Verify an Installation

Prepare a reproducible check

Publish your website/container changes and clear relevant caches. Record the URL, browser, time, installed method and expected Basic/Advanced Consent Mode behaviour. Use the real published website, not only an editor preview.

Fresh state

Use separate private contexts for each choice; a single session that already accepted is not a pre-consent test. Check:

1. Exactly one banner is installed.
2. Default consent executes before the tags it governs.
3. Necessary functionality still works.
4. Network, cookie and storage behaviour matches your configuration before interaction.

Accept, reject and custom

Inspect each signal after the action and on reload. Custom preferences should grant only the selected categories. Necessary categories cannot be optionalised to conceal their actual purpose.

In GTM Preview/Tag Assistant, inspect consent defaults/updates and each tag's consent checks. In Advanced mode, a denied Google tag can send cookieless requests; absence from GA realtime is not a general pass/fail test.

Return and withdraw

Reload to check remembered choices, then use the floating button or your tested footer control to reopen preferences and withdraw. Verify that affected future processing changes. Cookie deletion alone does not prove withdrawal propagated to providers.

Evidence and failures

Compare observed interactions with dashboard records, accounting for delays, blocked requests, excluded paths and data gaps. Run Diagnostics for additional bounded evidence. Partial or failed verification is not a pass.