How do I run my first website compliance scan?

Welcome to Analytics Proof! Here's how to run your first compliance scan:

Step 1: Create a Project

After logging in, create a new project. Projects are how you organize your scan targets — you might have one project per client, per brand, or per website.

Step 2: Add a Scan Target

Within your project, add a scan target with the URL of the website you want to scan (e.g., https://example.com). Set the target type to Website.

Step 3: Create a Web Compliance Scan

Create a new scan schedule for your target and select Web Compliance as the scan type. This is available on all plans, including Free.

Step 4: Run the Scan

Trigger the scan manually or wait for the scheduled run. The scan typically takes 30-90 seconds.

What the Scan Checks

The web compliance scanner performs a thorough analysis of your site's consent implementation:

1. Consent banner detection — Uses AI to find and identify cookie consent banners, even inside shadow DOM or iframes.
2. Accept/Reject flow testing — Clicks both the accept and reject buttons and monitors what happens.
3. Google Consent Mode v2 — Verifies that consent default is set before tracking loads, and consent update fires correctly after user interaction.
4. Tracking before consent — Checks if any analytics vendors (GA4, Meta Pixel, etc.) fire requests before the user has made a consent choice.
5. Tracking after reject — Verifies no new tracking cookies are created after the user rejects consent.
6. Consent persistence — Reloads the page to confirm the consent state is saved and restored from cookies.
7. Vendor detection — Identifies which of 19 analytics vendors are present (GA4, GTM, Meta Pixel, Adobe Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar, LinkedIn, TikTok, and more).

Understanding Your Results

You'll receive:

• A compliance score (0-100) and a letter grade (A through F)
• A breakdown across 9 scoring categories with individual pass/fail status
• A list of detected vendors showing their compliance status
• Specific violation codes (like GCM_001 for missing consent default) with remediation guidance

The Free plan allows one scan per month. Upgrade to Starter or Professional for daily automated scans.