# 'Enabling GDPR' documentation with screenshots for UTM Tracking Consent

## UTM attribution overview

This guide explains how to collect and respect cookie consent with HandL UTM Grabber, so you stay compliant while keeping the UTM parameters you need for accurate WordPress attribution across forms, bookings, signups and sales.

Everything lives under **UTM > GDPR**.

![The GDPR tab in HandL UTM Grabber](https://docs.utmgrabber.com/uploads/images/gallery/2026-08/handl-gdpr-tab-overview.jpg)

The panel at the top of the tab points you to the right setup:

* **EU or UK visitors:** you need consent before tracking. Use the consent banner below. It can collect consent just for HandL, or act as the consent tool for your whole site through the WP Consent API.
* **Already using a consent plugin:** leave the banner off and tell HandL to wait for it.
* **US visitors only:** no cookie banner is required, but you do need to disclose the cookies you set. See [Publishing your cookie list](#) for that.

### 1. Turn on the consent banner

Set **Consent Banner** to Enabled and click Save Changes. Until a visitor makes a choice, HandL writes no tracking cookies at all.

### 2. Customize the wording and the look

Change the heading, message, button labels and the privacy policy link to match your site. Under **Appearance** you can set:

* **Position:** bottom bar, bottom left, bottom right or centered modal
* **Theme:** light or dark
* **Corner radius** and individual **colors**, if you need an exact brand match

The Live Preview on the right updates as you type, so you can see the result before saving.

![Appearance settings and Act as a Consent Tool](https://docs.utmgrabber.com/uploads/images/gallery/2026-08/handl-banner-appearance-settings.jpg)

### 3. What your visitors see

The banner appears until the visitor chooses Accept, Deny or Preferences.

![The consent banner as visitors see it](https://docs.utmgrabber.com/uploads/images/gallery/2026-08/handl-consent-banner-frontend.jpg)

Preferences lets them choose per category. Essential is always on, Statistics and Marketing can be turned off.

![Banner preferences panel with cookie categories](https://docs.utmgrabber.com/uploads/images/gallery/2026-08/handl-consent-banner-preferences.jpg)

If a visitor denies, any tracking cookies already set are removed. If they accept later, capture starts immediately with no page reload.

**Letting visitors change their mind:** add the class `handl-consent-open` to any link or button and it reopens the banner. A "Cookie settings" link in your footer is the usual place:

```html
<a href="#" class="handl-consent-open">Cookie settings</a>
```

### 4. Let HandL manage consent for your whole site

By default the banner controls HandL's own tracking. Turn on **Act as a Consent Tool** and the same banner becomes the consent tool for your whole site, so every consent aware plugin you run follows the choice your visitor makes in it.

It needs the free [WP Consent API](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-consent-api/) plugin, the WordPress standard for sharing consent between plugins. Install and activate it and the switch becomes available.

![GDPR tab showing WP Consent API detected](https://docs.utmgrabber.com/uploads/images/gallery/2026-08/handl-wp-consent-api-detected.jpg)

For sites whose tracking comes from WordPress plugins, this can replace a dedicated consent plugin entirely. Third party scripts and embeds are a different matter, since they never ask the API. See **Using HandL UTM Grabber as your site's consent tool** for what this mode reaches, what it does not, and which setup to pick.

### Already using another consent plugin?

Leave the HandL banner off and use **Consent Plugin Integrations** at the bottom of the tab instead. Turn on the switch next to your plugin and HandL waits for the consent that plugin collects, so your visitors only ever see one banner.

![Consent Plugin Integrations showing Complianz](https://docs.utmgrabber.com/uploads/images/gallery/2026-08/handl-consent-plugin-integrations.jpg)

Supported plugins appear in this list automatically when they are active, including Cookiebot, Complianz, Borlabs, CookieYes, Real Cookie Banner, WPConsent, Cookie Notice by dFactory and the WP Consent API.

If you enable the HandL banner while another consent plugin is also showing its own banner, the GDPR tab warns you, since your visitors would see two.

![Warning that two consent banners are active](https://docs.utmgrabber.com/uploads/images/gallery/2026-08/handl-two-banners-warning.jpg)

> The old **Enable GDPR** checkbox on the HandL Options tab still works and controls the same setting. The GDPR tab is where you customize it.