The Cookiebot scanner is designed to follow every navigable link on your website to ensure no cookies or tracking technologies go undetected. Since not all cookies are set on every page, and tracking may occur in areas of your website you are not directly aware of, auditing each individual page is essential to guaranteeing that your visitors can give fully informed consent.
Unexpected scan results
The scanner might be unable to determine if the content of a page is unique or duplicated if the URLs are different. When multiple URLs point to what is essentially the same page, we commonly refer to them as “canonical URLs”. This can happen, for example, when information is passed through the URL without affecting which cookies are served on the page. Consequently, these URLs are each registered and included in the total page count to guarantee comprehensive results.
If your page count differs significantly from what you expected and you suspect canonical URLs are the cause, there are some options available:
1. Avoid canonical URLs on your website
Where possible, we recommend reviewing your website's structure to minimize the generation of unique duplicate URLs. Some third-party addons, such as certain calendar plugins, can produce virtually endless URLs through features like "next day" navigation links.
If your website is built on WordPress, reviewing how uploaded assets are handled is a good starting point. Attachment pages are often assigned unique URLs that serve no functional purpose. Plugins such as Yoast can be used to modify this behavior. For more information, see: How to disable image attachment pages in WordPress
2. Setting up a filter for the scanner
Please note: Filters are a specialized service for Premium customers, offered only where we can still ensure technical compliance. We do not apply filters to manage Free plan page limits. We reserve the right to refuse any request, specifically if we believe it could result in non-compliance.
Global filters
For common E-commerce platforms such as Shopify and WooCommerce, standard parameters for filtering, sorting, pagination, and similar functions are typically covered by our global filters.
We recommend using parameters like the following:
limit, dir, sort, sort_by, order, order_by, filter, filter_by, mode, page
Domain(Group) specific filtering
If your website generates dynamic URLs not caught by these global filters, a domain-specific filter may be possible, provided the duplicate URLs follow a distinguishable pattern.
For example, a product page that serves the same content sorted by different metrics may generate URLs such as:
- ✓ apples.com/product
- ✓ apples.com/product?sortBy=name
- ✗ apples.com/product?sortBy=color
- ✗ apples.com/product?sortBy=price
You can review the list of scanned URLs by downloading the URL list, via the "Cookies" tab in the Cookiebot Manager.
Be aware that if a filter is too aggressive, it may cause some trackers to go undetected. As this filter is applied at your request, you assume full responsibility for any resulting non-compliance or potential privacy fines.
It is therefore of vital importance that you compare scan reports of before and after a filter was applied.
If you are premium customer and you believe we could apply specific filter for your domain, please create a request through our contact form and we'll review your case.
Comments
6 comments
Thanks for your information.
Helpful tips, Hannah! Setting filters to manage duplicate URL scans is key for accurate tracking and privacy compliance. Thanks for the insights!
If Cookiebot scans too many duplicate pages, you can:
Thanks.Great information
Thank you I appreciate your perspective and will definitely consider it.
Thanks for explaining this so clearly. It makes sense how dynamic URLs can confuse the scanner and inflate page counts.
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