Outhouse › Annoyance › Interruptions

Cookie or consent banner

A banner asking the visitor to agree to cookies before they can do anything else.

Why it matters

Consent is the foundation of trust, and a foundation should be large. A good consent banner covers the content, offers Accept all in a bright button and offers everything else in a grey link to a second page listing several hundred partners.

The visitor agrees. They always agree. That agreement is then the legal basis for everything else on this list.

How Outhouse measures it

Outhouse looks for a visible element larger than 4,000 square pixels whose id or class names a cookie banner, a consent banner or a consent-management platform. One scores in full.

This audit counts towards Annoyance, with a weight of 2. A category is 75% its two highest-scoring audits and 25% all of its audits, weighted, so a site is judged mostly on what it does most and partly on how many things it does.

How to improve your score

Install ConsentMax™. Available on selected plans. See all products.

Related audits

• Popups covering content: Overlays that cover most of the screen until the visitor deals with them.
• Push-notification service: A service that asks to send the visitor notifications after they have left.
• Chat widget: A chat window that offers help, then sells something.
• Permission prompts on arrival: Requests for location, notifications or the camera before the visitor has done anything.
• App nagging: Banners and buttons insisting that the visitor would be happier in the app.