. A block with default settings and no list is printed in clear.

• Depends on a setting · Advanced AdsAdvanced Ads' ad blocker counter can load Google's tag on every page

  setting “Ad blocker counter: Google Analytics ID” · by default: empty

  With a Google Analytics ID in the counter, a footer script loads gtag.js and sends an AdBlock event. It is held on the server only with the Cookie or TCF privacy methods.

  Read in its code, 16 October 2026, Advanced Ads 2.0.29.

  Full detail

  When a Google Analytics ID is entered in Advanced Ads' ad blocker counter, an inline footer script on every page loads googletagmanager.com/gtag/js and sends an AdBlock event; it is held on the server only with the Cookie or TCF privacy methods. Advanced Ads also marks its critical inline script (id ending in 'ready', no tracker) to be skipped by WP Rocket's delay and by one consent plugin's blocker, and does nothing for other delay tools.

• Set before the choice · Advanced AdsAdvanced Ads can load AdSense before the choice with non-personalised ads

  setting “Show non-personalized AdSense ads until consent is given”

  With the Privacy module on, Auto ads wait for the accepted signal. With 'Show non-personalized AdSense ads until consent is given', AdSense loads before any choice.

  Read in its code, 16 October 2026, Advanced Ads 2.0.29.

  Full detail

  AdSense Auto ads in Advanced Ads print adsbygoogle.js in the head; with the Privacy module on, an inline script creates it when the advanced_ads_privacy event says accepted. With 'Show non-personalized AdSense ads until consent is given' (Cookie method), Advanced Ads sets requestNonPersonalizedAds=1 and loads AdSense before any choice.

• Depends on a setting · Advanced AdsAdvanced Ads shows all ads without consent by default

  setting “Privacy > consent method” · by default: Show all ads even without consent

  • No banner, no WP Consent API, no Consent Mode defaults.
  • Its Privacy module shows all ads without consent by default.
  • Cookie method: looks for a consent cookie; with page caching, the free version serves one result to everyone.
  • IAB TCF method: waits for TCF and needs purpose 1 consent.

  Read in its code, 16 October 2026, Advanced Ads 2.0.29.

  Full detail

  Advanced Ads has no banner and does not use WP Consent API or set Consent Mode defaults. Its Privacy module defaults to showing all ads without consent. The Cookie method looks for a cookie name containing a value, checked in PHP (substring) and re-read in JavaScript every 333 ms for 60 seconds; with page caching the free version serves the cached result to everyone. The IAB TCF method waits for window.__tcfapi and needs purpose 1 consent; ads are kept base64-encoded in a text/plain script and decoded only at load. It fires a DOM event, advanced_ads_privacy.

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