Automatic Blocking is one of the four possible approaches for configuring Tag Blocking in AdOpt.
For this tutorial, no programming knowledge is required.
💡 Tip: For other Third-Party Tag blocking options, check out our documentation: Introduction to Cookie Blocking.
How Automatic Blocking Works
Automatic Blocking is a simplified solution for blocking Tags and scripts in AdOpt, as the system performs the blocking automatically, without requiring access to the code, programming knowledge, or complex configurations.
📢 Important: To use the Automatic Blocking method in AdOpt, the AdOpt Disclaimer installation Tag must be installed on the website via code at the beginning of the head. This ensures that the Tag is read with priority, along with the Automatic Blocking settings. If the service/Tag you want to block is loaded/executed before the AdOpt Tag, automatic blocking may not work.
In practice, this means that if your AdOpt Disclaimer was installed using methods such as Google Tag Manager (GTM) or a Direct Integration Plugin, the Automatic Blocking method will not work properly.
How to Enable Automatic Blocking
You can choose to apply this configuration automatically to all Tags at once by selecting the “block all Tags automatically” button (to block all non-essential Tags at once), or you can select specific Tags individually.
Selecting and Blocking All Tags Simultaneously
After enabling Automatic Blocking for all desired Tags, don’t forget to click “Save and publish” so that the blocking action is registered on the AdOpt platform and deployed to your website.
With the feature enabled—either globally or individually—the AdOpt platform adds an additional line of code to your website to perform the blocking. Because of this, it’s important to note that this method may impact website performance.
Is Automatic Blocking 100% Effective?
In our tests, Automatic Blocking was effective 99% of the time. However, we cannot guarantee full effectiveness for all services (Tags), as there are countless different Tags, each with its own level of complexity.
⚠️ Important: Some Tags/scripts may bypass this method or find workarounds. For this reason, we strongly recommend always verifying whether the blocking is fully effective.
How to Verify if Blocking Is 100% Effective
To perform an accurate analysis of your website’s current state, we recommend rerunning the “Tag scanner.” Re-scanning ensures that Tags are analyzed based on the current state of your site, and all related files and cookies are properly mapped.
Click “view details” for a Tag and check the label in the “blocking” field. The label should update from “Not blocked” to “Blocked.”
All non-essential (Necessary) Tags must be blocked. If Automatic Blocking does not work, we recommend trying another blocking method.
Additional and Advanced Settings
What can you do if the blocking does not work as expected?
In some cases, blocking may be too aggressive and affect other URLs. Some services have different origins and require specific paths (URLs) to be allowed. This means that a service may remain blocked even after consent is given, because its origin URL is still being blocked. In such cases, you need to identify and allow that origin.
Automatic Blocking works by identifying the origins of each cookie and blocking them. However, this can sometimes cause issues such as:
Website or Tag malfunctions
Problems when activating services
Blocking other Tags that share the same origin but belong to the “necessary” category (which should never be blocked)
To limit the blocking behavior, you need to configure which URLs should be excluded from blocking.
1. Add Ignored URLs
Prevent blocking on specific URLs, providing more flexibility in your configuration. Click “Settings” to apply a general configuration for all Tags.
⚠️ Important: This feature should be used when Tag Blocking exceeds what is necessary, blocking Tags that should not be blocked. As a solution, configure the URLs that should be ignored by the blocking.
2. Advanced Settings
Refine blocking by identifying Tags or scripts based on specific URLs. Add or remove URLs as needed. Click “View details - i”.
3. Tag Details
Within the Tag details, click “Advanced settings”.
4. Add Source URLs
Add the origin URLs and similar variations to ensure proper identification.
These advanced settings provide full control over Automatic Blocking, allowing customization to meet your website’s specific needs. Be sure to review and adjust them as necessary to ensure an effective implementation.