# How to add a cookie consent banner to a Carrd site

> On Carrd, add an Embed element with Type set to Code, paste the snippet, set Style to Hidden and Location to Head, then publish; the Embed element needs a Pro Standard plan or higher. Put your tracking tags in a second hidden embed, marked, and use an inline embed for the Cookie preferences link.

Source: https://cookiequiet.com/platforms/carrd
Published: 2026-10-20
Publisher: Cookiequiet

## Steps

1. **Check your plan** The Embed element requires Pro Standard or higher. Copy your snippet from the Cookiequiet dashboard.
2. **Add a hidden Embed element** Click Add Element, select Embed, set Type to Code and paste the Cookiequiet snippet in the Code field. Give it a label such as Cookiequiet.
3. **Place it in the head** Set Style to Hidden and Location to Head, then click Done. Hidden embeds produce no output in the builder; they appear only on the published site.
4. **Add your tags in a second embed** Add another hidden Embed (Head) with your Google tag or Meta Pixel, each script tag marked with type="text/plain" and data-cq-category, or with Google's default consent block above the Google tag. Keep the Cookiequiet embed before it in the element list.
5. **Add the Cookie preferences link** Add an Embed element with Type set to Code and Style set to Inline in your footer section, containing an HTML link with href="#cq-preferences" and data-cq-show-preferences.
6. **Publish and test** Publish, open the site in a private window, click Reject all and check that no _ga or _fbp cookie is set. Accept all, reload, and check the consent log.

## Where to paste the snippet in Carrd

Carrd adds custom code through the Embed element, which is available on the Pro Standard plan and above.

1. In the builder, click **Add Element** and select **Embed**.
2. Set **Type** to **Code** and paste the snippet in the **Code** field. A **Label** such as "Cookiequiet" helps you find it later.
3. Set **Style** to **Hidden** and **Location** to **Head**, then click **Done**.
4. **Publish**. Carrd documents that a hidden embed produces no output in the builder; you only see the result on the published site.

```html
<script src="https://cookiequiet.com/cq.js" data-site="YOUR_SITE_KEY" data-consent-mode="1" data-auto-block="1" defer></script>
```

Hidden embeds placed in the Head are published in the page's head section regardless of where the element sits in the layout, so you can keep the element wherever is convenient. When you have several head embeds, keep the Cookiequiet one first in the element list and check the published page source once: `cq.js` must come before your tags.

## How to handle the tags you add

Carrd itself sets no analytics cookies on your site; everything that needs consent comes from embeds you add. Two ways to wire them, both in a second hidden Head embed placed after the Cookiequiet one:

**Marked (nothing loads before consent).** Change the opening tag of each script:

```html
<script type="text/plain" data-cq-category="analytics" src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XXXXXXX"></script>
<script type="text/plain" data-cq-category="analytics">
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('js', new Date());
  gtag('config', 'G-XXXXXXX');
</script>
```

The Meta Pixel base code gets `data-cq-category="marketing"`, and its noscript image must be removed; details in the [Meta Pixel guide](/platforms/meta-pixel).

**Consent Mode (the Google tag loads with denied defaults).** Put Google's default consent block above the Google tag in the same embed, as in the [Google Analytics 4 guide](/platforms/google-analytics-4). Cookiequiet sends the update after each choice.

**Videos and maps.** Carrd's Video element prints a player iframe; for a video that must wait for consent, use an inline Embed with the iframe written with `data-cq-src` instead of `src`, and Cookiequiet loads it after consent. Forms connected to Mailchimp or similar services send data only when the visitor submits them and need no marking.

## How to add the Cookie preferences link

Add an Embed element to your footer section with **Type** set to **Code** and **Style** set to **Inline**, containing:

```html
<a href="#cq-preferences" data-cq-show-preferences>Cookie preferences</a>
```

An inline embed prints the HTML where the element sits, so the link appears in the footer; style it with a small inline `style` attribute to match your text. Alternatively, turn on the floating preferences button in the banner settings.

## How to test

1. Publish, then open the published site in a private window and click **Reject all**.
2. Check the cookies in the developer tools: `cq_consent` and nothing else.
3. Clear the cookies, click **Accept all**, reload: the marked tags run and their cookies appear.
4. Check the consent log in the Cookiequiet dashboard.

## What is specific to Carrd

- **Plan.** Embeds need Pro Standard or higher; the free plan and Pro Lite cannot add code. Advanced settings (Pro Plus) are not needed for a head embed.
- **One-page sites.** A Carrd site is one document; the banner loads once and the choice applies to every section.
- **Custom domains and carrd.co addresses** both work; the banner does not care about the host.
- **Several embeds.** Each hidden Head embed is printed separately; keep tags that depend on each other, such as the Google tag and its event snippets, in the same embed so their order is fixed.
- **Republishing.** Any change to an embed reaches visitors only after a new publish; reload the private window after publishing before you test again.
- **Geo-targeting on every plan** lets a landing page show the banner only to visitors in regulated countries; see [do I need a cookie banner](/guides/do-i-need-a-cookie-banner).

## Questions

### Can I add Cookiequiet on a free Carrd site?

No. The Embed element, which is the only way to add code on Carrd, requires Pro Standard or higher according to Carrd's documentation.

### Why do I not see the banner in the builder?

Hidden embeds produce no output in the builder. Publish the site and open it in a private window.

### Does Carrd set cookies of its own that need consent?

Carrd does not add analytics to your published site; the cookies that need consent come from the embeds you add, such as the Google tag or the Meta Pixel.

### How do I keep Google Analytics from setting cookies before consent on Carrd?

Put the Google tag in a second hidden Head embed after the Cookiequiet one, with both script tags marked type="text/plain" data-cq-category="analytics", or with Google's default consent block above the tag so it runs in Consent Mode.

## Sources

- [Carrd Docs: Embedding custom code](https://carrd.com/docs/building/embedding-custom-code)
- [Carrd Docs: Embedding IFRAMEs](https://carrd.com/docs/building/embedding-iframes)
- [Google: Set up consent mode on websites](https://developers.google.com/tag-platform/security/guides/consent)