Introduction
Use Hotjar session recording and heatmaps under GDPR: consent requirements, data minimization, and disclosure obligations.
What it means
Session recording tools like Hotjar capture detailed user interactions — keystrokes, mouse movements, clicks, and page content — creating significant privacy obligations beyond standard analytics.
Hotjar typically requires explicit consent before recording begins. The script should be blocked until the user opts into the relevant category.
Configure Hotjar's suppression features to mask sensitive form fields and personal data. Data retention should match your stated policy.
Disclose session recording in both your cookie policy and privacy notice, clearly describing what data is captured and for what purpose.
Why it matters
Regulators, customers, and automated scanners increasingly treat published policies and live site behavior as one system. Gaps between what you say and what your site does create enforcement and commercial risk.
Fixing issues early is cheaper than retrofitting consent, tag managers, and legal pages after a complaint or failed enterprise security review.
Common mistakes
- Loading analytics tags before consent defaults are set in the page head.
- Assuming Consent Mode alone satisfies GDPR without tag blocking.
- Not verifying analytics behavior after GTM container publishes or plugin updates.
- Treating analytics cookies as strictly necessary without meeting narrow exemption criteria.
- Skipping post-reject verification — only testing the Accept flow.
Practical checklist
- Audit all analytics entry points across theme, plugins, GTM, and hardcoded snippets.
- Place consent defaults and blocking guard before any analytics script loads.
- Map analytics consent category to analytics_storage in Consent Mode v2.
- Verify zero analytics requests fire before consent in a private browser window.
- Test Reject path across homepage and two internal pages.
- Document the analytics provider, purpose, retention, and opt-out in your cookie policy.
- Re-scan after every GTM publish or analytics configuration change.
How GDPRChecker helps
GDPRChecker scanner detects pre-consent analytics requests on first visit, catching the most common analytics compliance failure before external auditors do.
GDPRChecker runtime protection blocks analytics scripts until the visitor grants consent in the matching category, then releases them with correct Consent Mode v2 signalling.